The City of Gainesville hosted its third annual Art Walk on the Gainesville Square on Thursday.
Held in collaboration with Vision 2030 Public Art and the Arts Council, the Art Walk places Gainesville and North Georgia-based artists around the square to promote and sell their work. The 2025 walk featured 24 stops around Downtown Gainesville with 100 artists represented.
Among the artists participating was Mateo Penado, who shared that his work takes inspiration from various aspects of his life.
“My art is informed by my identity, being a trans, queer, hispanic child of two immigrants,” Penado said. “ … A lot of it tends to be very political, even if it isn’t explicitly political, just by nature of what my identity is and the communities I’m in. I do like to express joy, gratitude and show positive sides of the identities I hold… I think that deserves to be shown and platformed.”
Penado, who is also a community organizer in Gainesville, provided free informational resources to those who visited his booth.
New to this year’s Art Walk were several “live art” components, which encouraged children and teens to create pieces in real time. The first demonstration saw En Plein Air professional artist Michael Mills painting Gainesville’s dragon sculpture, located in Roosevelt Square. En Plein Air art refers to the practice of painting outdoors and directly observing the subject matter. Mills, who previously won the Georgia Color Award for best Plein Air Artist, shared his technique with local high school art classes.
“I feel like Plein Air painting captures moments in time,” Mills said. “It’s like taking a photograph that you captured yourself… It’s like looking through a photo album, except there’s more feeling [and] atmosphere. The color’s truer than a photograph.”
Other experiences included a live graffiti project from Gainesville High School’s art program, dance performances from Brenau University and Gainesville Ballet and a fashion show on Brenau’s main campus.
“I think public art just makes up a well-rounded person. Maybe a little nicer and kinder. It’s just great to be involved in the arts. I love doing it, it’s personal gratitude [self-growth]. There’s a lot of good lessons that come with art.” – Michel Mills, professional En Plein Air artist
Unlike other art vending events, the Art Walk does not charge artists for booth spaces. This encouraged artists like Jessica Drexler to expose their work to a new audience without the worry of having to turn a profit to pay for the space at an event.
Drexler is a found object artist, meaning her pieces comprise materials that she has found and repurposed to create a new piece.
“I really like to use vintage objects,” Drexler shared. “Things with a past or a history… things that show some wear or some age. These can be things from an old house they’re tearing down, or from a flea market or something that a relative passes down to me. I take these vintage materials and figure out how to put them together in a way that tells a little bit of a story.”
Drexler’s work includes jewelry, displays and other decorations.
Aside from introducing community artists to a new audience, the Art Walk also aims to promote local businesses and restaurants in the city.
