The monthly arts showcase, “RAW: natural born artists,” presented a stained diversity of art from Cal State Long Beach students Thursday.
The RAW show in the Shore Ultra Lounge carried the theme, “Dawn of the different.” Contemporary tunes boomed out of the loudspeaker boxes through the open doors, while people are gathering around the artwork in the foyer.
RAW is a collaborative show of talent from artists through the mediums of film, fashion, art, music, makeup, hair design, photography, floristry and the performing arts. It takes place every month in either Los Angeles, Fullerton, Long Beach or Santa Monica.
“We genuinely want to give emerging artists a platform to inspire even more creativity. We have been building this to become a nonprofit, financed with love, blood, sweat and tears,” Heidi Luerra, the executive director of RAW, said.
One of the artists is Natalie Lawler, a 24-year-old art graduate student from CSULB.
“I already had my show at CSULB in April,” she said. “The executive director, Heidi Luerra from RAW, found my profile at the Long Beach Arts Council and asked me to display my art at this show here.”
Looking to the future, she added, “The RAW art show is a good platform for me to present my art to the audience and to become more popular, so that I could one day make a living with my art.”
Her artwork is made of different media like street maps, watercolors and paper.
“I start with a street map and paint all the urban agglomeration points,” Lawler said. “Then I paint over some layers of thin paper and color the points again. I repeat this procedure several times until I´m satisfied with the result.”
Other designers were showing off clothing lines. Emely M. Dureault, a 25-year-old designer, presented clothes from her label, “Into the Woods Clothing.” She graduated with a design degree from CSULB in 2008.
“I like to celebrate colors and mixed materials, so I make my fashion out of second hand clothes and compose them into new unique pieces,” Dureault said.
The young designer already had fashion shows at the Avalon and the Frequency at the Kress in Hollywood supported by “Project Ethos X”.
After the fashion show, the models mingled with the guests and the event turned into a big after-show party.
“I heard from some students about the event and so I’m here,” Lucas Hernandez, a 22-year-old computer science student, said. “I like the cool music, the people and the whole atmosphere. It’s just enjoyable!”
RAW was an eclectic showcase of work from fresh new artists currently in college or graduated.
“A lot of our showcasers are students. The concept behind RAW is actually to showcase and feature emerging talent. So students attend and students are always welcome to showcase,” Luerra said.
The next event hosted by RAW will be the “Global Danke Schoen Soiree” on Nov. 10. at 9:00 p.m. at the Madison in Downtown Long Beach. Tickets are free for the first hour, but cost $10 after 10 p.m. Artists can email pictures of their work and contact information to iamTalented@RAWartists.org
