Hi, my name is Peyton Easton. I have always loved to color and draw. I could color in the lines when I was two and started drawing things I saw. When I was four, I began taking art classes once a week at Monart. I love art at my school and was selected to be in the Hamilton County Art Exhibit when I was in first grade. I also spend a lot of time at home drawing and doing crafty things.

Dead Birds Adore Us is an all-instrumental Psychedelic Art band consisting of Ryan Sellick on Guitar, Noah Miles on Bass, Jerin Kelly on live visuals, and Daniel Crawford on Drums.

The visuals are sourced from popular media, and they are then mixed, layered, and controlled in real-time via a MIDI keyboard. They function very much the same way a singer's voice would - they add another dimension of color and texture. Not only do the visuals add another dimension to music that is already heavy, textured and complex, but they also provide a unique opportunity for the viewers to make some free associations and do a little introspection. The music is best experienced live for this reason, and these boys put on a great live show. Come out and show some support for your local rockers!

The band will be preforming as part of a First Friday event which will include various forms of artwork from a group of Indianapolis-based artists. Mediums will range from painting and drawing to sculpture, installation, and performance work (think Ana Mendieta, Alan Kaprow, Joseph Beuys, etc). 

Artists include Jess Parrotte, Barbara Still, Benson Harlamert, Jonathan McAfee, Noah Miles (yes, he paints, too!), Maria Belan, Lukas Schooler, and Jessica Dunn. 

Please be sure to check out the links we have posted above to learn a bit more about each of these artists!

See you on Friday!
Dale Harkins
Owner, The Irving

My name is Katie Hutson. I'm from Indianapolis, 25 years old, college graduate, and lover of all things beautiful. I am a painter and a photographer, because not only do I enjoy looking at or listening to beautiful things, I enjoy creating them.

This is my goal whenever I paint or take a photo - to make something beautiful. Painting has become one of the biggest parts of my life since I did my first piece 8 years ago in a high school art class. I have no formal training in art but have sold multiple paintings and have done some commission work. I keep painting a hobby because it is my passion; my outlet from everything else.

One of the biggest, and most simple, pleasures in my life is to relax with a glass of wine, music, my paint brushes, and just make beautiful art.  Over the years I have developed a personal style and have come to learn what I enjoy painting most and what makes me happy. Then one day I realized that other people appreciate my paintings just as much as I do, so, here I am sharing them with you.

Hi everyone and welcome to Irvington First Fridays, 2011!! Hey, I grew up in Irvington, living at 313 S. Butler...graduating from School #57 and Thomas Carr Howe H.S., before attending Hiram College located near Cleveland, Ohio.

So, this event is really cool and very fulfilling to me as an Indy/Irvington artist.  

My love for art consciously started early in life, especially while I was in the second grade with Mrs. Steel. In her class, I learned to paint with water colors and won an Indy contest sponsored by BLOCK'S for Father's Day. I painted dad preaching from the pulpit of our east side church. My mom wanted to take some credit for my artwork, especially since her aunt in Toledo, OH, was very popular...a DNA thing?

{Thanks mom for your support over the years and taking me to many of the infamous art museums in America.)

To me, art has been at the center of religion and culture at least 7,000 years before Stonehenge. It's fun to paint, sketch, make art pieces that express inner thoughts, images and symbols that flow through my being. I am not a native American Indian, but my signature (MW Kokopelli) is out of respect for one of the most interesting and spiritual gods of many southwest American Indian tribes.

In closing for now, I love expressing myself through many art forms and as my significant other refers to my enjoyment of art in this way..

"Art eases my insanity!"

I look forward to seeing you somewhere in Irvington, very soon!      

MW KOKOPELLI

I believe everyone is an artist in their own creative way and the longer you live the bigger your canvas.

I also believe that everyone has a story to tell and my story started here in Irvington back in 1970. Growing up I had a deaf father that customized cars and collected vinyl records as a hobby and every chance I'd get I would go through his massive collection of vinyl and pick the albums with the coolest cover art to listen to.

(This is how I discovered the likes of Zappa, Bowie, 13th floor elevator, etc)

So by the time I started Tech high school in the mid eighties I was known as that really freaky weird white kid. (I blame the album art). So this month's series I dedicate to my father Larry for helping me become who I am today..

That really weird freaky hippie dude.

Elvis Mires