The Blue Genie team consists of four principals, Kevin Collins, Chris Coakley, Rory Skagen and Dana Younger. We have all been in business together for about 10 years. Before that time we collaborated on projects together as two separate companies, Skagen Art and Black Mountain Art. We have been immeasurably helped along the way by people too numerous to list all of whom have lent their talent, time and treasure to make our endeavors successful. This list includes our wildly talented and loyal staff, (thank you Dan, Ryan, Josh), the super creative artists who participate in our show, some of whom have been around since the beginning, (we’re looking at you Chia, Sweettooth and Arntson Design) and, of course, our patrons without whom there would be no point. We wouldn’t be able to do the work we do without the support of our amazing community.
We are really excited about this year’s show. We love this show because it’s so different from our daily routine the rest of the year. We love it because it gives us a chance to mingle with and celebrate the fantastic artists of our community. We love it because Austin is so supportive and people get excited and buy art. We do this event because we love to put on a good show.
We have a long history of putting on shows at Blue Genie and we’ve tried just about everything. We’ve had celebrities like Toots and the Maytals and Citizen Cope perform at outrageous SXSW after shows. We’ve had epic underground parties with more people than a fire marshall can shake a stick at like our Halloween Night Gallery with Kenny Roger’s Maze of Horrors. We’ve had some near disasters like the Foam Party which left our shop smelling like pina colada for 3 months. All those and many others have come and gone, but we still have our Art Bazaar, the show that works.
One of our employees back in 2001, Charles Randolph, said to us, as if it were the most obvious thing in the world, “Why don’t you have a Christmas show?” Back then we would try just about anything without giving it much thought. So we made some walls, hung up some clip lights, swept the floor and opened the doors for the weekend. We didn’t expect anything, especially not sales. We were quite startled when people started buying things. As we frantically scribbled each sale item in a notebook, we realized we had something exciting on our hands, something that needed refinement. Well, we’ve been refining this show ever since and we’re quite proud of it.
Now in our 10th year, we still feel that excitement as we start to get the ball rolling again. We hope you’re starting to feel excited too. Whether you are hoping to be in the show or are planning on visiting, we want you to know that we appreciate you.
