ANNUAL ART ALL DAY: ArtWorks third annual Art All Day event will take place at sites all over Trenton this Saturday, November 8. Last year’s event saw artist Steven Morris (above) painting at Gallery 219. This year’s event promises to be bigger and better than ever before. Activities begin and end at Artworks, located at 19 Everett Alley, Trenton, N.J. 08611 (off South Stockton Street, across from NJ Motor Vehicle Commission building). For more information, call (609) 394-9436, or visit: http://artworkstrenton.org/art-all-day/. (Photo by Jeff

Trenton is reinventing itself through art as visitors can see for themselves this Saturday, November 8, when the city becomes a huge outdoor gallery courtesy of ArtWorks, the visual art center at 19 Everett Alley in Trenton, which hosts its third annual “Art All Day” (AAD), a companion to the ever popular 24-hour Art All Night event each year in June.

Aptly described as the Capital City’s own open studio tour and creative showcase, Art all Day transforms Trenton into a vibrant arts destination and if other ArtWorks-organized events are anything to go by, Art All Day will be well-attended. Over a thousand visitors are expected to enjoy free art, music, and entertainment at some 30 sites across the city.

To facilitate access to the many studio tours and performances around town there will be docent-led trolley, walking, and bicycling tours to the art studios and exhibition sites as well as numerous activities for art-lovers.

Three new art-oriented venues have been added this year. The Hive Community of Art & Design is among the city’s latest collective spaces for local artists. The New Trenton Store & Studio is a combination collectibles shop, photo studio, and gallery. Both join The College of New Jersey’s CommunityWorks Art Gallery and Art All Day’s existing roster of 27 other Trenton sites showcasing the work of more than 80 artists and craftspeople.

“What I love about Art All Day is that every year there is so much that is new to see and do,” said Art All Day Director Lauren Otis. “Trenton is just bursting with new ideas, new ventures, new art. It is a city with a lot of history, some of it not so great, so it is really gratifying to show people how Trenton is reinventing itself right now before their very eyes,” he said.

Visitors will find some of their favorite activities from last year with artists like Mel Leipzig painting for all to see at the New Jersey State Museum from noon until 4 p.m., and Trenton muralists doing their stuff around town. The city’s latest public murals will be featured on the Art All Day public art tour.

In addition, the S.A.G.E. Coalition’s Gandhi Garden and Gallery 219 will be open and members of the Trenton Area Soup Kitchen’s A-Team artists will be showcasing their work.

Cast iron sculpture by members of the AbOminOg International Arts Collective will be on view at the Old Barracks Museum.

All of the activities are free with suggested donations for tours (see below). Don’t forget to pick up a free map showing all the sites around town where art will be on view throughout the day.

Tours and Activities

Events begin with a group exhibition from 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. in the Artworks main gallery. From noon through 5 p.m. there will be open studios and pop-up galleries in unexpected places throughout Trenton.

Special trolley tours guided by Art all Day staff will leave from the ArtWorks parking lot at noon, 1:30 p.m., and 3 p.m. The tours operate on two separate loops (Northeast Loop and Southwest Loop). Each loop features three tours and each tour takes approximately one and one half hours. There is a suggested donation of $10 for one tour, $15 for two, and $20 for three.

For those who prefer to walk, there will be one hour docent-led tours of the downtown and central Trenton sites leaving at 12:30 p.m., 2 p.m., and 3:30 p.m., for which the suggested donation is $5.

And if bicycling is your preference, you can bring along your own bike and be guided by Wills Kinsley. These tours will operate continuously throughout the day from noon to 5 p.m., returning to the Artworks site to pick up new riders approximately every hour on the hour. A donation of $5 is also suggested for participants.

Throughout the afternoon from noon until 5 p.m, there will be live painting/demos at multiple AAD sites. Dean “Ras” Innocenzi and Jonathan “Lank” Connor will be at TerraCycle; Will Kasso will be at Gallery 219, Leon Rainbow will be at Zienowicz Signs, and Kenneth Lewis and Julia “Kito” Kirtley will be at the Conservatory Mansion.

Also from noon to 5 p.m., there will be a JuJu Crossing World Music & Art Fete with live drumming and dance featuring DanceSpora, Akoma House, and Ahmed Davis, at the Conservatory Mansion

At the New Jersey State Museum, Curator of Fine Art Margaret O’Reilly will lead a gallery tour of “American Perspectives: The Fine Art Collection,” at 2 p.m. on the museum’s third floor.

Classics Books will host poetry readings from 2 to 4 p.m. and a reception in celebration of the day, kicks off in the ArtWorks main gallery at 5 p.m.

The evening will conclude with a showcase of work by local filmmakers at the Mill Hill Playhouse from 7:30 until 9:30 p.m. when the Trenton Film Society in conjunction with Cinema Thursdays presents “Trenton Makes Movies.”

A comprehensive map showing all the sites can be viewed at: http://artworks.rockbridgeservic.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/ArtMap-AAD-2014.pdf.

Free parking all day will be available at Artworks, which will serve as Art All Day headquarters, where visitors can obtain information on sites and activities, view on-site studios, take in the “Artists of Art All Day” group show, sample from food trucks, and gather before embarking on trolley, bike, and walking tours.

Artworks is located at 19 Everett Alley, Trenton (off South Stockton Street, across from the N.J. Motor Vehicle Commission building). For more information, call call (609) 394-9436, or visit: http://artworkstrenton.org/art-all-day/.