Monsters invade the North Carolina Museum of Art

Raleigh will play host to more than 80 of the state’s most talented artists Friday for the North Carolina Museum of Art’s second annual Monster Drawing Rally. 

Inspired by the San Francisco nonprofit Southern Exposure, the Monster Drawing Rally is a fundraiser that features live drawing, music, drinking and food trucks.

Artists will take the stage in waves beginning at 6 p.m. and have just under an hour to create one to three works of art. Viewers will be able to follow along as works of art transform from marks on paper into finished drawings. 

After each piece is completed, it will immediately be made available for purchase for $50, which will benefit the museum’s programming. 

But it won’t be just the audience looking to purchase artwork Friday night. Raleigh artist Jenny Eggleston strategically chose to start drawing at 8 p.m. so she could watch other artists work and hopefully snag a drawing for herself. 

“I want to walk away with a couple of drawings from people whose works I love and could never afford,” Eggleston said. “I’m so hoping I can score a couple of really cool drawings. That’s my number one. The other thing is not to fall on my face. I hope I do a drawing that I like. (Those are) my two goals.”

After seeing last year’s event take off, Jennifer Hicks, the museum’s director of programs, said she expects Friday to be a huge success. Hicks said the museum sold the last of its 800 tickets on Monday. 

Before the museum introduced the Monster Drawing Rally in 2016, it hosted an expensive, high-end art auction, but Hicks said she felt it wasn’t as welcoming to those outside of the art community. With the Monster Drawing Rally, Hicks saw a way to share art with a wider audience.

“It’s family-friendly, we have food trucks, it’s very casual,” Hicks said. “It’s a way to really engage the artist community and really engage the rest of the community, and have anybody be able to come together and either buy the art or just watch the process.”

Kristin Smith, a participating artist from Mebane, North Carolina, works at NCMA and said the Monster Drawing Rally brings in guests of every background.

“It was insane last year how diverse it was,” Smith said. “It was totally multi-generational. You had young kids up to grandparents that were there. And because the artists are bringing their communities, you’ve got family, you’ve got friends of the artists, and then the museum is drawing your higher end, like collectors. It runs the entire gamut of art lovers.”

Smith said that it’s almost as if the artists are animals in a zoo, as their every move is observed while they paint. According to Smith, every artist handles this unique environment differently. 

“I didn’t talk to anyone because I didn’t want to, I just wanted to draw,” Smith said. “One guy was super friendly and talked to everyone about what he was doing and the process, and the other guy had headphones on and a bandana to block everything else out. Every artist brings their own personality to the experience.”

One artist who’s looking forward to entertaining the crowd is Raleigh’s Adam Cohen. While his drawings will be the main attraction, Cohen, who also performs stand-up comedy, said he’s excited to be able to interact with a live audience while he works. 

“This kind of combines two things I love,” Cohen said. “I kind of enjoy the best of both worlds doing visual art with a little bit of performance. I don’t have to do the cocoon thing.”

Cohen said he plans to walk around before and after his shift to observe the other artists and take in all of the artwork. 

“It’s a real treat,” Cohen said. “It’s just something you don’t get to do very often. It’s cool enough to see one artist draw, but to get to see 80 of them, it’s unheard of.”

Doors open at 5:30 p.m. Friday on Level B of the East Building at the North Carolina Museum of Art. 

@zach_goins

arts@dailytarheel.com