The PONSHOP Storefront 04/15/2010: The Doors Are Open

April 15, 2010 was the official first day of the PONSHOP storefront being open at 712 Caroline Street in Downtown Fredericksburg, Virginia. Below are some pics of our new space. Thanks again to all of those that have helped in the renovation/relocation over the last six weeks and thanks to all our friends and fans who paid us a visit over the past week.

As mentioned before, our Grand Opening Weekend is Friday and Saturday May 7-8. The opening party is Friday May 7 from 6-10pm. If you are around town, come on down and check it out!

Photo (above) by Jarrell from Dweeblifestyle.com

PONSHOP's retail shop includes fine art, ceramics, art tees, skateboards, jewelry, and eco-minded accessories.

In many ways, the shop feels like our old apartment in Brooklyn - "railroad" type layout right on street level, and a back porch area.

The studio space will double as our classroom. This snapshot above is from our "Skate to Create" workshop. These students are designing their own skateboard graphics to be applied on a skateboard deck using stencil techniques.

Urban Decay Show Announced

I am pleased to announce that I'll be taking part of "Urban Decay" - an exhibit of Custom Vinyl and Lowbrow Art at the Workhouse Arts Center in Lorton, VA. The show runs from April 28 through May 9 and the opening reception will be on Saturday, May 1. The opening reception promises to be jam packed full of spectacle with a number of the featured artists (listed below) doing live demonstrations on vinyl toys and canvas. Do Check it Out! For more info, Click Here

"Urban Decay" is an exhibit organized by the Workhouse Arts Center and Spaghetti Project.

PONSHOP Opens April 15 / Grand Opening in May

We'll be opening our doors at the new location (712 Caroline Street, Fredericksburg, VA) on Thursday April 15. The "Grand Opening" of PONSHOP will be on "First Friday" May 7th.

Scarlett took some heat from the municipality about building permit issues last week, but all that's been resolved and we're moving forward...

"Where's the pictures of the new space?" Well you'll just have to wait until we open the doors. (and I think I left the camera down at the shop too). In the meantime, we still have a lot of work to do: complete the kiln shed, finish the reception desk, arrange furniture, augment the lighting, and arrange all the inventory and artwork.

"Reunion" Series (detail), 9"x9", mixed media on paper

I'll be happy to finally put down the power tools and get to business on the biz-ness of the shop. Until then we shall double our efforts to ensure that we have our act together. See you there. -G

Intro To Street Art: March 2010

March 2010: My "Intro To Street Art" student needed very little introduction to using wheat paste collage, markers, and spray paint to create her own 2-foot by 4-foot masterpiece. Savant a.k.a "Sam" (16 yrs) not only had an opportunity to use new tools and media to express herself, she also got some tips on practicing her lettering, cutting stencil patterns and using spray paint. Check the images below to track her creative process:

After covering her board with collage materials found in comic books and magazines, Savant drew and cut a 4-foot long pattern to be used for the first layer of spray paint.

Once she sprayed her background and "Sam" Stencil, she returned to the painting with a thick marker to highlight elements in the collage.

Her stencil "signature" turned out quite well considering we had to spray it in 35 degree weather...Good Job!

Gabriel Pons holds art workshops for children and adults monthly. For a current listing of PONSHOP classes, Click Here.

Mixed Media Class: Winter 2010

February 2010: Even the countless inches of snow didn't stop some dedicated students from taking a group lesson with PONSHOP last month. I met with students for an hour every week for a Mixed Media Workshop that included collage, painting, stencils, and drawing with markers. Below are some snapshots throughout our sessions.
Nice work kids!

Barrett (8yrs) laid down a thick background of acrylic paint before adding a U.F.O stencil and some collage.

Corbin (8 yrs) drew some fantastic creatures over her painting and collage.

Harrison (8yrs) explored writing his name a variety of ways before adding magazine cut outs and drawings.

There's nothing more satisfying than to see my students hard at work. Well Done!

Scarlett and I are excited to take on new students for this Spring at our new location. For a current listing of PONSHOP classes, Click Here.

End of an Era / New Beginnings

Diego stands in the studio formerly known as PONSHOP at LibertyTown Arts Workshop.

March 15, 2010. We've officially moved from our space at LibertyTown Arts Workshop and will be opening the doors to our new storefront on Thursday, April 15. Scarlett and I would like to thank all our colleagues at LibertyTown for their support and friendship over the past five years. I couldn't help but get a bit nostalgic as I was taking work off the walls. When we set up shop in 2005, we were new to town and full of aspirations to make a difference as artists in the community and today I realized that we've surpassed our expectations by taking our studio to this next step.

Will we still be teaching classes? Yes. Will we continue to pursue our respective crafts? Yes. Now we're going to have a retail dimension to our space which hopefully will engage a whole new audience in Fredericksburg.

PONSHOP is now at 712 Caroline Street, Fredericksburg, Virginia

Special Shout out to those that have helped us over the past two weeks of our renovation/move/installation: Andy P., Chris A., Jeff G., Jessica G., James H., Joshua J., and the many more students/fans of PONSHOP that I'll wrangle in before all is said and done. Muchas Gracias to the Pons and Suhy Families - my brother(s) Chris and Didier, Scarlett's sister Grissell (whose visage graces the left storefront window in the pic above), and our parents who continue to encourage and help us achieve this dream.

Scarlett shot a photo of her sister in 1994(?) which became the inspiration behind the "Baila Baila" painting and this paper post up.

"Soul Providers" Exhibit: March 2010

Fellow co-op artist Ana Rendich and I are the featured artists for the month of March at Art First Gallery. "Soul Providers" offers up a collection of work inspired by our personal experiences and insights. Click Here to preview some of the pieces from the exhibition.

This show has significant importance since it will be my last exhibit with Art First Gallery before I depart the co-op to focus on the new PONSHOP location. Please come out to the opening reception this Friday, March 5 from 6-9pm. The show runs through March 28.

Art First Gallery, 824 Caroline Sreet, Fredericksburg, VA.

PONSHOP is on the Move

Scarlett and I are excited to announce that we’ve acquired a storefront in Downtown Fredericksburg (712 Caroline Street), and will be moving from our studio at LibertyTown this month to have our doors open in our new space in April. The PONSHOP mission remains the same – creating and educating through our respective arts, however we’re expanding to accommodate a retail dimension which will offer up artisan made and eco-friendly items for all. This has been an aspiration of ours since living in New York and we’re happy to be taking such a big step. On behalf of Scarlett and I, we’d like to thank all of the people that we’ve worked with and supported us over the past five years and look forward to strengthening the arts community in Fredericksburg. The new PONSHOP location opens April 2010.