‘Live Art’ series bringing music, martial arts, painting, and more to downtown Muskegon

Beginning Thursday, June 25, the Olthoff Stage at the corner of Western Avenue and Third Street in downtown Muskegon will be filled with live art performances, from painting and music to martial arts, quilting, poetry, and more.

City Center Arts, an art gallery located inside downtown Muskegon’s Century Club, is launching its “Live Art” series on June 25 at the Olthoff Stage, where local artists will share their talents with the community through live performances.

“With almost every festival and event canceled due to COVID, we will not allow our creativity to stop,” City Center Arts owner Renae Hesselink said in a press statement.  “There are plenty of things we can do to showcase our local artists and still practice social distancing and safety.” 

 Artist Julie Westmaas will kick off the series with a fiber art performance from 5pm to 7pm on Thursday, June 25. A teacher of fiber arts and batik at the Lakeshore Sewing and Fremont Arts Place, Westmaas’ work [which you can see by clicking here] includes framed quilted art, fabric bowls, jewelry, and batik designs.

From 12pm to 2pm on Friday, June 26, artist Evelyn Jane Olthof will share her painting talents. Born in Britain, Olthof moved to Grand Rapids in 2018. Much of her artwork is paintings done with acrylics and ink.

Additional events will soon be announced on the City Center Arts Facebook page.

With the summer series, Hesselink aims to further shed light on the artistic talent that exists in Muskegon and West Michigan. 

“This was one of our original goals: create more awareness of the local artistic talent that we have in West Michigan, so this pandemic has caused us to be more innovative,” Hesselink said. 

The gallery owner too hopes that those who plan on attending the Live Art series will think about visiting the nearby restaurants, breweries, Western Market chalets, food trucks, and other retail shops at the Century Club—many of whom are facing difficult days with the state’s recent shutdown and the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic.

For more information about the upcoming Live Art series and City Center Arts, please click here.