Prime attraction: North Park’s Ray at Night

Ray at Night. (Photo by Steve Covault)

What it is: A free gallery walk held the second Saturday of each month on and around Ray Street in North Park. Artists and art lovers alike can admire a myriad of art forms from painting to spoken word performances. Among the participating galleries and stores are Planet Rooth Studio and Santos & Cirello Gallery, San Diego Art Department, 4 Walls Gallery, Obr Architecture, raystreetstudios.com, Sharp Studio Gallery, and Luxe Hair Studio. Also involved are Soul Ryde, Enclothe and Ray Street Annex.

Why it’s special: I’ve gone to Ray at Night several times and each time the experience is different. There is a uniquely San Diegan feel to Ray at Night — no pretension, just hip art and artists. Maybe it’s the candlelight, wine or being surrounded by art but Ray at Night is an intensely romantic evening for me. Something about meeting and befriending the artists in such a casual manner is elating. It is great for local businesses, too, because this event allows them to share their services to a whole new crowd each month.

History: Ray at Night was founded in 2001 by Gustaf Rooth, a Swedish artisan and owner of Planet Rooth Studio Gallery. Since then, Ray at Night has blossomed into San Diego’s largest monthly art event, with an average attendance of around 1,500 people.

Quotable: Michael Salmon, of Soul Ryde, a purveyor of stylish long boards, shares how Ray at Night has helped his business: “Ray at Night has been great for us. Since we don’t get much walk by traffic on Ray Street during the week, Ray at Night brings you a month’s worth of foot traffic in one night. It has helped expose our services and products to people who would have normally never heard of us or what we do. And when they come in with one idea, they usually end up leaving with a dozen once they see what we can do.”

Know and go: Ray at Night is held every second Saturday from 6-10 p.m. The heart of the event is located on Ray Street between University and North Park Way. The event is free but bring a few dollars cash for glasses of wine or beer. Go to www.rayatnight.com for more information.

Watch a Fast Pace Live Spray Paint art performance: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WrY7V6u9bnU

Lauren Palazzo is an SDNN contributor.

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This entry was posted on Monday, May 4th, 2009 at 12:30 pm and is filed under Arts & Entertainment, Music. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.