PigMint Studios has four Grand Rapids artists squealing with delight

Okay, maybe they're not squealing in the literal sense, but Grand Rapids artists Eric Nugent, Abigail Bradley, Doug Baker and Jacob Zars are definitely geeked about their new creative space at 1111 Godfrey SW: PigMint Studios.

The four painters join a warehouse full of sculptors, weavers and other creative minds in what is an artist's Mecca on the Grand Rapids' southwest side in a once unused 400,000-square-foot industrial building. PigMint, whose name is a clever wordplay on that essential painter's ingredient "pigment," occupies some 1,300 square feet of it -- a space divided into four areas that accommodates the individual artists, yet allows them free and open communication for the support and feedback that working in solitude cannot provide.

"Last week, Eric and I were there at 6:30 a.m. and Jacob joined us at 9," says Abigail Bradley. "It was really cool because we were all working on our own things and if we needed feedback, we could just turn around and get good, critical comments from the others. We all have so much fun working together; it's a lot like being a family, only we happen to be artists."

Bradley, who has owned Bradley Studios 123 for the past two years, and Nugent, a graphic artist and owner of Nugent Artwork, met at ArtPrize 2010. Bradley says she knew right away that Nugent was serious about his art. It was his idea to bring artists together in a common space, so the two spent a few months finding other artists who would be a good fit.

Bradley says the four of them are all painters, but their unique styles produce a variety of pieces that range from prints to abstracts in oil with photographic transfer.

The four will show their work at an open house this Friday, June 17 from 5 p.m. to 9 p.m. as part of a larger all-building gallery show with the other artists in the building.

Source: Abigail Bradley, PigMint Studios
Writer: Deborah Johnson Wood, Development News Editor

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