50 artists, a handful of tipis and noble causes at Art Hop

Using art to bring attention to social issues is the theme of this week’s Merced Art Hop, what has become the city’s largest consistent event for the downtown district.

Art Hop is from 5 to 9 p.m. Saturday on and around Main Street between I and N streets.

Twenty-eight businesses and about 50 artists are set to pepper the downtown celebration of self-expression, according to the couple that founded Art Hop nearly eight years ago, Kimberly Zamora and Kevin Hammon.

The couple said they have experience in promotion, which has helped the hop’s achievement, but there’s another secret to its success. “I’d say it’s the partnership with the businesses,” Hammon said Wednesday.

The theme “Art for a Cause” is a repeat from the same time last year, he said. Last July’s hop was the best-attended summer version of the quarterly event yet.

The warm weather can sometimes keep people away, Hammon said. Saturday’s high is expected to be in the mid- to high 90s, according to the National Weather Service in Hanford.

Going along with the “Cause” theme, New Beginnings for Merced County Animals, the LGBT Community Center, Merced Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals and other groups are teaming for the hop, according to Zamora.

Artists of all kinds, live music and other expressions of creativity are planned throughout the event. Art Hop also is a way to get visitors to Main Street to check out the locally owned shops.

Bob Hart Square will hold an art installation inspired by tipis, the conical tents traditionally made from animal skins by Native Americans indigenous to the Great Plains.

Zamora said the “Village of Kindness,” also in the square, is a community piece on a large canvas where hop-goers can add houses to a mountainous background. The Epekel Gallery on Canal Street is to feature art from women in the “Feminine Say” show, she said, and the Merced Multicultural Arts Center will feature Merced College faculty work and other artists.

The art scene in Merced is a blossoming one that continues to grow every year, Zamora said, and the hop embraces multicultural art – more secrets to Art Hop’s success.

“Art is for everyone, so that’s kind of like another piece of (why) the people come to the downtown,” she said.

This story was originally published July 14, 2016 at 2:01 PM with the headline "50 artists, a handful of tipis and noble causes at Art Hop."