Kennedy (pictured) said the Artwalk is an important way to not just support the artist but also the local shops downtown. (Lauryn Mackenzie/CHLY 101.7FM)

Once again, downtown Nanaimo will be taken over by artists showcasing their talent and wares for purchase.

Since 1998, the Nanaimo Artwalk has celebrated art and has given local artists the opportunity to showcase their artwork inside local businesses around the downtown area.

This year’s artwalk will feature over 50 different artists at 17 different venues. The venues vary from art galleries, skateboard shops, to gelato stores, all within the Commercial Street and Old Quarter area.

The event will run this weekend on November 22 from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. and on November 23 from noon to 4 p.m.

Michelle Kennedy has been participating in the Artwalk for over five years now. Kennedy is an abstract acrylic artist who started participating in the artwalk after seeing how supportive the community is during it.

Every year, Kennedy teams up with Cold Front Gelato on Commercial Street to use their space to showcase her work.

“I text them or email them or call them or Instagram message them just as soon as possible at the beginning of the year to make sure that I can get in there, because it's such a lovely space,” Kennedy said. “I get to sit around and smell them make waffle cones and smell gelato for two days.”

She said she loves the community aspect of the event, meeting Artwalk regulars or those who just happen to stumble by.

“There are a few people throughout Nanaimo I see basically once a year, and I see them during Artwalk. So it's that little art connection, that little cultural connection that we have, that I look forward to every year,” Kennedy said. “There's a lady who gave me her crab apples from her crab apple tree so I could make crab apple vodka. So I told her to come on down, and she has come down every year too, and I still get crab apples from her for the crab apple vodka.”

Kennedy said the Artwalk is an important way to not just support the artist but also the local shops downtown. She said this year is especially important following the recent construction of Commercial Street, where, for 11 months, local shops and businesses were affected by road closures.

“So the businesses there have always supported the artists and the ‘shop local’ type of thing,” Kennedy said. “So this is one of the ways you can come down and not just support the artists that are down here, but also support all of the businesses that are down here that have had a tough time [recently] with all of the construction going on.”

Kennedy said the Artwalk gives her a chance to try out new things to put on display to see how people react to them.

One thing Kennedy is trying out is her “Dirty Birds” card series, where, following a very cold and boring January, Kennedy got the idea to take some paintings she had done of birds and create a series of greeting cards pairing the birds with some naughty language.

“I really think that was a spot where I could try something different,” Kennedy said. “I could try something different down there and just sort of see what floated out there and see if it was actually something that people would like. So that's been really nice.”

Continuing this year is a free hop-on-hop-off shuttle that can take participants to different drop-off locations throughout the Artwalk route downtown.

Event guides can be picked up ahead of the event at the Nanaimo Museum at 100 Museum Way, located off Commercial Street.

Funding Note: This story was produced with funding support from the Local Journalism Initiative, administered by the Community Radio Fund of Canada.