MACON, Ga. — For one night only, a spooky new art show is coming to downtown Macon.
What was once the the student art league at Middle Georgia State University is now a collective who want to shake up the Macon art scene by bringing fresh, non-traditional art shows to Central Georgia.
They are the Ocmulgee Artist Guild. They started in 2016 with with a $3 art show made of leftover work from when they were students.
The night of the first show, they sold hundred of pieces.
"And so it was that kind of moment where we were like 'wow people actually want our refuge art work that we don't even like. Cool, what if we actually put the good stuff up on the walls," Guild President Colin Penndorf said.
This show spawned into a series of pop-up, one-night-only art shows every three months.
Penndorf says the guilds goal is bringing the phantasmagorical or dream-like nature of art to Central Georgia.
This weekends show is no different.
The Ocmulgee Artists Guild is hosting one of their mainstay shows called Dysphoria: High Strangeness. This is the sixth show in the Dysphoria series.
It features over 100 new works of art about all things strange, odd and even a bit uncomfortable.
"We use the dysphoria to of be an open ended like, it is this out of human body experience, this uncomfortability in ones body experience. What does that mean to you, how does that present in you," Penndorf said.
The goal is for artists to experiment with themes of otherness and curiosity to create works that push the boundaries of both the medium they are working with and their own imagination.
"We're like 'we don't wanna be the gallery show, we want to be the one-night, pop up, you miss it, that's it. The work sells when somebody buys it, it goes off the wall, that's it. You don't even get to see it. So you wanna come, you wanna come early, you wanna see all this art work, get your pick of the best work and that's been what Dysphoria really allowed us to really do," Penndorf said.
Throughout the night visitors will get the chance to get creative themselves with art demonstrations, free drinks at the bar and hear a set from Magnolia Moon.
The guild is largely self funded and shows like Friday nights help them continue to bring their unique art perspective to the community.
Penndorf says the guild tries to go above and beyond each show and donations really help out.
"I think as a lot of our mainstay patrons have (seen), cause at this point we have a lot of people who do continuously come back, I mean they come back and they walk into a new event every time. They see that, (the) money always goes into new ideas, new products and we're constantly building the space up better and bigger," he said.
Dysphoria: High Strangeness goes from 6 p.m. until midnight at 391 Second street. The event is free to attend.
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