Belly dancing and car sculpture to highlight second Aurora ArtWalk

The Geneva artist responsible for the 8-foot-tall Abraham Lincoln head carved from snow that appeared in downtown Aurora last month is coming back.

This time he's bringing his life-size kinetic robot named Curtis and a 12-foot-long triceratop sculpture made of recycled car and farm implement parts.

Joseph Gagnepain is one several dozen artists participating in Aurora ArtWalk from 7 to 10 p.m. today in the city's downtown.

Created and planned by artists, the ArtWalk will be filled with Fox Valley artisans painting, sculpting, drawing, reading, dancing, singing, strumming and even belly dancing.

Tonight's event is the second ArtWalk sponsored by Aurora Downtown, in conjunction with the City of Aurora, the Aurora Area Convention and Visitors Bureau and the Cultural Creatives. The first was last September and its success prompted organizers to attempt to turn it into a quarterly event this year.

Gagnepain also participated in September's event.

"I did the last art walk and it was one of the most successful I've been a part of," he said. "I'm totally looking forward to come back this weekend."

Convention bureau spokeswoman Laurie DiBerardino said the event was sparked by several concepts: to offer an opportunity for local artists to network, to showcase Aurora's burgeoning artist colony and to highlight downtown's historic venues.

"We're very excited for Friday night and we're hoping to build on the 300 or so people we had out in September despite the torrential rainstorm we had that night," she said. "And this event will feature several venues that will be different from last time, so folks will get to see more of our cool buildings too."

The ArtWalk will be hosted by multiple venues just on and off Broadway, including the Aurora Regional Fire Museum, Balderas Beauty Salon, LaFrance Bakery, Aurora FastPrint, Budget Finance, Gallery 44, Artworks Studio, Paramount Arts Centre and the Aurora Public Art Commission.