Now for a real “awww”-inspiring story: Ryan Welch, singer and musician for the band Moonsville Collective and Alina Wilson, local artist, are tying the knot this Saturday; but instead of their wedding taking place at a church, these two decided to break from tradition and get hitched at the Orange County Center for Contemporary Arts in Downtown SanTana.
Both artists in their own right, the couple also work on their own paintings together, which they will displaying at the wedding; after that, the collaborative works will be made public at their own gallery show in the near future.
Congrats you crazy kids!
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It wasn't a premeditated thing to start painting artwork together, but according to the couple, it began about eight months ago on a night of free-spirited wine drinking and staring at a blank canvas that got them started on their first collaborative painting. Remarkably, the painting they created that evening sold at an art show afterwards, and a bulb flashed in their heads.
“We sold our first piece and I'm thinking 'shit- when's our next one'?” Welch says.
Ever since then, Welch and Wilson have teamed up to produce piece after piece of work, unseen to the rest of their family or friends.
Their process for working together comes about organically, allowing a free-flowing spontaneity and improvisation to breathe from start to finish. “Our process doesn't have anything to do with sitting down and being like 'alright this is what we want to do, these are the colors we're gonna use. We don't really have a set direction.” Wilson says.
“There will be times when we have an image in mind inspired by a song or idea, but how we get there we don't really know.” Welch adds. Together the couple have produced nearly twenty pieces of art.
In planning their wedding, both Welch and Wilson decided early on not to settle on a traditional wedding venue, and they knocked around the idea of putting up their art for the ceremony. Literally searching for 'art center' on a Google search transported Wilson to OCCCA in SanTana, and it was perfect. The gallery would be transitioning through shows with a couple of days free without art on the walls, so the timing was ideal. Now that the plans had been made, the couple worked with even more fervor on their art to display for the big day. “It's a different twist on a wedding, and for us it's more personal. People can kind of see our brains on canvas, and hopefully they'll be delighted,” Welch says.
After the wedding, the art comes down from OCCCA's walls, and the future is unwritten; post-honeymoon, the two will search for possible art galleries to hold a solo show of their work, and creating more paintings as well.
“Working together is like a really good microcosm of a relationship, in which you have to say sometimes 'I like that' or 'I don't like that,'” Welch says. “Sometimes we're both silent and working together, and that's really nice. It's a way to pass the time, but in the end you have something. Watching TV is a good way to pass the time too, but in the end you don't have anything.”
Check out Ryan Welch's Instagram for some tidbits of his and Alina's art: @rywaw
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Aimee Murillo is calendar editor and frequently covers film and previously contributed to the OCW’s long-running fashion column, Trendzilla. Don’t ask her what her favorite movie is unless you want to hear her lengthy defense of Showgirls.