Art lovers and creative minds looking for a way to plug into the local art community and build connections with other local artists will be gathering at the Green Bar tomorrow night from 7 to midnight.

As a part of the Green Bar’s monthly showcase, they will be hosting a spring fundraiser and membership drive for the Alabama Art Kitchen, an artist collective that strives to enrich Alabama art culture.

The Green Bar tries to help the local art community by showcasing four different artists each month. This month’s featured artists are Rich Marcks, Exa Johnston, David Smith and the Alabama Art Kitchen. Thursday’s event will be 19 and up with a $3 to $5 cover charge. All of the proceeds will benefit the Art Kitchen.

“It’s a cool art collective and a nice addition to the city,” said Bill Lloyd, owner of Wilhagan’s and the Green Bar. “Allison and Claire are great people, and we need more of this kind of thing in Tuscaloosa.”

“[The Art Kitchen] has been a really long time coming for me,” said Allison Milham, co-founder of the Art Kitchen and graduate student in the book arts program. “Ever since I moved here in 2008, I felt really isolated. There was community on campus, but outside school there was no connection between artists and no way of meeting creative people in Tuscaloosa.”

In September of 2010, Milham created the Alabama Art Kitchen alongside fellow book arts graduate student Claire Siepser to fill that need. Since then, it has provided opportunities for artists to get together and share tools, music and a workspace. Artists who are part of the collective can also get critiqued on their work, if they so desire, and participate in numerous workshops held throughout the week.

“It’s been pretty exciting to see how supportive the community has been,” Milham said.

For Thursday, the Art Kitchen has planned an evening full of creative fun with live music, a screen-printing demonstration and a silent auction.

“We have some really awesome items in the silent auction, like a stuffed lynx head,” Siepser said.

Other items in the silent auction include original works of art, a classical guitar, several gift certificates to local restaurants and a variety of other creative gifts. There will also be special offers from the Art Kitchen, such as one-month free membership, or a free pass to a workshop of your choice.

Throughout the night there will be music by three local bands. The bands are playing for free to benefit the Art Kitchen. Baak Gwai and the Freakie Deekies, a new group of local musicians, and Great Basin will all perform.

Great Basin is the Kitchen’s in-house songstress, comprised of Milham backed by members of the Freakie Deekies. She describes her music as very melodic and heavy on vocals. Milham will be playing guitar and some accordion, as well as singing.

In addition to the auction and the music, Patrick Mayton, a print instructor at the University of Montevallo, will be doing a screen-printing demonstration. His live prints will be for sale that night.

Siepser said they hope the fundraiser will get people interested in the Art Kitchen and interested in membership. Currently, the artist collective has about 12 members and has been pretty successful, which the founders attribute to the support of the community.

There will be a membership table at the Green Bar for anyone interested in learning how to join the Alabama Art Kitchen or how to get involved and offer support.

For more information about the Alabama Art Kitchen, visit alabamaartkitchen.com or contact [email protected].