Event Concept
Photo: Billy Farrell/BFA.com
The Aspen ArtCrush event is a milestone in the storyline of the Aspen Art Museum. With a recent $70 million redesign effort, the museum has been completely transformed into a world class gallery. We were thrilled to be a part of this year’s amazing Aspen ArtCrush + WineCrush, and the results were nothing short of amazing. Since the inception of the annual event, David and Chris of StoneFox have been the controlling creative forces behind the event’s highly unique and interactive design. After executing a high-end, luxury wedding at the AAM, we were brought onto the event team to assist with design and execute the Crush events by Melissa Prentice, the Special Events Manager with the museum. Melissa approached us with meticulous plans, concepts from StoneFox and even dimensions and materials already laid out. Within the first piece of communication we had a firm understanding of the theme, design and how we could help take on this challenge.
Just to toot our own horn a bit more, the wedding we recently designed at the AAM is going to be featured in the Martha Stewart magazine in 2017, which was one of the influencing factors in Pink Monkey working on the Aspen ArtCrush + WineCrush project. It was an incredible event to be a part of, we really wanted to channel that bold energy and bring the Pink Monkey personality to the project.
Aspen Art Crush
Photo: Billy Farrell/BFA.com
Chris (StoneFox) lead the efforts for the ArtCrush event, which embodied a design theme that is best described by Chris as “Sexy Circus”. As a major fundraising event, we knew the custom pieces we brought to the table had to be over the top engaging and ridiculously fun. We enlisted a handful of custom pieces like the Marquee Bar letters and the turnstiles placed at the entrance. The one custom flare that ended up being a hit of the Art Crush party was the Burlesque Performers Stage. As the “Sexy Circus” theme implies, there were some amazingly flexible and daring performers catching the eyes of everyone at the party.
Photo: Billy Farrell/BFA.com
WineCrush
Photo: Billy Farrell/BFA.com
David was in command of the WineCrush party, his vision can best be described as “Versailles Gardens meets Modern Glam”. Even at the beginning stages of this project we saw and loved the creative flow from the StoneFox team, their ideas were well conceptualized, engaging and even a little daring. The custom elements we provided were all fabricated by the in-house Pink Monkey team. Our General Manager and Fabrication Director, Nigel Deans brought together a small team to construct a line of custom pieces for the event. Our custom contributions included: Gold acrylic mirrors, chandeliers with manzanita and crystal details, hedge arch entrance and acrylic decals for the ever popular dance floor.
Challenges
While everything turned out even more magical than expected, there’s typically a few road bumps to face before everything runs smoothly. At the absolute last minute, the ArtCrush event experienced a bit of rain. This required an immediate addition of a tent over the entire Sideshow Courtyard area. Luckily the rain was taken care of and it didn’t cause much of a problem for the guests.
The biggest challenge we faced was the new location for ArtCrush. For years, it was being held in a public park in Downtown Aspen, where a complimentary event Aspen Food and Wine also takes place. The first location concept was at the base of the Buttermilk Mountain Ski Resort, due to a number of obstacles the event was held in the parking lot. This created a bit of a time crunch for all of the vendors involved in terms of the initial dimensions laid out for the party. While the dimensions had to be altered, everything went phenomenally well and the true nature of the design was not disturbed.
End Result
We had rain and relocations, but overall this project was a blast. It can be difficult working with another creative agency, but the StoneFox team was truly collaborative, being open to mild tweaks and changes. With StoneFox in charge of direction and the Pink Monkey team tackling execution, it was a seamless partnership that yielded results almost spot on with the initial vision.
Overall, this event was a smash hit. With a creative and flexible client and a team of talented individuals working together, it was certainly a huge success.