Banker's Block Collective: The Tin Can Alehouse

Thursday's Banker's Block Collective, and the monthly Colour Palette, showcase the Tin Can Alehouse's dynamism as an art gallery, local music venue, and dance spot. Owner Kelsey Allyn Breunig, Sarah Yassine and Bryan Wingen give us the scoop on this week's poppin' promo party!

his Thursday night, Banker’s Hill will be spiffing up and greeting San Diegans for Banker’s Block Collective, a block party spanning four businesses and a slew of artists and djs. The Tin Can Alehouse, SRO Lounge, Broken Heart Tattoo and JG Color Studios will all hold event specials for the big night. “We think of Banker’s Hill as roughly between the area around Barrio Star on up to the area around Caliph,” says Jen Guerin, one of the founders of the event. Banker’s Hill, formally recognized between Upas, Date Street, the 5 freeway, and Little Italy, known originally for being an affluent residential neighborhood thus earning its name. It is currently turning into an independent commercial center comparable to the nearby uptown neighborhoods that, too, had for many years been considered up-and-coming.

Exhibition Review: "The Colour Palette" presents Dylan Clausen and Bryan Wingen

Last night, July 2, 2010, the inaugural Colour Pallette kicked off in Banker's Hill's Tin Can Alehouse. The beloved neighborhood bar contributed its main wall to the art of event creators Bryan Wingen and Dylan Clausen. Bryan presented the "Stripe" photographic series, which presented a series of mixed straight-up, and unconventional, portraiture, of individuals (among them, two dogs!) wearing a found "ugly" sweater of red and white striped reminiscent of the American flag. He had each subject pose in front of an actual American flag (sans the stars), and both the sweater and the flag were mounted above a galley next to the bar. Meanwhile, Dylan presented a series of liquidic, atmospheric watercolors and inks, characterized by his trademark graphic-inspireed linework and muted primary pallette. The overall effect of the two series' side by side, with the Tin Can's lighting, is a soft scarlet glow emanating off the wall, drawing the some sixty guests to look closer, but to also keep a distance from the energetic aura of the bold works.