I Love Memphis

I’ve been seeing these red and black stickers all over town for the last few months. They’re about three inches long and two inches tall and they say “vini” on them. No Web address, no explanation, just “vini”. Soon after I started seeing the stickers, I noticed a sign outside of a building in my neighborhood that was just a big version of one of the stickers.

After a bit of poking around, I realized that the signs and stickers were for the Vini (Five-in-One) art collective. The collective’s home base is right behind my house. Five-in-One is a lot of things. They’re a store, a gallery and Social Club, a creative space where people can get together and make stuff on Monday nights.

Last night, I went to Social Club for the first time. There were art films projected onto a wall, people sketching, editing photos, participating in the week’s group activity (paper beads) and making balloon animals. And then there was me, with my project  – a red lace scarf that I’ve been working on for months and a can of Pabst.

I had forgotten how awesome it is to be surrounded by people who are creating things. I’m pretty sure that I got more done on the scarf that I’m working on in  90 minutes at Social Club than I’ve ever managed to get done in one sitting.

During Social Club, the Five-in-One store is open. This is totally my new favorite place to shop in Memphis.  They sell hand screen printed t-shirts (many of them Memphis themed), jewelry, stuffed animals, catnip mice, greeting cards, hoodies and stickers.

Vini was also featured on Flipside Memphis a few months ago. Check out the Live From Memphis crew, getting their Social Club on:

Go There:

Five in One

423 N. Watkins

Memphis, TN 38104