By Krystle J Bailey
Union Hall Arts in Atlantic City has been buzzing with life, love, and creativity since the doors opened earlier this year. The artists’ hub has served as a home for life drawing classes, video premiers, painting pop-ups, and most recently, a pizza box-inspired art show that drew a crowd of over 200 visitors to the corner of Atlantic and Iowa Ave.
Union Hall, located adjacent to the world-famous Tony’s Baltimore Grill, is a 600 sqft gallery space and home for artists created by Zach Katzen and Jim Dessicino. In celebration of the dynamic partnership between Tony’s and Union Hall, the Pizza Box Show was the first of many open-call artist exhibits coming to Atlantic City.
Artists were supplied with Tony’s Baltimore Grill 12-inch pizza boxes as a canvas to create pizza-inspired art using whichever medium they’d prefer. The artists were given full creative freedom, with the only requirements being that the pizza box was utilized and the relative dimensions remained intact.
The 50+ submissions were breathtakingly unique and inspiring. Artists used a variety of different mediums to create displays that celebrated the iconic pizza we’ve all come to know and love. There were deconstructed and reconstructed pizza boxes turned into sea life, boxes made of Neon, and even scraps of welding supplies used to create art.
On June 24th, community members, artists, and art enthusiasts flocked to Union Hall to celebrate the opening of the Pizza Box Show, which will remain on display through August 24th. Pizza was served as Ninja Turtles played in the background, and the local art community felt something they’d been longing for.
For too long, there has been an underlying belief that to truly experience art or explore a career as an artist, you’d have to leave South Jersey. Union Hall’s mission is to change that narrative by offering a place where artists can learn, create, gather, and celebrate one another without leaving the island.
“We just want people to feel comfortable creating,” explains Union Hall co-owner Zach Katzen. “The results speak for themselves.”
The concept for the show was sparked when Zach joined the operator of Baltimore Grill on a foodie trip to Philadelphia. Stumbling upon a local pizza pop-up, the duo was inspired by the pizza box doodles gaining notoriety in Philly. David Quaile of Freelance Pizza serves up mouth-watering pizzas with a personal touch. Each box gets a custom doodle by Quaile, who describes himself as neither a pizza maker nor an artist. What began as a way to pass time while pizzas were in the oven soon became a Philly favorite. One little doodle in the hands of Zach Katzen led to an entire pizza-inspired exhibit in Atlantic City.
The Pizza Box Show can be viewed on Mondays and Wednesdays from 3-6 pm or on the weekends by appointment. All of the pieces in the exhibit are available for purchase. Follow Union Hall Arts on social media to connect, schedule an appointment, and keep up with upcoming events. Check out @freelancepizza_ on Instagram to explore the doodling of David Quaile.
The next open-call community gallery, My Atlantic City Show, will take place in December 2022. Inspired by the @myatlanticcity Instagram page, artists are invited to submit art that captures Atlantic City through their eyes.
Krystle J Bailey. Multimedia journalist, Author, Poet.
Connect with Krystle on Instagram @thedailybailey5
