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Before the pandemic happened, nail artist Asa Bree was in what she describes as a “very toxic” salon situation. ”COVID kind of caused that to implode,” she says. “I had a very strong Instagram and social media presence at that time. It occurred to me that it can all crumble very quickly, especially with all that COVID did to a ton of businesses.”
Bree stepped away from the online nail community, which she says was a really big decision, because “if you’re not online, you’re not really participating.” Instead, she took that time at the beginning of the pandemic to start a business with three of her friends. “It was a really incredible experience that showed me I can run a business, I can work for myself, and I can do it all, almost without social media,” she remembers.
While Bree says she and her partners still participated “a little bit” on social media, for the most part she retreated into herself and started thinking about what she wanted her future in nails to look like. After all of the COVID-induced separation, she thought there needed to be a fun platform to bring people back together and showcase the fine art that is nails IRL.
“Aside from making art every day on my incredible clients, I wanted to make a more experiential kind of gallery exhibit that showcased nails as fine art. It doesn’t feel like there’s much of that for people who love nails,” she says. “[Nail art] is a really incredible service to provide, and it’s something really fun to go get done as a client, but it’s so much more than that. It is a fine art medium. The way nail art has blown up in the last handful of years is just mind boggling.”
With all that in mind, Bree decided to spearhead and curate the upcoming ManiFest art show happening in April at Union Pine, which she co-founded with event producer Connie Wohn and designer Helena Chu and plans to continue on an annual basis.
Envisioning the art show as a meshing of nail art and fine art, Bree explains thats “the whole mission was to ‘manifest’ something that can give a little bit to everybody; whether you’re just an admirer of nail art online and you would never get it yourself, it’s for you. If you are an avid ‘nails did’ DIYer at home, this is for you. Even if you are just a traditional person who enjoys going to art shows or gallery shows, it’s for you.”
Bree reached out to a variety of artists: people she knew, people she didn’t know whose work she admired, and even OG nail artists who inspired her when she first started out. She was already networked to a lot of people locally, through her previous work, and had been following a number of incredibly creative newcomers.
“Trying to narrow down artists for ManiFest was one of the hardest things I’ve ever had to wrap my head around,” Bree says. “I just wanted a well-rounded story.”
The fest itself—three days broken up into ticketed attendance windows of six hours—is planned to include not just a gallery of 20 nail art-inspired pieces, but site specific installations akin to Museum of Ice Cream, like an ASMR room of nail videos and a kaleidoscope where people can take hand selfies. Visitors will also take home a Scout Book with a little info about the history of nail art. The goal is to meet fans where they’re at and showcase a wide range of creativity in the nail industry.
“I really want this event to just bring together the people who get their nails done, people who do nail art, and then the people who are just curious about what nail art is,” says Bree. “What excites me most about manifest is really bringing together all these people… from the casual online viewer, to the practitioner, to the client, to like the little kids who just enjoy getting their nails painted by their parents or friends. I just want a nice gathering space where we can commune and enjoy a medium that we all love,” she says, adding “just getting people out and in one place to enjoy this as the fine art that it is, and not just look at it online.”
Participating artists include LA-based celebrity nail artist Natalie Minerva (@natalieminervanails), AKA the lead nail artist for the cast of HBO’s Euphoria whose big-name clients include Demi Lovato and Kiyoko Sumai (@nailsbykiyoko), known for her elaborate, hyper-detailed designs. Also contributing pieces are locally based solo studio artists like Ashley Cristobal (@thenailmystic); Chicago nail artist and muralist Tacarra Sutton (@spifster), and Alec Cole (@yaaas_get_nailed). Other contributing artists come from stalwart local salons like Nail Church (@nailchurchpdx), The Little Nail Shoppe (@thelittlenailshoppe), and Goldn Hour (@goldnhourpdx).
In the future, Bree says she would love nothing more than to do an open casting call for any artists who want to create pieces for the ManiFest art show, whether it be sets of nails, or larger work that are still related to nail art. “The goal would be to get artists who have more to give than just the service of a manicure. It’s like, we are all artists at our core, and I want to create a platform to elevate the artist in us.”
“I want a physical manifestation of everything that I see online, which is a really vibrant nail art community,” she says. “Why not bring that into a physical space? It feels like a natural progression, especially in the wake of COVID and in the frankly dark times that we’re having, I’m just excited to get everybody together in a joyous way to celebrate the beautiful things in life.”
ManiFest is at Union Pine, 525 SE Pine, Fri April 4- Sun April 6, $25-30 per six-hour window, all ages, mani-fest.me.
