Jeremy Murray and Donnie Toomer drill wood together to set up canvas boards for the live painters that will be painting at the Art All Night event on Sunday.

Point Park University’s Coordinator of International Student Services and Center Amanda Avampato is thrilled to be spending her sixth consecutive year being part of the planning committee for Art All Night.

Committee member Kathryn Heffernan walks around making sure everything from sweeping out the rooms to setting up the stages is being accomplished in the new building that will house the annual pop up event.

The nineteenth annual 22-hour pop up art show will be held April 23-24 in Lawrenceville. Art All Night will be in a new location this year, and will take place at the Arsenal Terminal. The event is free, with no censorship, and is not juried. People of all ages can submit art to the show.

“If the artist considers it art, we consider it art,” committee member Wendy Coester said in an April 9th interview at the event location in Lawrenceville.

Any art submitted will not be turned down for display, whether it be from an established artist, or a 7 year old that drew a picture on a napkin.

“There’s just a ton of energy mixed with excitement because it is once a year, and it’s something that people begin to look forward to,” Heffernan said April 9th at the Arsenal Terminal.

While getting more recognition, the event is becoming a “well-oiled machine” with improvements and expansions. This year, it is expected to bring in approximately 1,200 art submissions. Also throughout the night the event will have comedians, marching bands and 50 to 60 live bands playing throughout the 22 hour event.

To add to the collection of art submitted previously to the event, Art All Night brings in roughly 50 painters ranging from established artists to high school students. Each person is paired up to create a painting within four hours.

“It’s the community aspect of introducing artists to each other that have a love for the same thing,” Murray said.

The living painting auction will be held on Sunday at 12 p.m.

Aside from viewing the art, people are able to engage in activities, such as creating postcards or dancing to the music of the bands. Snacks will be available and are provided by local businesses.

After two hours, paintings are auctioned off and all the proceeds go directly back into Art All Night funds for the next year.

“The public really loves to look over the artists shoulders and to see the creative process,” volunteer Owen Lampe said at the event venue in an April 9 interview.

The event is unsponsored and is based solely on donations and volunteers from local businesses, as well as the volunteers who collect supplies throughout the year.

The live painting has grown every year, from the first year just having canvases hung on the wall, to slowly moving to stretch canvas with actual teams paired up.

“Art All Night has grown in almost an unmeasurable way,” Kate Bechak, Art All Night volunteer, said April 9 at the venue.

“It’s good to have the perspective of how things have evolved because we have basically been here since the ground up with the live art,” Toomer said.

The volunteer members typically get into the building about three weeks before the show. Their work continues in the building for six-to-eight days before the show opens.

The artists drop off the art about six hours before the doors open. The volunteers encourage artists to register online before, but are willing to accept any art that shows up at the building on Apr. 23 at 10 a.m. until 2 p.m.

Heffernan said she hopes this new space will bring new energy and that people get a fresh look at Art All Night.

“It is new but it’s still old, so people can enjoy like they have in past years,” volunteer Kayleigh Smith said in an April 9 interview at the event venue.