Once upon a time, there was a little Chicpea sitting on a bench on a beautiful summer day in a wonderful town called Jersey City. Chicpea was a young mom and she was happy as can be, but wanted to do something different; daring, something that would allow her to feel free. She closed her eyes and made a wish “Just for one day, I want to have no care in the world, I want to dance and laugh till the sun comes up”. Chicpea opened her eyes and saw two tall gorgeous sisters with big hair and crazy outfits walking their dogs approach her….They smiled, picked her up and carried her into their spaceship for a night she will never forget.
True story. I spent the afternoon with the Big Hair Girls and they transformed me from regular fashionista to a harajuku sexy schoolgirl/raver; They did my makeup and dressed me up. At first I had my concerns wearing such an outfit, but then I decided to go for it… Even though I am a mom and wifey, I can still be playful and have fun. Opportunities to play dress up and dance the night away with The Big Hair Girls in a very cool art studio don’t come that often and I am all about stepping outside of my comfort zone these days. I even borrowed Mia’s Mickey Mouse backpack for this shoot!
Seeing Venus and Lizzy in their element, was amazing…They are superstars! But above all they are so kind and sweet. I am beyond thankful they are my friends.
The BHG’s took me and Greg (our photographer) to this undisclosed art studio here in Jersey City and of course being the curious George that I am, I asked the person who runs this place to answer a few questions and I got some background on this dope spot (he shall remain nameless).
Tell me about this place. It’s an art studio collective that started at the beginning of 2010 to provide studio space for various artists and then once we established the studios and renovated the space we started throwing events. For a couple of years we threw parties here, with bands, Dj’s… to raise money and just have a good time. We also rented out the space for people to do photoshoots and videoshoots… We had big events up until the end of 2013 and now we are just focusing on the studio space.
Who did all the artwork on the walls? Various artists from the area, graffiti based…We wanted a space where we could practice, that’s how it started. The ones I can tell you are Mr. Mustart and Pawn. Pawn is one of the major contributors to helping build, develop and make the space a reality. We don’t just have graffiti artists, we have a sculptor and my other friend makes custom furniture. We also have a recording studio…. The idea five years ago was to get a bunch of people that needed a space to collaborate and have a forum to do so. For example we have the furniture guy helping the sculpture guy build something. Late night, half of us are hanging out drinking beer, others are in the studio recording… or someone is shooting a video on the roof.
How do you choose the people that get to rent space out of here? They are selected based on initiative, people that are down to contribute, people that see the idea behind all this.
Are you from Jersey City? I was born in Boston, but lived around Jersey City for most of my life.
What is your favorite Jersey City hangout spot? Aside from here? I am a big fan of Razza, Thirty Acres….and then my old faithfuls I like Buen Apetitio and Sushi Tango… I love Jersey City, I like the direction its going in, its been good to contribute.
Any plans for this place? Ever since this place started, its always been at the mercy of development and after another month or so we will be the last building up because all around us is getting torn down… Its only a matter of time before someone with alot of money buys this place to develop it, but right now we have people that are going to lease it out so we are going to rock it as long as we can! At the same time, I started when I was 19 and since then I’ve had so many threats to get kicked out of here….but we are still here. The agenda now is to focus on the good things; producing good art and collaborating.
To be continued….
Shot by Greg Pallante
The Big Hair Girls
Let’s start a campaign to save it! Great article awesome place and the big hair pics Rick…you now must shoot a music video M U S T !!
Haha let’s do it!! yes perfect spot for a video shoot!!
look at my beautiful big hair girls !!! they did quite a number on you @chicpea !!! hahaha “sorry mom & dad” … that’s how i feel about the side-boob unisuit they bought me for my birthday !!! ha !