Q&A with Last Fridays: A late-night event to meet Fort Wayne artists + friends

As a part-time bartender in Fort Wayne, Bonnie “BonJo” Andrews often meets people looking for interesting things to do on a whim late at night – other than go to more bars and restaurants.
“I always wished there was a cool lounge or art gallery open late that I could send people to,” says BonJo.
A full-time artist herself, the 25-year-old has painted three murals in Fort Wayne, most recently the “7 Dulce” mural inside Union Street Market food hall at Electric Works. She would like to open her own art gallery and studio in Fort Wayne someday to provide space for artists to meet, mingle and exhibit their work.
In the meantime, she’s hosting monthly pop up events at various venues around town called Last Fridays. True to BonJo’s style, the events are vibrant, contemporary and welcoming – offering space for 5-10 artists from Fort Wayne (and beyond) to show their work, as well as space for anyone to hang out on the last Friday each month, from 8-11:30 p.m.
“I started Last Fridays because I wanted to know more artists and people like me in Fort Wayne,” BonJo says. “It’s a great place to find your people.”
We sat down with BonJo to learn more about her background, artwork and Last Fridays events.

Tell us more about yourself and how you became an artist in Fort Wayne.
B: I was born in Austin, TX, and grew up coming to Fort Wayne in the summers to spend time with family. It was a great environment, so I decided to come back to the city for high school at Bishop Luers. After I graduated in 2017, I spent a gap year traveling the world with my grandma, and while I was traveling, I started painting the things I was seeing. Then I came back to Fort Wayne in 2019 and started attending IPFW. That’s when I got serious about my art. At first, I was just sharing it by word of mouth on campus, and people started seeing me and buying artwork from me. That inspired me to stay my path. My supporters took me to where I’m at now. As I grew my art career, I left school to focus on it full-time. Now, I do shows in Fort Wayne and other cities, like New York. I’m also a bartender, so I make drinks for Last Fridays sometimes, as well!
How would you describe your artwork?
B: I mostly work with acrylics, and I like to say that I’m a free-flow artist. My style is just me. It’s BonJo. I paint a lot of self-portraits, and a lot of my portraits have blank eyes. I was so intimidated by eyes when I first started painting, I just kept them white. Now it’s become my style, and I like the way it looks. I’ve started to play around with butterflies covering the eyes, or with abstract faces that focus on the nose and the lips because that’s your true identity right there. A lot of people don’t like their nose and lips, but I feel like we should be proud of who we are. We’re all beautiful, and we need to love ourselves.

I’ve also repainted the Zesto's on Broadway sign and painted three murals in the city: one for Fort Wayne Open Walls, one for Art This Way’s Only Rain in the Drain program and one inside Union Street Market food hall at Electric Works.

What inspired you to start Last Fridays?
B: When I traveled to bigger cities, like Indianapolis, I noticed they were doing First Fridays art events, and I wanted to bring that concept here and build more of an art community in Fort Wayne, so artists could grow with each other and collaborate. A lot of artist who are just starting out don’t have a place to regularly show their work, so Last Fridays provides that once a month. It also provides something fun to do for anyone who’s visiting town. My goal is to open my own gallery and studio someday to give more artists a place to hang out during the week and put on exhibitions, so Last Fridays has been a good experience in learning how to curate shows and prepare for that. I think our team has done such an amazing job so far, too. As soon as we started Last Fridays this year, people were eager to be part of our shows, and it’s been very cool to see all the artists making connections here.
You’ve made some connections in bigger cities, too. Tell us how you landed a show in Queens, New York.
B: It’s actually easier than you’d think. I’ve always loved New York. Growing up, I got to go twice, and I always wanted to be an artist there. So I started following the pages of venues in New York on Instagram. and I saw a venue I liked doing a callout for art, and I decided to throw my hat in and see what happens. They ended up doing a trade with me, where I got to paint live at their event in exchange for free admission. It was an incredible opportunity, and I met some extremely dope artists there.
I was so excited that they seemed impressed by my work, too. When I agreed to paint live, I told them I was going to “paint my boyfriend,” and they thought I was going to paint him on canvas, but what I actually did was paint on his back, and the artists I met in New York were impressed by that creativity. One of the artists I met even went to Art Basel last year, so it was amazing to meet them and learn about their experiences, too. We exchanged contact information, and we still keep in touch. That’s the benefit of meeting other artists. You have the opportunity to collaborate and learn from each other, and if you want to expand your network beyond Fort Wayne, doing shows in bigger cities is a great way to do that.

What artists locally and nationally inspire you?
B: Locally, Mike Johnson inspires me. Phresh Laundry inspires me. Matt Plett is dope. Nationally, my favorite artist is @BluetheGreat. I’m always on his Instagram. He’s a great realist, and his colors are very vibrant. I like that.
How do artist callouts work for Last Fridays and how many artists’ work do you feature each month?
B: We post artist callouts and monthly submission deadlines on Instagram, so watch for them there. So far, the lowest number of artists we’ve featured at an event has been five, and the highest number has been for our first show in February, which was about 20. On average, it’s around 10 artists per month, but it varies. So far, it’s been mostly acrylic and photography work, but it’s open to all media, and I’d love to show more sculptures and bigger pieces.

Tell us about your Last Fridays team, venue and volunteer opportunities.
B: My main point person for Last Fridays is my boyfriend Rell Holman, Co-Founder of Bigger Than Us nonprofit. He helps me understand the business side of things and develop ideas. Also on our team are photographer Kelsey Martin and DJ J. Tubbs. Sometimes we have a volunteer callout for setup and teardown, too.
Our location each month is on tour, but our current location is the Casselwood Event Center at 3220 East Paulding Dr., and it’s been great for us, so our next few shows will be there.
We have food and drinks for purchase at most events, and sometimes we have free food, like pizza and charcuterie.
If you want to get involved with Last Fridays, don’t hesitate to reach out on our Instagram or my personal Instagram or email at artofbonjo@gmail.com.