By Sanjeev Selvarajah

Megan Mary Creamer’s delightful creations are just a part of what is being offered at this year’s Something Sweet in Somerville event benefitting the work of the Somerville Homeless Coalition.

Something Sweet in Somerville returns to work with the Somerville Homeless Coalition on Friday, November 4, from 6 to 9 p.m. at the Washington St. Art Center. “They really want to be involved in the community and we’re grateful to be the recipient of their generosity”, says Mark Alston-Follansbee the Executive Director of SHC who will be at the event. Mark mentioned that there was a 20 percent increase in families at the food pantry last year. “People recognize that we are the safety net.”

There is an entry fee of ten dollars for the exhibit and dessert buffet, but  people  can also bring packaged food and new clothing, among other items. Once they are inside there is brilliant artwork to enjoy and bid on, knowing that the sale will aid to alleviate poverty. Live music by Yani Battau and the Styles will also be a part of the night’s festivities.

Megan Mary Creamer will be at Something Sweet auctioning of her highly prized artworks. Her piece Way Deep Down is backed by intricate and involved mathematics due to their geometrical arrangement.  The ancient Romans assigned their Caesars with an adornment of laurels, a decorative leaf, but here the plants have their own ruler – a slender leaf – free atop its kind. Megan works full time at a non-profit cancer research center, and she’s also a cancer survivor.

Marrisa Falco is delighted by all that she surveys and she puts her craft and hands to work. “Farley and Swayze in Heaven, for example, is a piece about a famous Saturday Night Live sketch starring Patrick Swayze and Chris Farley, and I drew it shortly after Swayze’s death, reminiscing about both actors’ work and feeling comforted by the thought of them performing that favorite sketch for all of eternity,” says Falco.

Elise Towle Snow’s art will also be available for purchase, one that would benefit the impoverished. “My process is sometimes more involved but I usually like to ‘strike while the iron is hot’ so to speak. A speedy process helps me battle artistic inertia”, says Snow. There has always been a war against hunger in the air, but now those upset by the rampant disparity are presenting new solutions to aid those in need.

Gretchen Graham’s photography was displayed in the last Something Sweet in Somerville, but she always has new information to add and more photographs for auction. “There’s usually a quiet narrative in my head when I photograph, and text is an integral part of the work I have exhibited. I do attempt to find a truth when I photograph, but I get to a truth by storytelling,” says Graham.

Brian Hart’s The Jump-off is basically a tiger with a little blue tiger coming out of his skull. Of course around the head of the white tiger with blue-speckled notches is a crown. So is this Zeus cat king with Athena springing from his skull? “Yes the painting is definitely a reference to the myth though not meant to be a direct illustration of it. The piece is more about rebirth and starting over than the myth is but by using somewhat recognizable imagery borrowed from well-known stories the work becomes a bit more accessible to the viewer, says Hart.

All in all, art, food, music and good conversation will be in abundance at Something Sweet in Somerville. Check it out.

More information is available at http://washingtonst.org/.