Tonight marks the second installment of the Revolving Door Gallery group show, hosted at The Palm Door. The idea of creating a one-night-only group show was born out of the realization that there are a plethora of talented Austin artists unable to show their work in a standard gallery format.

Founder Michael Owens proactively decided to tackle the issue of under-representation and open space on a bi-monthly basis for artists eager (or, some, tentative) to show their photography, mixed media, portraits and abstract work. Mariah Price came on board as the representative of The Palm Door, which lends itself to the project as a light-filled, open format gallery.

The artists featured in tonight's showcase include Gabriel Contreras, Michael Jensen, Kristopher Kotcher, Frances Lafferty, Angelica McAuley, Emily Palmer-Dunham, Sarah Tillman, Kerstan Wallace, Jasmine Whitis and Stephen Williams.

We asked Owens a few questions to pique our readers' interest. (And did we mention the free beers and ID Soda ice cream floats?)

What is the Revolving Door art show? What does the name mean?

"Revolving Door" is an independent gallery project with the goal of gathering an eclectic group of Austin artists. The name Revolving Door is meant to evoke the idea of the constantly changing & revolving show. At this point the "gallery" is a one-night-only art event that attracts over 150 people to each event. It's a fun way to celebrate art.

Who is behind organizing it?

Michael Owens began this project as a fun way to give talented artists in Austin a venue for their work. As an artist himself, he knows how motivating and exciting it is for an artist to have their work viewed by the public. Mariah Price donates the space behalf of the Palm Door and helps organize and promote the event.

How do you select which artists participate?

Artists submit by emailing owens.michael@hotmail.com. Michael reviews the submissions and is tasked with putting together the best and most diverse show possible. The goal is to showcase a diversity of talent so that painters, illustrators, sculptors, photographers and other artists have a place in the show.

How many different artists has the Revolving Door group show hosted so far?

We have had two shows with up to 13 artists for each show.

Have any artists sold any pieces?

Yes. One of our artists sold 6 pieces at our first show!

Do you think events like this are lacking in the Austin art scene?

I think that spaces like this are popping up, but in Austin it's hard to find dedicated gallery space for emerging artists. We're lucky to have coffee shops, tattoo shops and hair salons that support local art. What Revolving Door Gallery hopes to do is give the artists who show in these venues a dedicated gallery space that's all about art. For the show tonight, one of the artists said he had never shown his work before. The interesting thing is, one of his paintings was chosen as the image for the flyer and invitation to represent the group. It goes to show that so many talented people have great bodies of work that need to be shared.

How often do you plan to have these in the future?

At this moment it's bi-monthly but we hope to do it more frequently in the future, hopefully once a month. We're also planning a more expansive holiday event that will be a great venue for artists to sell their work, and for the public to get some unique gifts. That one will hopefully last a couple of days.