The art space Sweet Tooth Hotel announced it will open a new 6,000-square-foot experience on Elm Street. On Friday, Oct. 29, an exhibition called Dreamland will showcase some old favorites and new works of interactive art. Tickets are currently on sale on Sweet Tooth Hotel's website for the opening day and future dates.
"It's our biggest installation to date," says Sweet Tooth Hotel owner Jencey Keeton.
The new Elm Street space will house 10 works of immersive art projects utilizing a variety of media created by local artists such as Shamsy Roomiani, Tramaine Townsend and Molly Sydnor, and Bobcat and Birdie of McAllen.
The Dreamland exhibition will house each work in its own room, which guests can access with an electronic hotel room key. It's an added touch that finally helps Sweet Tooth Hotel call itself a hotel.
Keeton says guests can also explore the space with a scavenger hunt that provides a series of clues to an actual prize as well as hidden works and features strewn throughout the space.
"We have hotel locks and hotel door handles on all of the gallery spaces, so you'll get to go through it and open all of those doors," Keeton says. "It's something we haven't had in any of the previous installations because people were like, 'Why is it called Sweet Tooth Hotel?'"
Sweet Tooth Hotel's cocktail lounge will offer a menu of new takes on classic cocktails using local brands such as Greenhouse Gin as well as Adam Levine and Behati Prinsloo's Calirosa Tequila.
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"We're opening on Halloween weekend, and we'll have a bar area opened but it won't have liquor because we don't have our liquor license yet," Keeton says. "We'll have a grand opening for the bar when the license comes through."
Sweet Tooth Hotel opened in 2018 in a space in Victory Park and quickly sold out as word of mouth and the shareable nature of social media provided a natural marketing campaign for the colorful art space pop-up. Since then, it has expanded to spaces in Allen and Fort Worth.
Keeton says the Dreamland space has been in the works for the last year due to a lengthy rezoning process with the city, but the extra wait time also provided a chance to audition a long list of over 100 Texas artists.
"We really like to support local artists," Keeton says. "Three of the artists have been in previous installations and we really follow their work who are doing bigger projects in the Dallas arts scene, and it's really a mix of sculpture, video and fiber artists."
The McAllen duo of Bobcat and Birdie worked on some of the latch hook "cakes" for Sweet Tooth Hotel's Rewind exhibition in Allen. These stunning pieces required a lot of time and attention to detail.
"It's a very detailed and tedious process," Keeton says. "[Birdie] not only creates custom patterns but she also sells 'Do It Yourself' kits so people can learn how to do it themselves."
Sweet Tooth Hotel's mission statement is to provide more than a thematic, engulfing art experience for the people to walk through. Keeton says it's also about creating a space where artists can fully explore their vision without any obstacles and interference.
"I've kind of enjoyed being able to help bring some of these pieces to life for artists who don't have the resources of the money or the space to create them," Keeton says. "That's what the goal is for the space; to help support them or if they need fabricating, we can provide that for them as well."
