STEVE DUNKELBERGER: 8 P.M. IS TOO EARLY >>>

Artifakt Multi Genre Art Party started on Tacoma time, that is to say that although The Robert Daniel Gallery opened at 8 p.m., the space didn't get shoulder-to-shoulder full until about 10:30. But it got there.

Matt Eklund, the South Sound faceman for the Seattle-based arts group and a local musician, artist in his own right, seemed a bit nervous as the clocked ticked away those first minutes after the converted warehouse turned gallery opened for art watchers.

He was in a much happier mood as the night progressed as the stead stream of men in button-down shirts and jeans and women in skirts of varying lengths â€" mostly short â€" filed in after dropping their dollars down.

What the crowd saw was some expressive art from nine artistic visionaries that ranged in styles from cartoon dragons to Japanese-inspired nature scenes with an edge as Seattle’s DJ Eva and Tacoma’s DJ Spice and Flat Black spiked the vibe with techno-dance chirps.