The Avenue Arts Venue serves as an art gallery and performance space in Exposition Park. AAV’s creative director, Edward Ruiz, designs toys and resin figures, which are sculpted and hand-casted by Ruiz and depict a variety of unique characters, such as a monkey in clown paint sporting a beret and wielding a paintbrush. Ruiz also creates art with the camera obscura, a device that projects an image onto film through a small “pinhole” in one end. AAV hosts a number of unique events, such as Joey Waldon painting live while accompanied by a DJ and light show.