2/28/2013

Art Attack – In Eureka Springs we take art seriously
John Rankine
2/28/2013

If everything goes as scheduled, we are in store for a great May Festival of the Arts.

Besides the usual May Fest crowd pleasers – Artrageous Parade, White Street Studio Walk and Gallery Strolls – three exciting events are planned to make May’s festival feel like, well, a festival.

Jeremy Mason McGraw, who last year lit up Basin Park with his Creative Energy Project, has taken on two new creative projects working with yours truly and local artist Robert Norman.

This year Jeremy is putting down his camera and putting on his other hat as art event producer, working with Bob and me on two large-scale, separate projects.

“Spheres” will be Bob’s interactive sculptural piece mounted in Basin Park. From what I can glean, it will be a large, lit-from-inside, enviro-conscious sculpture created out of locally collected fallen tree limbs. Should be a wonderful centerpiece for this year’s festival.

It’s been several years since I photographed local artists for a show at Eleanor Lux’s studio, and when Jeremy approached me about doing a photo portrait series for this May, my immediate response was to revisit our artist community.

“Mugs” will hopefully be a fun celebration of our artist community that will be literally plastered all over town for the entire month of May.

I’m asking for members of the Eureka Springs artist community to come by my store, Sweet Spring Antiques, and pose for a quick portrait while making the silliest face one can possibly muster. These black and white photographs will be blown up to 3 ft. x 4 ft. and wallpapered on various brick buildings around town.

The goal is a not-too-serious look, and celebration of, the people who make-up this wonderfully creative community.

The other big event is the much-anticipated musical sculpture park by long-time Eureka artist Ranaga Farbriaz. “Sounds of Eureka” is on schedule to premier mid-May. We got a small preview of what’s to come during Eureka’s Martin Luther Day celebration, where we saw and heard Ranaga’s hand-painted hubcap chimes perform “Give Peace a Chance.” You gotta love it.

So this is also a call out to all Eureka Spring’s artists interested in participating in “Mugs” and showing off your silly side. Contact me through Facebook or johnrankine69@gmail.com to schedule your mug shot.