Art Attack – The only thing to Sphere is Sphere itself
John Rankine
5/2/2013
Wow – I’m writing this a few hours after wallpaper pasting 130 of some of our favorite artists to exterior walls around town. Well, not actually the artists themselves, but their 3×4 ft. portraits I snapped for the MUGS series in celebration of the Eureka Springs May Festival of the Arts.
And all it took was a crew of about 30 volunteers and 20 gallons of wallpaper paste I cooked up the night before.
Working fast and furious so the wallpaper paste did not dry out, we managed to slap these babies up in just over two hours. It was intense, at times chaotic, and the most fun I’ve had with a group of people in some time, and I thank all who came out in support.
Special thanks go out to all our sponsors who made this happen and business owners who gave us the OK to use their walls as our blank canvas.
This is a very big weekend for May Fest. Saturday kicks off with the 2 p.m. Artrageous Parade and photographer and Creative Energy Project creator, Jeremy Mason McGraw, is the well-deserved choice for this year’s Grand Marshal.
Jeremy, however, is stumped as to what to wear in the parade and has left the task of dressing him to me. So if any of my dress-up friends have an Artrageous headpiece laying around the house – please contact me.
Artist Robert Norman, aka, Bob to friends, is a big bundle of talented energy. The painter/furniture maker/ and Drink and Draw head honcho has taken on SPHERES, the very ambitious and very large sculptural piece set in Basin Park. Bob’s been collecting fallen limbs – sanding, painting and holding “stick parties” for the past few months in prep for the giant sphere that has its official “ultra-violet lighting “in the park Saturday night. It’s an installation that only Robert Norman could pull off and combined with Angelo Yao and his merry band of drummers this will no doubt be a night to remember.
There is lots of stuff going on during the Saturday Night Gallery Strolls. I’m looking forward to seeing Carol Dickie’s work at Eureka Thyme, and to see what photographer Barbara Kerbox has going on at the Jewel Box. There is too much happening to mention everything in this column and recommend picking up a copy of the Independent Fun Guide, the official May Festival guide to all that’s going on this month.
If you happen to be reading this tonight, Barbara Kennedy and Robert Norman have separate opening receptions going on right now at the Cottage Inn and DeVito’s. Barbara and Bob are part of the Taste of Art – the Visual Feast series that pairs local artists with different restaurants around town.
See you on the street.
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