Fair, Show, Festival - What Sort of Arts Gig is This?
Sunday June 18, 2006
Now that it is officially Summer, you can't swing a cat in my neck of the woods without smacking into an outdoors Art Something. Not that I am complaining, mind you. It just all gets rather confusing at times. Will I see etchings and batik pieces at the Rainbow Trout Festival, or fish at the Rainbow Trout Arts Fair? Will there be easels and plinths supporting eye-level works at the Main Street Art Show, or has someone drawn the art on Main Street itself? And do I even want to go to something that includes the words "and Crafts," for fear of seeing booth after booth of objects assembled out of pine cones? As Yul Brenner's King Mongkut of Siam once said, "Is a puzzlement."
In case anyone besides me is wondering how to best utilize their limited weekend free time, here's a little set of guidelines entitled "Biennale, Triennale, Festival or Exhibition?" to help sort things out. Happy fair-going to you.
In case anyone besides me is wondering how to best utilize their limited weekend free time, here's a little set of guidelines entitled "Biennale, Triennale, Festival or Exhibition?" to help sort things out. Happy fair-going to you.
Comments
Exhibits can be nice, depending on what the subject is. Festivals can get to be a bit stuffy. Give me a fair any time. They are the most relaxing of them all. But you forgot the most famous of all exhibtion spaces…the kitchen refrigerator. Where many artists had their early works shown. Mama Picasso had the most interesting refrigerator of them all. Thanks Shelley for another fun read. Care to chitchat?
Robert, thank you for the kind words! And yes, you are so right about that exhibition venue being the best ever (plus you can swing it aside and grab a cold beverage at will). At one point I was convinced the refrigerator door here would sag right off its hinges from the weight of the stacks and stacks and STACKS of priceless masterpieces affixed to it. I never threw a single one away, but learned that bankers’ boxes are very nice things, too.