Auburn ready for second ArtRageous art festival

Published 5:16 pm Wednesday, July 28, 2010

On Aug. 7 Auburn’s Les Gove Park will again be the place to be as the Auburn Parks, Arts and Recreation Department presents its ArtRageous, Artists in Action Art Fair.

According to Maija McKnight, visual and public arts coordinator with the department, this year’s event, like last year’s inaugural fair, will focus on allowing eventgoers to experience art hands on.

“It was such a success last year that it’s back by popular demand,” McKnight said. “The focus is the same as last year, on diversity of art forms in the hope that people will come and discover new mediums that they might not have otherwise had the opportunity to try, as well as a diversity of age-appropriate activities.”

McKnight said this year’s event will feature an interactive installation piece called the “Travelling Arts Encampment” as the cornerstone of the fair.

“One fun project is we’re working with an artist out of Seattle who does tent encampments,” McKnight said.

McKnight explained that the work, coordinated by Andrew Peterson, will feature tents “made of unsuspected materials” that will be placed around the park.

“It’s fun and approachable, and people can get inside of them and interact with them,” she said. “And there will also be materials that people will be invited to use to create their own tents. In the park setting it’s going to be a fantastic assemblage of reinterpreted tents. And probably provide some shade, too. That should evolve throughout the day.”

ArtRageous will also feature the work “Plein Air in the Park”, coordinated by local artist Frances Buckmaster.

“There will be 10 artists who will be throughout the park painting the scene throughout the day,” McKnight said.

The artists will work in their respective mediums featuring the scene at the park as it unfolds and offering the finished works up for sale.

“I think it will be neat to see their inspirational view, there will be a lot of neat imagery of the new playground and the spray park,” McKnight said. “I think that will definitely be something that people can sit and watch and encounter them as they walk through the park.”

This year’s event will also feature a main stage.

“We’ll also have more of a stage presence this year,” McKnight said. “We’ll have a stage set up so some smaller community groups can present their work.”

According to McKnight the stage will feature the Auburn Children’s Dance Theater, performers from the Tacoma School of the Arts, Pacific Ballroom Dance and the Samoana Dancers from the Hearts.

McKnight said that this year’s ArtRageous will also offer a wider variety of food vendors along with the usual booths that allow the public a chance to try arts such as woodburning, book making, spray paint stenciling and metalworking.

The event will also feature an artists market, a chance for people to purchase the art produced by the artists manning the booths.

In addition a retail booth by Tacoma Art Supply will also be on site.

“That way if someone tries something they like, they can buy the supplies they need right there,” McKnight said.

McKnight said she hopes that this year’s event will be as successful as last year’s.

“It’s fabulous that there is such interest and support for it,” McKnight said. “Anything we can do to support the arts, whether it’s education or the artists out there trying to make a living,” McKnight said. “It’s a really fun event for people to come out to.”