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Artistic Dedication Of Pavilion Among Activities This Saturday
Buena Vista Arts Council (BVAC) invites the community to celebrate some special art at this year’s downtown art festival, Artapalooza, which will run from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. this Saturday, April 20.
Over the first weekend of April, timber framers from all over the country joined local residents and Virginia Military Institute students to create and install a timber frame pavilion in downtown town square.
Whitney John, a local artist who grew up in Buena Vista, invites everyone to participate in an artistic dedication of the timber frame structure at the downtown event Saturday. The community art activity, using repurposed recycled grocery bags as its medium, will offer participants the chance to convey positive memories, thoughts, hopes, and dreams for the structure and the town. The BVAC has collection boxes placed at The BeeVe: Sweet Souvenirs, Coiner Country Store, Straws, and Asunder Coffee Roastery & Cafe to receive donations of clean plastic grocery bags.
In addition to offering best wishes for the newest art piece in town, the BVAC invites participants to engage their creative energies through other artistic opportunities. Information at entry points to the event will guide festival goers to what, where, and when live music, theater, culinary delights, and free art activities will occur.
For example, Art on Magnolia, a new art gallery in Buena Vista, will host a special display of art created by senior citizens at the Maury River Senior Center. Little Beasties Art Studio and Splash of Color Studio will present free art activities. The downtown street fair will have vendors line Magnolia Avenue offering arts, crafts, food, and information. Live music will be performed in Asunder Coffee Roaster’s & Café as well as on the brand-new stage in town square.
Susan Hogan, a special education teacher at Parry McCluer Middle School, introduced Artapalooza to the Buena Vista area well over a decade ago, as a children’s art festival focused on creating artistic opportunities for those with “special needs.”
Hogan, transplanted from the west, brought this “allaccess” art program with her to Buena Vista. Years later, when Hogan moved to the Carolinas, she passed the annual event to the Buena Vista Arts Council. The activity- based event was held for several years in BVAC’s downtown rented space on Magnolia Avenue for all children, young and old.
Following the pandemic in 2022, since Ed Walker had bought and sold the BVAC’s rented space, the event organizers pushed it to the street. The downtown event, still focusing on free art activities for people of “all ages and abilities,” invites artists, performers, art organizations, and art businesses to come together in celebration of creative effort.
Lexington, Buena Vista and Rockbridge Tourism, along with CornerStone Bank and Asunder Coffee Roasters are sponsoring this event.
For additional information, send an email top [email protected].
