10th Annual Gills Rock ArtFest, North of the Tension Line at Charlene’s Gallery Ten, Sept 4-5
Posted on 28. Aug, 2010 by Stephen Kastner in Workshops & Demonstrations
More than twenty diverse artists working in a tent village, a ginormous Choc-a-lot group-art painting project, a burning man bonfire and drumming circle and the world’s greenest runway fashion show – who in Door County still thinks it’s “remarkable that life exists north of Sister Bay?”
For the past ten years, Charlene Berg has been evolving the concept of a Labor Day Weekend Gills Rock art festival featuring “artists-in-action.” Each year she has managed to take the idea another notch forward and this year promises to be no exception. Working with Kate Elizabeth Janquart, a cohort who now runs the adjacent Gallery Ten Coffee House with her cousin Sarah, they have planned the 10th Annual Gills Rock ArtFest to include live demonstrations by more than twenty new or returning artists, a fashion show and a huge collaborative chalk painting endeavor.
On Saturday and Sunday, September 4 – 5 , from 10 am – 5 pm you are invited to stroll the grounds at Gallery Ten, adorned with tents and art work on display to meet and talk with local and regional artists at work, creating all manner of art. Plein air painters, custom jewelry makers, potters and even a blacksmith will all be at work outdoors. Chuck Sully will be displaying and selling his freshly baked artisan breads created daily at his “Crusty Uprising” bakery in Algoma.
Runway Exhibitions by Shannon Molter, modeled by Sierra Korthof
On Sunday at 1 pm, exhibiting artist, Shannon Molter will present a Rustic Runway Review of her original “green” fashion wear. She is known for including a variety of natural found objects in her work as lead fashion designer at the Milwaukee Art Museum. She recently presented her Fashion/Garment Art Runway Shows at the Museum in June and July, with another scheduled for October.
“Derived from my adolescence, growing up in a tiny rural town in Northern Wisconsin,” Molter explains, “I have a strong sense of connectedness to the environment and try to arouse empathy within my audience for the natural world. In my academic artwork, I try to encourage viewers to think and discuss the beginning of civilization, its effect on nature, as well as why we should, or how we can change the current ecological situation.”
While things might appear to wind down on Sunday at 4:30 pm, the fun is just beginning. Kate Elizabeth Janquart has invited artists to turn the immense, black asphalt, Gallery Ten parking lot into a gigantic chalkboard painting. Filmmaker, Stephen Kastner will continue to collect footage of the event as it proceeds until sundown, shooting from a tower 3 stories above the action. Then, he will be joined there by exhibiting photographer, Jenny Urbanek who just won “Best in Show” at the Peninsula Art School’s Emerging Artist Show. She will equip everyone with flashlights and they will work in the dark, under her direction to create timed exposures that reveal the art in a new dimension.
“I shoot with digital and sheet film,” says Urbanek. “My technique is all about painting with light. I often use a view finder camera in 4 x 5 format and photograph my models using 30-second exposures.”
Ed DiMaio
Kastner, who turned down plans to be filming in Black Rock City, Nevada has enlisted local artist, poet, musician and exhibiting drum maker, Ed DiMaio to lead a drum circle Saturday evening that will highlight the festival around a bonfire, “celebrating our own Burning Man here in Door County.”
DiMaio adds, “I will be doing drum building demos at ArtFest, with drums at various points of completion. Bring your problem drums, drum questions or any thing you would like to make into a drum. It will be a blast!”
There is no charge to attend any of the Gills Rock ArtFest events taking place over Labor Day Weekend. Telephone 920.854.9907 for further information of visit on-line at www.GalleryTen.com for a complete list of artists exhibiting in ArtFest 2010.
Charlene’s Gallery Ten represents over 100 artists in a gallery collection that is contemporary, original and eclectic. GT Coffee, complements the gallery, serving espresso drinks and Door County cherry pie by-the-slice open daily from 8 AM to 5 PM with free Wi-FI. The gallery is open daily from 10 AM to 5 PM at 12625 Hwy. 42 in Gills Rock, Wisconsin.
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