Holiday Arts Tour set to kick off on Friday
Monica Crowe, Reporter
11-05-2009
The countdown begins to the kickoff of the North Central Louisiana Arts Council’s 12th annual Holiday Arts Tour. The tour includes more than 50 artisans who will exhibit and sell their wares at 20 venues across Ruston with many of them located in downtown shops. This year’s events include several new additions including plenty of live music and two unique gallery exhibits. As part of the tour, NCLAC and the Lincoln Parish Museum will open “Voices and Visions of the Great Depression.” This exhibition is being presented in conjunction with the Eye 20 Creative Corridor’s Great Depression commemoration, Triumph Over Tragedy.
“By offering its exhibit, ‘Voices and Visions of the Great Depression,” in conjunction with the tour, NCLAC hopes to remember the Great Depression and New Deal Era by recognizing the struggles and successes of those who lived during this time of tragedy and triumph, and by celebrating the optimism and creativity of the American spirit,” said NCLAC’s assistant director April Hoenaker.
At 5:30 p.m., the museum will welcome the public to view this exhibit that features Depression-era quilts, fabrics and clothing. Margaret Ann Emory, director of the museum, said the Depression-era textiles to be displayed were made in Milwaukee in the 1930s as part of the Works Progress Administration’s federal programs for the arts. Guests will enjoy food and drinks while they peruse the displays and Depression-inspired murals painted by students at Cedar Creek School.
Mary Ann Willoughby, art teacher at Cedar Creek, said participating in this exhibit is a learning experience for the students.
“They learn about different ways art has been used in the past,” she said. “Anytime they make art they gain the experience of creating something.
Willoughby said her students have painted an airfield for the exhibit. The piece is a copy of a mural that was painted in 1939 in a post office in Oakdale. The mural, she said, does convey a sense of the Great Depression.
“It has an aspect of loneliness because it’s an open space painting,” she said.
Other art for viewing is a private collection of Depression-era ephemera on loan from Louisiana Tech University art history professor Saul Zalesch. Entertainment during the exhibit will be provided by Marie Bridges of West Monroe, who will read her humorous poetry, much of which is inspired by her life during the Great Depression. The Voices and Visions exhibit will be open through Jan. 4.
The downtown Friday night art crawl that marks the start of the tour will begin at 6 p.m. with live music at various venues, and downtown shops hosting artists will be open late. Sundown Tavern will feature Kenny Bill Stinson. Art Innovations will host Monty Russell, Grassfire will perform at Thousand Words Studio and Gallery, and Sarah Sullivan will croon at Crescent City Coffee.
From 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Saturday all tour sites will be open. But the music doesn’t stop there. The Houck and Riggle Law Firm of Ruston is sponsoring an event at the Ruston Historic Fire Station. An evening concert by singer songwriter Kevin Gordon will follow a day-long exhibit of folk art by renowned artists Clementine Hunter, Mose Tolliver, Ab the Flagman, Woody Long, Bernice Sims, Cornbread Anderson and others. This event will also include food and drinks.
The tour will continue on Sunday with the focus being mainly on artists’ home studios and will conclude at 5 p.m.
Tour-goers who visit each of the 20 sites and have their itinerary guides stamped will be entered in a drawing to win original artwork. Guides must be brought back to the Dixie Center for the Arts by 5 p.m. Sunday. Tour itineraries are available at the Dixie and at all other tour sites.
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Schedule
• Friday — Voices and Visions of the Great Depression exhibit at the Lincoln Parish Museum, 5:30 p.m.; downtown art crawl — downtown shops hosting artists will be open late, live music acts will perform at downtown venues, 6 p.m.
• Saturday — Tour downtown shops featuring artists and visit artists’ home studios, 10 a.m.-5 p.m.; Houck and Riggle southern folk art exhibit and live music, 10 a.m.-5 p.m.
• Sunday — Tour artists’ home studios; some downtown shops will open, 10 a.m.-5 p.m.; drop off tour guides at Dixie Center for the Arts to enter raffle, 5 p.m.
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