Melrose Arts Festival Returns This Weekend
By Ellen Putnam
Last year's Arts Festival
The Melrose Arts Festival returns to Memorial Hall this weekend for its 18th year. This Saturday, April 26th, between 11am and 5pm, and Sunday, April 27th, between 11am and 4pm, over 40 artists will be displaying and selling their work, and visitors to the free event can enjoy live music, food trucks, a community art project, caricatures, face painting, a raffle, and a Junior Artisan Fair on the lower level.
Melrose-based artist Debra Corbett has been involved with Melrose Arts, the organization that runs the Arts Festival, “since the beginning,” she said.
The Arts Festival is juried, and this year had over 75 applicants for 43 spaces. “Every year, the word gets out,” said Corbett. Twelve of those artists are Melrose-based: “We try to keep a certain percentage of our exhibitors for the community,” Corbett explained, “Otherwise, what’s the point of doing it?”
The following Melrose artists will be represented at the Arts Festival: painters Mary Hanlon, Jacqueline Sokol, and Kerry Pegoraro; mixed-media artists Jen Moltoni and Thom Ciulla; fiber artist Penelope Young; clay artists Lesley Keegan, Michelle Ramadan, and Michelle Boulogne; jewelers Molly Phillips and John Maciejkowski; mosaic artist Roberta Gertz; and photographer Kelly Hourigan.
“It’s wonderful to have people from surrounding communities,” Corbett went on, “It creates awareness. But it’s important to have our own artists represented, too.” The Arts Festival will feature artists from as far away as Rhode Island and Maine, and features a variety of genres and media. “The goal is to represent different forms of art,” noted Corbett.
Everyone is welcome at the Arts Festival: serious collectors, art lovers of all backgrounds, and families with children. The event gives the public the opportunity to speak with artists and learn more about their work. While sales are how many of the artists support themselves, there is no pressure to buy, and many visitors come just to enjoy the art, the music, and the event.
Last year's Arts Festival
Follow Your Art Community Studios will be running a free community art project on the stage, which is funded by a grant from the Melrose Cultural Council. This grant will also support face painting during the Arts Festival. Follow Your Art will also be running the Junior Artisan Fair on the lower level of Memorial Hall, where visitors can buy crafts of various kinds from local kids and teens.
The following events will be running on both days on the following schedule:
- Junior Artisan Market: 12-2pm
- Community Art Project: Saturday, 11am-2pm and Sunday, 12-2pm
- Caricatures with Matt Bernson: 11am-3pm
- Face Painting with Florence Lee: 12-3pm
Live music will feature several local musicians, on the following schedule:
- Violet and Co., Saturday 11am-1pm
- Santon, Saturday 2-4pm
- Mark Thompson and Jason English, Sunday 11am-1pm
- The Peanut Gallery, Sunday 1:30-3:30pm
The La Cabaña Food Truck and Mama Jean will be serving food outside Memorial Hall on both days.
“You can come with your children, and expose them to the art,” Corbett pointed out, “let them make some art, have their face painted, get something to eat at a food truck. We’re just trying to create an atmosphere that’s very joyful and worthwhile to attend.”
“I hope people do come,” added Corbett, “because the world is in such chaos right now. And art brings you joy in a way that very few other things can.”
More information about the Melrose Arts Festival can be found on the Melrose Arts website.
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