The Johnson City Public Art group will host their Art Struck Festival on Saturday, Sept. 28, from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. at Founders Park in downtown Johnson City.
The Art Struck Festival is an event that celebrates the arts community in which artists and organizations will come together in support of local art. It is a children and adult friendly event that is free and open to the public. The festival will have performances, arts demonstrations and activities, informational booths and local art vendors.
“It’s going to be a fun, kind of laid back, family friendly event,” said City of Johnson City staff member Cheyenne Kumbhare.
One of the main events of the festival will be the Puppet March from 4 p.m. to 7 p.m. The march will be led by a group from Knoxville, Tennessee, called the Cattywampus Puppet Council. They will bring their giant hand-made, papier mâché puppets to create a whimsical atmosphere in the park.
Community members are encouraged to join in this march. There will be a flag and wand making station for children and adults to carry what they make in the march.
Another core event is steam roller print making that will take place on Commerce Street in front of Wild Wing Café. It is large-scale block print making of 4-foot by 2-foot sheets of prints by artist Laken Bridges. Bridges hand-carved an original design specific to Johnson City that will be printed using the road roller as a press. These designs will be sold to the public.
Attendees can see performances from 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. by performers such as the Mosaic Dance Collective, Roxanne McDaniel, Jasmine Henderson, Cory Jeter, the Jonesborough Repertory Theatre, the Johnson City Community Drum Circle, Shakespeare in Johnson City, The Dependents and the Tweetsie Trio.
The festival will also offer an Art Picnic in the amphitheater in which people can doodle on large canvas picnic blankets as they watch performances. During the festival, attendees are encouraged to eat at local restaurants downtown and visit the Johnson City Farmers Market located in the Pavilion.
There will be a Community Mural, which is a guided mural activity that anyone can participate in led by one of the Johnson City Public Art Committee members. Other activities include weaving and art puzzles.
At 3:30 p.m. there will be a Sculpture Walk. This is a guided tour of all the leased art sculptures in Founders Park and the downtown area. The tour will be led by this year’s leased art juror Sarah Stanley from the William King Museum of Art.
There will also be an art market with around 40 local art vendors selling high-quality art.
Groups like Cultural Connections Unlimited, the McKinney Center, William King Museum of Art and more will have booths that offer art demonstrations and activities.
Art departments from universities such as ETSU, Tusculum University, Milligan College and King University will have booths to offer information about their programs.
“There really hasn’t been anything done like this in Johnson City before; an art festival of this scale with all the unique activities that are taking place,” said Kumbhare. “So, I think college students are really going to enjoy those main attractions and those activities.”
For a schedule of events or more information, visit https://jcpublicart.com/art-struck-festival/ .
