Archive: Around Town

The place to be in Lansing tonight (Friday, May 10th) is the East Shore Festival Of The Arts (ESFOTA) opening at the Lansing Town Hall.  The show features 40 local artists whose work will be on display in the Town Hall and the Lansing Community Library today through July 21.  It's the third annual exhibit.  Organizer Robin Schuttenberg says that each year the show adds new features.

"One of the things that is fascinating this year is to see the change in the work of artists who have been in the show before from one year to the next," she says.  "Mary Schuler has some interesting work this year, and Michael Wills, and Karen Veaner's work is totally different than it was last year."

The opening will feature the Bob Keefe Trio in the jury box of the courtroom, Dr. K playing acoustic guitar in the Field School House, and Lisa Craig Fenwick playing harp in the library gallery.

"The harps are gorgeous," Schuttenberg says.  "It's such a perfect match for an art show because visually they are just beautiful."


Crossroad's Jay Dietershagen will provide hors d'oeuvres, King Ferry Winery will hold a wine tasting, ESFOTA volunteers will hold a chocolate tasting, the Cinnamon Shop is providing cookies, and BJ's Wholesale Club is providing a selection of chocolates, grapes, cheese, and crackers.  Take Your Pick Flowers will provide flowers used around the opening.

Ed Schulman will be the featured artist this year.  Schulman is a paper engineer who designs pop-up cards , scale paper models, including models of trains.  He designed a model kit of the Lansing Lighthouse for the festival, and will be assembling it at the opening.  The kit is on pre-printed card stock.  Pieces are cut out and tabs hold the model together.  Kits will also be for sale.

Activities will include Lansing jigsaw puzzles that are made from historical photographs.  This year puzzles will include some more current local pictures, including the Lansing watchfire and an image of one of the paintings from the show.  Buddha Boards, Wikki Stix and tessellations will be provided for kids to play with.  Additionally there will be an image hunt for folks who really pay attention to the art on display.  Door prizes will be randomly handed out.


The main feature, of course, is the art itself.  This year there are more artists with fewer pieces from each.  There are more watercolors than in past years, and sculptures of various media.  The town courtroom and the downstairs library gallery are the main display spaces, with pieces hanging in Town Hall hallways and around the library as well.

Tomorrow (Saturday) morning the artists will be back in an 'artists's market' from 11 to 4 where the artists whose work has been accepted this year will be selling more of their work, or other manifestations of the work they do.  Technicolor Trailer Park will supply music and food will be provided.

"It's a chance for the artists to show what else they do," Schuttenberg explains.  "A lot of artists not only do fine art or gallery-type work, but make pottery or dolls , or clocks, or tiles, or T-shirts.  It will be a chance to show other things and more commercial items, also.  We try to do something new every year."

Schuttenberg says there is more to hanging an exhibit than you would expect.  110 pieces have been submitted, but not all may end up in the show, depending on space and how the pieces complement each other.

"It's been a real eye-opener for me to see the art behind hanging the show," Schuttenberg says.  "The way you walk through the show has to have a certain flow to it.  I've been lucky in that the people who work with me say, 'No you can't do this.  You need this piece to bring the eye around the corner to the next piece.'  There is a lot more to hanging the show than just sticking it on the walls."

The exhibit will be on display through July 21st.  A closing celebration, again with entertainment and food, will coincide with the Lansing Farmer's Market that morning.

"It's a final chance for people to view the show," Schuttenberg says.  "The next day it all comes down and every piece goes back to their owners and people who purchased work can get their art."

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