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PITTSBURG —
Organizers of the inaugural SEK Art Fest are working to make the lemons of unforeseen delays into lemonade by expanding the offerings of the festival.
The large, fiberglass coal buckets that are slated to be decorated by area artists have been delayed by a month, meaning the unveiling will likely be in early June, rather than May 1, as originally scheduled.
In the meantime, area art teachers and students are decorating another series of life-sized coal buckets that will be unveiled in late April or early May, then placed in storefront windows during the first weeks of the Smithsonian exhibit at the Miner’s Hall Museum in Franklin.
Steve Robb, who came up with the idea for the festival and has spearheaded the work, said the delay is obviously not what was hoped for in the inaugural year.
“It’s disappointing,” he said. “We had hoped to be in place May 1 so we could attract the visitors into Pittsburg.”
He said organizers of other fiberglass art projects had told him May was an early goal because of weather, but that the committee had pushed for May 1 as a target date because they wanted an attraction to bring visitors from Franklin the rest of the way to Pittsburg.
Weather did play a role in the delay, but on the manufacturer’s end rather than the committee’s.
“We have been in constant contact with the coal bucket manufacturer, and they have been hampered by severe cold and heavy snows where the plant is located,” Robb said in a press release. “They are about three to four weeks behind, and we have to allow our artists time to complete their work before the buckets go on display. It’s still going to be a very exciting event, but we’ll just have to wait a few extra weeks to get it going.”
He said at this point the committee will give artists a minimum of four weeks to work on the buckets, and that he cannot foresee any additional delays pushing the unveiling back any further.
“We should get the large buckets out before the Smithsonian display is over,” he said.
However, the delay also allowed one of Robb’s secondary ideas, which previously had been dropped, to take flight.
“We had wanted to get smaller-size fiberglass buckets from the same manufacturer to offer to the schools,” Robb said.
He said the price was out of the range of what could be done.
Organizers of the inaugural SEK Art Fest are working to make the lemons of unforeseen delays into lemonade by expanding the offerings of the festival.
The large, fiberglass coal buckets that are slated to be decorated by area artists have been delayed by a month, meaning the unveiling will likely be in early June, rather than May 1, as originally scheduled.
In the meantime, area art teachers and students are decorating another series of life-sized coal buckets that will be unveiled in late April or early May, then placed in storefront windows during the first weeks of the Smithsonian exhibit at the Miner’s Hall Museum in Franklin.
Steve Robb, who came up with the idea for the festival and has spearheaded the work, said the delay is obviously not what was hoped for in the inaugural year.
“It’s disappointing,” he said. “We had hoped to be in place May 1 so we could attract the visitors into Pittsburg.”
He said organizers of other fiberglass art projects had told him May was an early goal because of weather, but that the committee had pushed for May 1 as a target date because they wanted an attraction to bring visitors from Franklin the rest of the way to Pittsburg.
Weather did play a role in the delay, but on the manufacturer’s end rather than the committee’s.
“We have been in constant contact with the coal bucket manufacturer, and they have been hampered by severe cold and heavy snows where the plant is located,” Robb said in a press release. “They are about three to four weeks behind, and we have to allow our artists time to complete their work before the buckets go on display. It’s still going to be a very exciting event, but we’ll just have to wait a few extra weeks to get it going.”
He said at this point the committee will give artists a minimum of four weeks to work on the buckets, and that he cannot foresee any additional delays pushing the unveiling back any further.
“We should get the large buckets out before the Smithsonian display is over,” he said.
However, the delay also allowed one of Robb’s secondary ideas, which previously had been dropped, to take flight.
“We had wanted to get smaller-size fiberglass buckets from the same manufacturer to offer to the schools,” Robb said.
He said the price was out of the range of what could be done.
But while preparing for artists and underwriters to meet at a reception in late February, Robb also was coming up with new ideas based on the centerpieces.
“Coal buckets were the centerpieces,” he said. “Lacey Taylor had found those for centerpieces, and we didn’t know the were still making those things.”
“I looked at those buckets that night when we were setting up for the reception and said, ‘Those are perfect for the schools,’” he said.
He said art teachers around the area have been interested in the project.
“Right away, we had 24 school buckets,” Robb said. “Art teachers responded and said, ‘Oh, yeah. We’d love to take part in it.’”
Most of the students decorating the buckets are high schoolers, but some are in middle school and one is home schooled.
The student artists will return their buckets by April 25, and an unveiling will take place on a Saturday so the students are able to attend.
“Between now and then, we’re going to go up and down Broadway and ask the merchants if they want to put a school bucket in their windows,” Robb said.
