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PITTSBURG —
Many of the 58 area artists who submitted designs for the SEK Art Fest had an opportunity to meet each other and event organizers Thursday during a reception at Porter Hall, Pittsburg State University.
Steve Robb said that letters will start going out today notifying those artists whose designs have been accepted for the blank four-foot-tall fiberglass coal buckets that will be exhibited May 1 through Sept. 1 in downtown Pittsburg.
“We’re going to choose 26 artists and six alternates, so if anyone has to drop out for whatever reason, we’ll have someone to take their place,” said Robb, founder and coordinator of SEK Art Fest.
But everybody who took the time to plan a design proposal and become involved with promoting art in Pittsburg is a winner, according to Rhona Shand, PSU art department chairman.
“To be accepted or not accepted is part of being an artist,” she told reception guests. “A lot of those who submitted designs had not submitted art to a competition before. The thought you took and the time you took to make a proposal is great. We’re so excited to meet other artists in the community and get you into our gallery space.”
The artists come from numerous walks of life. Jim Mynatt, for example, was a designer in McNally’s Engineering Department for 22 years.
“This is a really nice opportunity for artists in the area,” he said. “I love opportunities like this to express my art, and this is an unusual way. It gives us an opportunity to put forth what we want for Kansas.”
Mark Johnson, PSU professor of technology and workforce learning, did not submit a bucket proposal, but son Joshua Johnson, now in Texas, did.
“I think with logistics, if my son’s design is accepted, I’ll be the one who has to haul the bucket to him so he can work on it,” Johnson said.
He believes the bucket competition, patterned after Chicago’s “Parade of Cows” and similar events, is a great idea.
“I went to visit my aunt in Grant’s Pass, Ore., and they had decorated bears there,” Johnson said.
Gary Lofts, Northeast High School art teacher and muralist, had a lot of irons in the fire, including planning decorations for the 2013 Northeast prom, which will have a Broadway production theme.
“I thought I could work a little four by three coal bucket in there somewhere, and got my proposal in on the last day,” he said.
Many of the 58 area artists who submitted designs for the SEK Art Fest had an opportunity to meet each other and event organizers Thursday during a reception at Porter Hall, Pittsburg State University.
Steve Robb said that letters will start going out today notifying those artists whose designs have been accepted for the blank four-foot-tall fiberglass coal buckets that will be exhibited May 1 through Sept. 1 in downtown Pittsburg.
“We’re going to choose 26 artists and six alternates, so if anyone has to drop out for whatever reason, we’ll have someone to take their place,” said Robb, founder and coordinator of SEK Art Fest.
But everybody who took the time to plan a design proposal and become involved with promoting art in Pittsburg is a winner, according to Rhona Shand, PSU art department chairman.
“To be accepted or not accepted is part of being an artist,” she told reception guests. “A lot of those who submitted designs had not submitted art to a competition before. The thought you took and the time you took to make a proposal is great. We’re so excited to meet other artists in the community and get you into our gallery space.”
The artists come from numerous walks of life. Jim Mynatt, for example, was a designer in McNally’s Engineering Department for 22 years.
“This is a really nice opportunity for artists in the area,” he said. “I love opportunities like this to express my art, and this is an unusual way. It gives us an opportunity to put forth what we want for Kansas.”
Mark Johnson, PSU professor of technology and workforce learning, did not submit a bucket proposal, but son Joshua Johnson, now in Texas, did.
“I think with logistics, if my son’s design is accepted, I’ll be the one who has to haul the bucket to him so he can work on it,” Johnson said.
He believes the bucket competition, patterned after Chicago’s “Parade of Cows” and similar events, is a great idea.
“I went to visit my aunt in Grant’s Pass, Ore., and they had decorated bears there,” Johnson said.
Gary Lofts, Northeast High School art teacher and muralist, had a lot of irons in the fire, including planning decorations for the 2013 Northeast prom, which will have a Broadway production theme.
“I thought I could work a little four by three coal bucket in there somewhere, and got my proposal in on the last day,” he said.
So did Joey White, who said that she enjoys doing art when she’s not playing guitar.
“Something just kept poking at me,” she said.
Each artist selected will receive a $500 stipend, with a $100 stipend for materials. Each bucket will have a plaque with the name of the artist and the underwriter.
Their exhibit in downtown Pittsburg will coincide with the Smithsonian traveling exhibit “The Way We Worked” at the Miners Hall Museum, Franklin, which will be on view May 11 through June 23. Culmination will be during Little Balkans Days, when the buckets will be auctioned off.
“It seems to me that Pittsburg is getting ready to pop artistically,” said Portico Bowman, PSU associate art professor and, with Tim Towner and Heather Horton, judges of the competition. “We’re going to see what pops out of that egg, or out of that coal bucket.”
