Hailing from surrounding Indiana communities, neighboring states and as far as Arizona, Florida and Virginia, over one hundred Fine Artists and Crafts People gathered to show their creations for the 32nd annual Lubeznik Center for the Arts Lakefront Arts Festival. The festival brings about 6000 visitors every year and continues to grow. This growth was apparent with the need of a wait list for the first time due to the more than 200 artists and crafts people who applied to exhibit their work and only 100 hundred exhibition spaces available.
“The great thing is that artwork becomes completely accessible this way,” said Amy Davis, one of the Lubeznik Center’s festival coordinators. She continued, “Our festival becomes another method to expose people, who might not be interested or compelled to visit a gallery, to see high quality work.”
Brian J. Sullivan, a pop iconic image artist from Champagne, Illinois was among the artists displaying their high quality works. Using recognizable American images from the 50s and 60s, such as Firestone, Bob’s Big Boy, and the Gerber Baby, Sullivan places these images into different contexts.
“I put them into a different composition that makes you think and question what the original image means,” said Sullivan. “It makes you think about what might be going on, but I never tell the audiences what I’m trying to do because everybody comes to it with their own experience with that logo when they’re growing up,” he continued.
Sullivan travels all over the country displaying his art in galleries, art fairs and museums. This is Sullivan’s second time participating in the Michigan City Lakefront Arts Festival and he is happy to be back.
“This is a really nice show,” he said. “It’s an easy setup, laid back. It’s in the park, you have shade in the trees, they treat you really well and a lot of nice people come out to it,” continued Sullivan.
For more information on Brian Sullivan and his artwork visit www.BrianSullivanArt.com
This year, the festival offered various artist demonstrations, a beachfront food court, free offsite parking and shuttle, free admission to children under twelve and free admission to active military personnel with a CACDD1173 card. New to the festival was the NECA music tent in which a DJ entertained audiences. Festival guests also found the General Insurance Outreach Tent presenting art created by students of The Social and Learning Institute for intellectually disabled adults and an Honor a Veteran Tent where the program, From War to Peace, displayed jewelry, various accessories and other items made from recycled military weaponry materials. 20% of proceeds for War to Peace are donated to peace and social justice organizations. In the same vicinity, a free children’s activity tent, sponsored by Ivy Tech, was available for children to paint or color with crayons.
“I am involved with the Lubeznik Art Center because my ten year old son, Jacob Weiss, is autistic,” said Kari Weiss, a volunteer at the children’s activity tent. She continued, “He has been with the Lubeznik Center for about two years now; it’s his outlet. The more we can involve the kids, the better.”
Organized by the Lubeznik Center for the Arts, the Lakefront Arts Festival is a fundraiser promoting children’s art programs. Proceeds from the Arts festival are used towards exhibitions and programming throughout the region, in addition to helping maintain the 20,000 annual visitors to the center.
“1000 school children, who may not otherwise be exposed to the arts, receive after-school and summer art programming,” Davis said. “There are so many children living under the poverty level in this community, our art programs provide them with a creative outlet that they would not otherwise receive,” she continued.
Please visit http://www.lubeznikcenter.org/Special_Events/art_fest.html for more information about the Lubeznik Center’s upcoming exhibitions and art programs. For more information regarding The Social and Learning Institute please visit www.SocialAndLearning.org To learn how you can donate the Lubeznik Center’s Honor a Veteran program contact ArtInfo@LubeznikCenter.org To purchase jewelry and other accessories created by From War to Peace visit FromWartoPeace.com
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