The arts have a way of reaching people and bringing them together. That's the community-minded notion behind "ARTreach Festival 2016" on Saturday, June 11, from 11 a.m.to 4 p.m., in Long Reach Village Center.
Following a similar free event last June, this year's arts festival is designed to bring people to a village center that has a lot of vacant commercial space. The Howard County government, which now owns most of that space, wants to sell it to a private developer. The most prominent site not owned by the county government, the Columbia Art Center, is owned by the Columbia Association and remains a vibrant presence in what otherwise can be a very quiet courtyard.
The upcoming arts festival is sponsored by the Long Reach Community Association, Columbia Association, Howard County Arts Council, Columbia Art Center, Howard County government and Columbia Festival of the Arts.
It seems likely that the event will draw a crowd. Last year's ARTreach Festival drew more than 1,000 people, according to Coleen West, executive director of the Howard County Arts Council.
"We wanted people to come back to the village center and think of it in a new way," West said.
At the time of last year's festival, the Howard County Arts Council was considering a relocation from its longtime Ellicott City facility to an unspecified site at Long Reach Village Center, but Westnow says"I do not think it's going to happen."
West added that the arts council, which played a major role in planning and funding the first two ARTreach festivals, has no plans tooversee any such festivals there in the future.
Sharing West's enthusiasm for the public response to last year's ARTreach festival is Liz Henzey, director of the Columbia Art Center, who commented: "It exceeded my expectations and the energy was contagious. It really pulled the local community together for fun events."
Those events included tours anddemonstrations at the Columbia Art Center, which has been an anchor of this village center since 1974.
Looking ahead to this Saturday, the manyactivities include more than 100 visual and performing artists set up throughout the village center. Some of the most satisfying audience interaction is likely to involve artist demonstrations.
Sure to draw a crowd is the chainsaw carving demonstration by Evelyn Mogren, who will transform pine logs into such animals as a fox, owl and heron.
"I generally have a net around the area in which I work, so the wood does not goflying out into the audience," Mogren explained.
Spectators are kept around eight feet away from thebuzzing chainsaw, and Mogren noted that the sound of the saw also drops off a bit at that distance.
When it comes to making chainsaw sculptures, it was love at first cut for this Columbia resident.
"I just love carving, the quality of the wood, the grain and what you can get out of it. There is a thinking process to working with the wood," Mogren said.
Among thegentler demonstrations will be Columbia resident Chaya Schapiro painting watercolors and describing how she uses line and color. Schapiro, who often works outdoors and who also has worked as a teacher, said she does not mind having people watch her paint. "I look at it like a student asking questions," she said.
Demonstrating a very different medium will beEllicott City resident Alice St. Germain-Gray, who will be showing the process involved in making lampworked glass. "I want to give them asense of whatI'm doing," she said, about how molten glass assumes a particular shape.
For the upcoming demonstration, that shape involves feather-evocative forms similar to a mixed medium, glass-oriented sculpture she currently has on displayin the "Resident Artists" exhibit at the Howard County Arts Council.
As for what curious spectators tend to ask her during such demonstrations, she said: "They all want to know how hot an object is and why I'm not burning myself. I'm working around an envelope of heat without burning myself."
That's a good thing, because hot in this situation translates to 2,000 degrees Farenheit.
The many artists expected for ARTreach also include some whose demonstrations have a hands-on component for the public.
Columbia resident Jereme Scott, who currently is displaying oil paintings in the Howard County Arts Council's "Resident Artists" exhibit, will be presenting a different medium at ARTreach: a hands-on screenprinting demonstration.
"A lot of nuance goes into making prints. I concentrate to make sure things are right," Scott said, adding that he will be working on linear designsin the screenprints and then encouraging people to color or otherwise embellish these prints.
Live entertainment at the upcoming event includes music by Ursula Ricks Project, Christyles Bacon and Wytold, Elikeh and Ocho de Bastos. And there will be puppets, mimes, magicians and additional children's performances.
For more information about the free "ARTreach Festival 2016," call 410-313-2787 or go to www.artreachhoco.org