“Crazy, underrated artists, and loonies” — That’s part of the description meant in fun found on the website for some of the people involved in Roanoke’s third annual “Marginal Arts Festival,” which takes place this year from February 11-16. There are exhibits at the Taubman and Eleanor D. Wilson Museums, music at The Water Heater, a funky parade on downtown streets and a silent film scored by live, local bands.
The Roanoke Arts Festival may have fallen prey to a lack of funds and perhaps a lack of vision, but director Brian Counihan said the Marginal Arts Festival, designed to celebrate lesser-known talents, could be a prototype for future events backed by the city.
Counihan, who teaches at Community High School, said last year’s festival “had a lot more visibility,” than the debut year, along with about 3000 attendees.
Counihan says the pop-up photo books made by Collette Fu (Pearl Fu’s daughter) that will debut at the Taubman are indicative of the “marginal” types of art this year’s festival will showcase. “The whole goal is to see if we can exhibit arts that everyone else says Roanoke would never want to see…if we can grow audiences.” He calls Fu’s pop-up books “a very unusual art form.” Her mother, Pearl Fu, is best known as the founder of the Local Colors celebration of diversity.
Two exhibitions at the Wilson Museum (on the Hollins University campus) will kick off the festival on Feb. 11. One is a photography show featuring images of women in combat. It all ends on the 16th – which is Mardi Gras, or Fat Tuesday – “an inspiration for the festival’s look and feel,” said Counihan. There’s also a $10 fundraising event that night (the 16th) at Jefferson Center’s Fitzpatrick Hall.
The parade last year was “small and energetic;” Counihan expects a much larger group this time for the Saturday, Feb. 13 event. A 7’3” rat built by Ralph Eaton, a veteran of Rose Bowl floats, will contribute to the Mardi Gras-like atmosphere. Eaton will also direct the parade; participants will gather at 10:30 a.m., at Campbell and 2nd Street, and will begin marching at noon, down Campbell to Jefferson, and on to the Roanoke City public library.
The Magic Twig Community, a group of young local musicians, will again score a silent film as it plays – the horror movie “Nosferatu” is featured this time. There’s also music on Feb. 11 at Kirk Avenue Music Hall, featuring Eugene Chadbourne, who worked with the late Frank Zappa and more recently with Bluegrass musicians.
An opera in the works, revolving around Lucy Addison, an early black pioneer in Roanoke, will have its debut as well. Les Epstein’s piece will “show the separation of the two different communities in Roanoke,” according to Counihan, who hopes to help meld the city’s diverse demographics with the opera.
The Marginal Arts Festival is sending out 4,000 brochures, as far away as Blacksburg, with the aim of becoming more of a regional event. “We certainly hope so,” said Counihan. Most events are free but there is a charge for several of them. The festival is also offering a discount ticket book.
Counihan isn’t looking at Marginal Arts as a replacement for the Roanoke Arts Festival; in fact he would like to see the city-funded event return in some form. “Then we could bounce off that. [But] it shows a means of operating that I think is useful. We like it [the Roanoke Arts Festival] to be more accessible.”
(See marginalarts.com for a complete schedule.)
By Gene Marrano [email protected]