Arts Festival Week 2024

Solebury School celebrates the arts every spring with a week-long festival, capped with an Arts and Earth Day celebration on the final day. 

Friday, April 12

Jazz Roots/Rock Band kicked off the Arts Festival with a fantastic concert in the PAC.
 

Sunday, April 14

A group of students went to Morningstar Recording Studios to record a demo, working with Grammy Award-winning engineer Glenn Barratt. 
 

Monday, April 15

Nick Honachefsky discussed the creative production process of his Discovery Network television show Saltwater Underground. Nick and his crew explore the world's finest fishing destinations and the scene of salty characters that accompany them. 

Allie Bentley joined us to give a remote portrait drawing lesson.    Bentley has exhibited nationwide, with solo exhibitions in Philadelphia, New York, Chicago, and San Diego.

 

 

Tuesday, April 16

Students gathered at the Crib to express their artistic side. Inside, they made their prom masquerade masks, paper flowers, and headbands, and outside, they drew with chalk, played with bubbles, and more!

 

Wednesday, April 17

Mukamari, a soul artist from Zimbabwe, currently residing in Doylestown, treated the students to a performance. Mukamari uses his music beyond entertainment and tries to educate and challenge issues that society faces.

Later that night, Aum Desai '24 performed at his Young Artist Series concert. Aum and eight other accompanists played various music, including jazz, pop, and classical, as well as music from France, the Middle East, and India. The night also included an original piece written by our very own Cathy Block. 

 

Thursday, April 18: Workshop Day!

This year's workshops were hosted by professionals as well as enthusiasts from our own community. The day included painted skateboard decks, bookmaking, graffiti wall, cupcake decorating, Jewelry, open-mic poetry, photograms, henna tattoos, macrame plant hangers, and multiple guest workshops.

• Unblock your creativity! Lose the self-critic with Shotsie
  Carl "Shotsie" Gorman is an American tattoo artist, painter, sculptor, and poet. He has been tattooing for over 42 years and co-founded the Alliance of Professional Tattooists. Shotsie covered a wide range of concepts, drawing from both Western and Eastern philosophies. Through a series of images, Shotsie illustrated how meditation could serve as a gateway to the inner life, aiding in removing the ego and pursuing perfection. He emphasized that fear and doubt are the primary sources of creative blocks, and the key to creativity is play, not intellectualizing the process.

• Make your own tarot card—an introduction to the card—an introduction to intuitive automatic drawing and writing with Kristine Gorman Students got a brief introduction to automatic drawing. They received a large piece of newsprint paper and tried their hand at it. Their final image related to a tarot card that was selected for them, and then they drew that card on a lovely piece of heavy multi-media paper.

• Salsa Dance with Sharonne Vinokurov The workshop included fundamental footwork and partner work.  "It's about learning to use our bodies to move and communicate with one another in a respectful and very fun manner," said Sharonne.

• Pigments, Egg Tempera, and Medieval Art Techniques with Elisa Markhoff Students experienced creating their own paint with egg tempera and using historical pigments. They also discussed the role of Egypt and Sudan in supplying raw materials and models for the ancient and medieval worlds. 

• Comic Strips: Learning to tell stories and jokes in a series of images and photos with Griff Jurchak

• Architecture as a Sculpture, Building and Abstracting with Sal Annunziato

• Indigo dye & Shibori with Susan Mania

• Mend and Make with Rebecca Kelly

• Exploring the Intersection of Music and Visual Arts with Will Fredendall Will explored the intersection of music and visual arts from our earliest music-making ancestors to the modern world. Connections were drawn between Debussy and Monet, Ornette Coleman and Jackson Pollock, Ancient Indian Iconography, and Hariprasad Chaurasia, and the workshop concluded with a live performance demonstrating the modern application of this research. When the line blurs between artistic mediums, new avenues of artistry emerge and emotional expression has an opportunity to flourish.

• Audition Tips and Self-Tapes with Millo Lazarczyk
  This workshop provided some insight into show business as well as some tips for self-tapes and landing those auditions.

• Cupcake Decorating with Cari Nelson and Lori Davis

• Macramé Plant Hanger with Caitlin Miller '18
  Students learned how to create a plant hanger using a macramé cord and variations of the square knot.

 

Friday, April 19 Community event

Despite the dropping temps, many parents remained on campus to tour the AP art exhibit in the Abbe hallways and gather in the garden for an informal parent social hosted by the Home and School Association Hospitality Committee. Solebury then celebrated Earth Day by having an Art and Plant sale with proceeds benefitting the clubs. It was a lovely afternoon, hanging with the community, eating good food, buying art and plants (Mother's Day is coming up), Singing, and Poetry!

STC Residency Showcase