Albany Museum of Art and City of Albany Partner to Bring Festival to Tift Park
The 9th Annual Heart of Albany Festival Will Be Held on Saturday, November 7
Daydream out loud on Saturday, November 7, when the Albany Museum of Art brings the 9th annual Heart of Albany Festival to Tift Park.
In addition to professional chalk artists competing for Best in Show by creating chalk paintings that embody the festival’s Daydreaming theme, artists in different media, from cool painting to hot glass, will showcase their talents during the free event, which takes place from 10 am to 5 pm.
Musicians and performers will take the stage throughout the day, including magician Evan Dupree, whose skills with illusions have wowed audiences and television viewers in his appearances on The Tonight Show and America’s Got Talent. Kids can have fun in the Vine Vision AMAzing Activities area, and festival-goers can stroll through the Vendor Village for unique items and grab a bite at one of the food trucks. Admission is free for everyone.
“Tift Park is a beautiful location, and it’s just a few blocks from downtown, where the new home for the Albany Museum of Art will be,” Executive Director Andrew James Wulf, Ph.D., said. “We appreciate our partners with the City of Albany and the Albany Recreation and Parks Department for making the festival’s move to Tift Park possible. It will be an exciting day, and we hope everyone will come out and enjoy all of the art, entertainment, and activities.”
“ARPD is extremely excited to reconnect with the Albany Museum of Art and assist with this year’s Heart of Albany event,” Velvet Poole, Recreation Superintendent of the Albany Recreation and Parks Department, said. “We look forward to bringing our community together through art, creativity, and family fun, and to partnering on many more events in the future.”
Art will be created in real time as professional chalk artists complete 49-square-foot or larger artworks on pavement as they work to capture the Daydreaming theme. Student groups and amateur artists will also compete for recognition as they complete smaller chalk art paintings on the pavement.
“The theme is inspired by the work of Atlanta artist O.M. Norling, whose surrealistic paintings are on display now in the exhibition Artifacts of a Fate That Never Was,” Director of Curatorial Affairs Katie Dillard said. “His work has fantastic, dreamy qualities, with hyper-realistic animals placed in unusual environments that include antique furniture and household objects. Norling also designed the artwork for this year’s T-shirts.”
The festival will also include artists in other disciplines creating works during the day, and some will have pieces for sale to festival-goers. Confirmed artists include painter Hugh Cunningham, photographer James Malphrus, and artist Remington Adams.
“We will have members of the Hot Glass Academy in Americus back this year,” Director of Education and Public Programming Annie Van Oteghem said. “At last year’s festival, there was a steady stream of festival-goers who were fascinated as they watched these artists create pieces of art out of molten glass.”
With the holiday season starting in earnest a couple of weeks after the festival, the vendors—including many regulars of Tift Market—will have items that will give you a start on your shopping. Food trucks will also be at the park, including festival favorites Hope’s Grilling & More, Deb’s Curbside Cupcakes, and Kona-Ice of Albany.
On stage, entertainment will be ongoing during the day. Singer Isaac Evans will kick off the event, and Ballet Theatre South will perform scenes from its upcoming performances of The Nutcracker.
“There will be a new kind of magic on the stage and later mixing in with the crowd,” Van Oteghem said. “Evan Dupree is a Warner Robins native who was inspired to pursue a career as a magician at the age of eight when he saw David Copperfield on television. His show includes illusions he did as a guest on Jay Leno’s The Tonight Show in 2001. He also was a contestant on America’s Got Talent in 2016.”
The Best in Show professional chalk artist and winners in the amateur chalk art categories will be announced in the afternoon, as will the winners of the 3rd annual Student Art Exhibition at the Albany Museum of Art. When the student exhibition opens on October 30 in the AMA’s West Gallery, museum visitors can vote for their favorite student artwork for the People’s Choice Award, which will be announced at the festival along with the winners in each student exhibition category.
“The Heart of Albany Festival is the AMA’s gift to the community each year, one of the ways we say thank you to Albany and Southwest Georgia for the tremendous support that is shown year in and year out for the arts, and for the Albany Museum of Art,” Wulf said. “We owe a special thanks to the generous sponsors whose support enables the AMA to present this festival.”
In addition to Vine Vision, festival sponsors are Smile Doctors, Adams Exterminators, WALB, Albany Area Primary Health Care, Fleming & Riles Insurance, Phoebe, U-Save-It, WebstaurantStore, Blick Art Supplies, Albany Beverage Co., InVision Technologies, Bishop Clean Care, and Eddie’s Signs.
To learn more about the Heart of Albany Festival, visit HERE.
