The 25th annual Colorscape Chenango Arts Festival will take place Saturday and Sunday Sept. 7 and 8, 2019, in East and West Parks, downtown Norwich.
Ranked by Sunshine Artist Magazine as #33 in their list of top 100 classic and contemporary craft shows in the country, the centerpiece of this free, two-day festival is the art. Colorscape features 127 creators displaying and selling their paintings, sculptures, fabric art, fine crafts, photography and more. Professional artists come from all over the northeast and as far away as Florida to participate in what one calls, “the best show in the region.”
Colorscape celebrates more than just visual arts, however. With live entertainment on three stages throughout the weekend, featured headliners on the NBT Main Stage will include blues artist Rory Block, fan favorites the Slambovian Circus of Dreams, performance painter Robert Channing, and world-champion slam poet Buddy Wakefield.
The performance schedule for these and the nearly 20 other live acts can be found on www.colorscape.org, or by downloading the free Attendify app from the Apple Store or Google Play Store. Attendify also provides clues to a Festival Art Hunt, which encourages Colorscape guests to explore the festival and post their answers to 10 trivia questions on the app, for a chance to win a $20 gift certificate to the Colonia Theater in Norwich.
For hands-on activities, people of all ages can visit the Art Zone. In the Kids’ Art Zone, parents are invited to bring their children, preschool through age 9, to participate in a variety of exciting arts projects, including paper quilling, sand dollar necklaces, sensory coloring, and fiber arts cards. In the Golden Art Zone, both children (age 10 and up) and adults are offered an opportunity to explore the world of art and acrylic paints through a variety of exciting projects.All materials are provided and activities are free of charge. Additional activities for families can be found in Nonprofit Row, featuring several area nonprofit agencies.
In front of Guernsey Memorial Library, the literary arts will be celebrated with two days of poets, illustrators, and authors. Buddy Wakefield will be on hand before and after his Saturday performances to offer inspiration to writers and poets of all ages. Local author Suzanne Bloom will sign books, and guests can experiment with refrigerator poetry and making paper dahlias out of old books.
The annual Student Art Exhibit will again be displayed at the Artists’ Palette on South Broad Street. Sharing the work of school-age children from across the region, the Student Art Exhibit will present awards at 3 p.m. on Sunday.
Colorscape Chenango has been celebrating premier artists in downtown Norwich since 1995. Media sponsors include The Evening Sun, WSKG, WRVO, WCDO, and Magic 101.7. Colorscape is made possible, in part, by the Broome, Chenango & Otsego Decentralization Program, administered by the Chenango Arts Council and the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of Governor Andrew Cuomo and the New York State Legislature. For more information, visit www.colorscape.org.