MARBLEHEAD — So, it's the local art festival and you're thinking that every retired person in creation is going to show up with an oil painting of Marblehead Light labeled Marblehead Light because otherwise you wouldn't be able to figure out what it's supposed to be.
And you don't go.
But it's the Marblehead Festival of the Arts and if you don't go you might be making a mistake because it's not what you think. Yes, there are amateurs who enter. And professionals. And all sorts of artists who fall in between.
But most of the exhibits — and there are lots, including painting, sculptures, crafts, print making, mixed media and more — are juried. In other words, those weekend artists have to be good to get in.
For example, you have an amateur like Niki Farrell. Festival organizer Jeff Kane tells her story. In 2007, her dad, retired Marblehead High School art teacher Jim Farrell, came to help with the sand sculpting competition on Devereux Beach. Niki, meanwhile, then a tenth-grader, entered one of her sculptures in the student competition.
It was an extraordinary effort.
"She ended up winning our people's choice award," Kane says.
After, people knew what to expect. You would have thought it would get tougher for the Peabody resident to impress people. "Last year she entered again," Kane says, "and won best of show."
This year, the young artists has been in Pennsylvania scouting colleges. "But that's not the end of the story," Kane says. Because she's entered for a third time. "And she won best of show again." This in a category that includes professional sculptors. "But sometimes the amateurs do great."
Lots of people recognize this. Which is why the popularity of the festival has steadily increased since its beginnings in 1963. It takes roughly 200 volunteers to keep it going. This year the event runs from July 1 to Sunday, July 5, drawing people of all ages. In fact, Kane says, one of the most popular events is the model-boat building.
"Every year we order more boats," he says. "And every year we end up running out of them."
He's arranged for up to 150 kits this year. They will be assembled and painted on Saturday starting at 11 a.m. at Abbot Hall. Then, the entire fleet will be launched at 3 p.m. in a model regatta at Redd's Pond.
"It's really a family event," Kane says, and one of the festival's most popular.
For that matter, it adds to the neighborly atmosphere of the event, which invites works from anyone with ties to art associations in Essex County. (That opens the door to people from places as far flung as the South Shore, New Hampshire and Maine.)
"It's a really nice community affair," says Ben Gross, chairman of the arts department at Salem State College and a judge of print making for more than a decade. "A good time will be had by all. As long as it doesn't rain."
Even in the rain, most of the artworks are housed indoors. You might see crafts, drawings, paintings and print making at Abbot Hall; or logo art, senior art or "writer's world" (where biographer Phyllis Karas will offer advice on getting published on Friday from 2 to 4 p.m.) at the Unitarian Universalist Church; or mixed media and sculpture at St. Michael's Church; or student art and youth art at Old North Church.
And there's more. Films, with entries from all over the world, will be offered at Crocker Park, as well as performing artists, including musical performers, also at Crocker Park.
ArcWorks at the Unitarian Church features art from a guild for artists with physical or intellectual challenges.
Details on what happens and when it happens — because there's even more not mentioned here — are available on the Festival's Web site — www.marbleheadfestival.org.
"I just love it," says Karas, who has dealt with the Writer's Workshop in the past. "It's a true arts festival. ... I just love being part of that. It's very exciting."
Writers come from all over the state. "I can't get over the quality. ... Some are more talented than I am. I learn from them."
