Art Blast to feature Warhol experience
Student art from local schools is a traditional part of the Every Kids Art Show at the annual Art Blast on the Mon.
Will Weigle, a potter from California University, discussed his work at the 2012 Art Blast on the Mon. Artists like Weigle will be on hand to sell their work and give demonstrations at the 2013 event this weekend in Greensboro.
GREENSBORO – A bit of the Andy Warhol Museum will be the highlight of the Eighth annual Art Blast on the Mon from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday and noon to 4 p.m. Sunday in Greensboro. Local art educator, Codi Yoders Vanata, a Carmichaels High School graduate, was a driving force behind bringing the Warhol’s outreach program to Greene County.
Vanata, who works in the factory at the Warhol, said she was thinking of ways to bring the outreach to her hometown area. She first asked Darlene Garrett, Elm Street manager for Greensboro, about bringing the program to the Art Blast. When she said yes, Vanata talked to Tressa Varner, the curator of education at the Warhol and was thrilled when she, too,was behind it.
“I’m super excited. I’m proud to come home and do this,” Vanata said. “My husband is from Mapletown so it is kind of bringing everything together to get to do this there. I’m excited to be there and glad I can share it with Greene County.”
Helping to present the Warhol experience at the Art Blast will be youth from the Teen Leaders Program at the Lemoyne Community Center in Washington. These young people in ninth through 11th grade work in partnership with the Warhol Museum’s community outreach programs.
Vanata hopes to bring the outreach program into Greene County school districts in the next couple of years. She has previously made contact with the schools in writing and spoken to some of the art teachers and plans to bring the idea to the superintendents and school board members in the near future.
“Everyone needs a place like the LeMoyne Center. I want to help bridge the gap between Washington County, Greene County and Pittsburgh. Who could it hurt?” she asked.
The hands-on Warhol experience will be similar to the one that is part of a tour of the Warhol Museum in Pittsburgh. It will be screen printing, using acetate to cut down on the mess, with a collage underneath, Vanata said. More than anything, it will be about explaining and teaching the print process, she added.
The Warhol program is just one part of the events taking place this weekend in Greensboro. The international Kinder Musik program will also be offered at the Art Blast. This program is designed to teach the benefits of music in early childhood development. The program started in 1978, shows the link between improved literacy, motor skills, quantitative reasoning, socialization, emotional interactions and creativity. Representatives from the local outlet for Kinder Musik, the Market Street Academy and Performing Arts Center in Brownsville, will share the program.
Vendors for the Art Blast will range from someone selling homemade candles to one with log cabins made from 100-year old salvaged wood and stone houses made from one million-year-old stones.
It is the diversity of art such as this that appeals to artists like Vanata.
“I have always wanted to make the world a better, more diverse and understanding place through art,” she said.
She applied to and was accepted into the former Pennsylvania Governor’s School for the Arts (PGSA) at Mercyhurst College just after high school and then went on to study at Mercyhurst and Edinboro University before landing her dream job.
“I went to the Governor’s School to become an advocate for the arts and now I can be. I’ve never had a job until now where I have said, ‘I love to go to work.’ How many people can say that? I love my boss, my co-workers, everything about it,” she said with enthusiasm. “The only downside I can think of is the drive to the city in the traffic.”
Other components of the Art Blast on the Mon will be the antique quilt show, a lecture on Greensboro Pottery, and the Everyone and Every Kids Art Shows. These shows are judged and cash prizes are awarded.
Music will range from jazz to blues to pop and rock with several local artists performing live on stage. Boat making, mosaic art, children’s art and various demonstrations will also highlight the event.
Assorted foods and beverages will be available for lunch, breakfast and snacks, in addition to wines from Plum Run and Thistlethwaite’s wineries.
For a complete listing of the events, visit: www.natgreene.org or for more information, contact 724-943-3612.