The Shoofly Magazine
  • Home
    • Amtrak Gulf Coast: Latest News
    • 15 Minutes Photo Galleries
    • Arts Alive!
    • Bay Reads
    • Beach to Bayou
    • Big Buzz Blog
    • Coast Cuisine
    • The Eyes Have It
    • Good Neighbor
    • Living Large
    • Nature Notes
    • Noteworthy Women
    • On the Shoofly
    • Partner Spotlight
    • Second Saturday
    • Shared History
    • Sonny's Fishing Report
    • Talk of the Town
    • Town Green
    • Upcoming Events
  • Calendar
    • Upcoming Events
    • Calendar Users Guide
    • Calendar FAQs
  • Communities
    • Bay St. Louis Lifestyle
    • Diamondhead Lifestyle
    • Pass Christian Lifestyle
    • Waveland Lifestyle
  • Readers' Circle
    • Partners
  • Local Living
    • Upcoming Events
    • EAT
    • SHOP
    • PLAY >
      • Community Calendar
    • STAY >
      • Camping & RV Parks
    • TOURS >
      • Instagram Tours >
        • Beach Blvd. Instagram Ops
        • Main Street Instagram Ops
        • Second Street Instagram Ops
        • Depot District Instagram Stars
        • Black History Instagram Tour - Part 1
    • PETS
    • WEDDINGS
    • SERVICES >
      • Automotive
      • Construction
      • Entertainment
      • Financial Services
      • Food & Beverage
      • Health
      • Home & Garden
      • Legal Services
      • Marine & Boating
      • Marketing
      • Media
      • Office
      • Personal Care
      • Pets
      • Real Estate
      • Recreation
      • Transportation
      • Travel/Hospitality
      • Utilities
    • ORGANIZATIONS >
      • Churches
      • Government
      • Education >
        • Art Teachers
      • Hurricane Prep Guide
      • Wildlife Rescue in South Mississippi

Talk of the Town - March 2016

3/1/2016

 

Arts Alive!  Takes Over Old Town

One of the liveliest festivals on the coast, Arts Alive! embraces all types of art - including visual, literature, culinary arts, theatre and music - with lots of fun competitions!
- story by Ana Balka, photos by Ellis Anderson
Tweet
More Current Stories!
Picture
All photographs from Arts Alive 2015, by Ellis Anderson
The Arts, Hancock County is preparing for ArtsAlive! 2016, Bay St. Louis’s arts festival with events all over Old Town on March 19, 10 a.m.-5 p.m., with music going until 8 p.m. The innovative celebration of all things creative encourages community participation in an array of events and contests that include visual arts, literature, culinary arts, theater, and music.
 
While ArtsAlive! has existed since 2004 and once consisted of a tour of artists’ studios, the Arts, Hancock County revamped the festival into its current format in 2014 to include a wide range of modes of expression and to encourage more people to participate.
 
Artists may participate in showcases that span four categories: Artist (visual arts), Songwriter, Culinary, and Literary. All details and registration forms are on the Arts, Hancock County’s website at artsalivegulfcoast.com.

Talk of the Town
is sponsored by

Picture

Click here and scroll down for archived Talk of the Town stories
Dozens of artists will display their work — sculpture, paintings, mixed media, pottery, jewelry, metal, ceramics, photography, glass, leather, woodwork, and more — at host businesses around Old Town for the Artist Showcase. Also, artists will be demonstrating techniques throughout Old Town all day. Noted area potter Steve Barney will be on hand with Agile Argile, his interactive, steampunk-inspired clay wheel contraption, and at least a dozen other painters, potters, and jewelry makers will be on the streets showing techniques to onlookers.
 
The Literary Showcase is a popular event, with an Aspiring Writers’ Contest for kids in three age categories, and an on-the-spot Flash Fiction contest for adults. Events take place between Bay Books, 131 Main, and Bay Life gifts and Biz-zee Bee at 111 Main. Kids’ work is submitted beforehand, with rules and topics specified in the application on the website.
 
Entrants in the Flash Fiction contest receive the topic onsite at 9:30 and commence writing until the 12:30 p.m. deadline to submit up to 400 words. From 1-3 p.m. participants read their entries aloud to the audience and to judge Rheta Grimsley Johnson, award-winning reporter and columnist. Winners will be announced following the readings, and cash prizes will go to the top three. Also, Phil Levin of Gulf Coast Writers’ Group will give a talk on writing, publishing, and marketing.
The Literary Showcase is a natural for ArtsAlive!, according to Janet Densmore, Arts Hancock County member and Literary Showcase organizer. “The South is the birthplace of so much great writing,” she says, adding that she loves that there are creative competitions for young people as well as adults. “If you start when kids are young, they’re going to be who they are. Pour water on [their creativity] and they grow.”
 
Lulu’s on Main, 126 Main Street, hosts this year’s Culinary Showcase with 2016’s theme calling for “Sweets of the South.” Ten contestants will vie to create the most tempting dessert, and three celebrity judges will choose the top three entries. “One of the big attractions to this event is that the public gets to sample a taste of all the submissions after the judging,” says Arts board member Joan Coleman.
 
The festival brings “community involvement, art appreciation, and introduction to various forms of art” to the community each year, Joan says. “It’s good seeing people enjoy Bay St. Louis. We have a lot of people come from out of town just for the one-day event.”
PictureRochelle Harper
Popular Gulf Coast blues/soul singer-songwriter Rochelle Harper and her husband and collaborator Boz Boswell host the Songwriters’ Showcase at the Mockingbird cafe. Songwriters perform noon-5, with judging by members of the Mississippi Songwriters Alliance. “Playoffs” of the day’s top contenders begins at 5:30, after which judges announce the winners. Songwriters’ Showcase is always a central focus of the festival, with visitors from all over cheering on performers in the outdoor stage area and enjoying refreshments from the Mockingbird. Harper and Boswell bring fun, passion, and the embodiment of Bay St. Louis community to the stage: “We love Bay St. Louis,” says Harper. “It’s like a city full of extended family. We want to be a part of anything going on in the Bay.”
 
Another visually exciting event is the Theatre Tableau in front of the courthouse at 170 Main Street. Members of the Bay St. Louis Little Theatre bring a painting to life, with this year’s tableau based on a work by Micky Arnold. Past tableaux have depicted a mural by Bonnie Vallery, and in 2014 actors portrayed the characters in Edward Hopper’s “Nighthawks.”
 
Children and the young at heart love Imagination Station, an interactive play booth outside Bay Emporium at 112 South Second Street and headed up by aforementioned artist Micky Arnold. Projects for the kids include chalk drawings on tarpaper, which will be hung up for display for the day. Artists get prizes and ribbons!
 
Be sure to make your way to the juried show featuring the work of members of the Arts, Hancock County, and the Pass Christian Art Association at 200 North Beach restaurant. Award-winning Ocean Springs mixed media artist Mary Hardy judges the 2016 Juried Exhibition. Works are on display March 18-30 at 200 North Beach, with judging results announced at the ArtsAlive Patron’s Party Friday, March 18, and winners receiving cash prizes.
 
In fact, the Patrons’ Party and Juried Exhibition kicks off the whole festival. For a suggested $5 donation (free for participating artists, sponsors, and members of the Arts), attendees can mingle, view the juried show, and enjoy a fun first night.
 
Arts Hancock County board member, Imagination Station organizer, and tableau painter Micky Arnold talks about the inspiration and drive to create that Arts Hancock County hopes to ignite in festival-goers with this yearly event: “For people to see the process of the artist, for art to come alive is such an awesome thing. Imagination Station tries to do that for the kids (and adult kids!) by getting them to participate and try out new creative things.” She adds, “I also want to mix the sciences with arts in the future; it is so important to show how the two intersect and combine.”
 
All entry forms, maps, event schedules, and additional information is on the Arts, Hancock County’s website at artsalivegulfcoast.com.

Picture
Picture

Comments are closed.

    Picture
    Picture
    Picture
    Picture
    Picture
    Picture
    Picture
    Picture
    Picture
    Picture
    Picture
    Picture
    Picture
    Picture
    Picture
    Picture
    Picture
    Picture
    Picture
    Picture

    RSS Feed

    Categories

    All
    15 Minutes
    Across The Bridge
    Antiques
    Architecture
    Art
    Arts Alive
    At Home In The Bay
    Bay Bride
    Bay Business
    Bay Reads
    Beach To Bayou
    Beach-to-bayou
    Beautiful Things
    Benefit
    Big Buzz
    Boats
    Body+Mind+Spirit
    Books
    BSL Council Updates
    BSL P&Z
    Business
    Business Buzz
    Casting My Net
    Civics
    Coast Cuisine
    Coast Lines Column
    Day Tripping
    Design
    DIY
    Editors Notes
    Education
    Environment
    Events
    Fashion
    Food
    Friends Of The Animal Shelter
    Good Neighbor
    Grape Minds
    Growing Up Downtown
    Harbor Highlights
    Health
    History
    Honor Roll
    House And Garden
    Legends And Legacies
    Local Focal
    Lodging
    Mardi Gras
    Mind+Body+Spirit
    Mother Of Pearl
    Murphy's Musical Notes
    Music
    Nature
    Nature Notes
    New Orleans
    News
    Noteworthy Women
    Old Town Merchants
    On The Shoofly
    Parenting
    Partner Spotlight
    Pass Christian
    Public Safety
    Puppy-dog-tales
    Rheta-grimsley-johnson
    Science
    Second Saturday
    Shared History
    Shared-history
    Shelter-stars
    Shoofly
    Shore Thing Fishing Report
    Sponsor Spotlight
    Station-house-bsl
    Talk Of The Town
    The Eyes Have It
    Tourism
    Town Green
    Town-green
    Travel
    Tying-the-knot
    Video
    Vintage-vignette
    Vintage-vignette
    Waveland
    Weddings
    Wellness
    Window-shopping
    Wines-and-dining

    Archives

    December 2023
    March 2023
    February 2023
    January 2023
    December 2022
    November 2022
    October 2022
    September 2022
    August 2022
    July 2022
    June 2022
    May 2022
    April 2022
    March 2022
    February 2022
    January 2022
    December 2021
    November 2021
    October 2021
    September 2021
    August 2021
    July 2021
    June 2021
    May 2021
    April 2021
    March 2021
    February 2021
    January 2021
    December 2020
    November 2020
    October 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    August 2014
    November 2013
    August 2013
    June 2013
    March 2013
    February 2013
    December 2012
    October 2012
    September 2012
    May 2012
    March 2012
    February 2012
    December 2011
    November 2011
    October 2011
    September 2011
    August 2011
    July 2011
    June 2011

Shoofly Magazine Partners

​Our Shoofly Partners are local businesses and organizations who share our mission to enrich community life in Bay St. Louis, Waveland, Diamondhead and Pass Christian. These are limited in number to maximize visibility. Email us now to become a Shoofly Partner!
Picture
Picture

Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture

Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture

Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture

Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture

Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture

Alice Moseley Folk Art Museum

Bay Town Inn

Bay-tique Boutique

The Bay Bum

The Shops of Century Hall

Chiniche Engineering

Creole Creamery

The Cultured Oak

The French Potager

Hancock County Historical Society

HL Raymond Properties

Kenny Dental

Lagarde's Fine Wine & Spirits

The Loft
The Mane Salon

Magnolia Antiques

Ms. Mary's Old Town Snoballs

Mystic Ghost Tours

PJ's Coffee

Salty Soul Outfitters

Theatre in the Pass

VSPA at Hancock Women's Center

The Wedding Collection ​

John & Ning Wiebmer


The Shoofly Magazine is published by MAC Media, LLC. Unless otherwise attributed, all written content and photography copyright MAC Media, LLC

Terms of Use and Privacy Policy
  • Home
    • Amtrak Gulf Coast: Latest News
    • 15 Minutes Photo Galleries
    • Arts Alive!
    • Bay Reads
    • Beach to Bayou
    • Big Buzz Blog
    • Coast Cuisine
    • The Eyes Have It
    • Good Neighbor
    • Living Large
    • Nature Notes
    • Noteworthy Women
    • On the Shoofly
    • Partner Spotlight
    • Second Saturday
    • Shared History
    • Sonny's Fishing Report
    • Talk of the Town
    • Town Green
    • Upcoming Events
  • Calendar
    • Upcoming Events
    • Calendar Users Guide
    • Calendar FAQs
  • Communities
    • Bay St. Louis Lifestyle
    • Diamondhead Lifestyle
    • Pass Christian Lifestyle
    • Waveland Lifestyle
  • Readers' Circle
    • Partners
  • Local Living
    • Upcoming Events
    • EAT
    • SHOP
    • PLAY >
      • Community Calendar
    • STAY >
      • Camping & RV Parks
    • TOURS >
      • Instagram Tours >
        • Beach Blvd. Instagram Ops
        • Main Street Instagram Ops
        • Second Street Instagram Ops
        • Depot District Instagram Stars
        • Black History Instagram Tour - Part 1
    • PETS
    • WEDDINGS
    • SERVICES >
      • Automotive
      • Construction
      • Entertainment
      • Financial Services
      • Food & Beverage
      • Health
      • Home & Garden
      • Legal Services
      • Marine & Boating
      • Marketing
      • Media
      • Office
      • Personal Care
      • Pets
      • Real Estate
      • Recreation
      • Transportation
      • Travel/Hospitality
      • Utilities
    • ORGANIZATIONS >
      • Churches
      • Government
      • Education >
        • Art Teachers
      • Hurricane Prep Guide
      • Wildlife Rescue in South Mississippi