Big Bang Art Festival bringing "outsider" art to Mangiamo! this weekend | Arts & Culture

by Jonathan Stoner in OPINION

Not your "normal" art festival, folk artist Reb Roberts and crew are seeking to create a truly unique show of original artwork from some of Michigan's most intriguing artists.

Heartside folk artist Reb Roberts, of Sanctuary Folk Art Gallery, doesn’t believe in doing anything ordinary. According to his website he is suspicious of everything that is normal. So don’t expect the East Hills Big Bang Art Festival he is co-sponsoring with the Gilmore Collection to be your normal art fair. With creative-types like the spray paint toting graffiti artist Sinister and the chainsaw wielding woodcarver Bearclaw Jack in attendance, this event promises to be something special.

“Meeting the artists who are doing the work and supporting that community is huge, I think,” says Roberts. The organizers have limited the number of artists to help facilitate a more open and inviting environment. The artists and their wares will be scattered across the spacious lawn at Mangiamo! Italian Restaurant to ensure that everyone will have room to interact comfortably.

Over 20 handpicked Michigan artists from a variety of disciplines including several painters, jewelers, photographers, sculptors, woodcarvers, non-traditional ceramic artists, collage artists and pin-stripers will be displaying and selling their work. Some of the artists are art fair veterans but for others this will be the first time they have ever participated in a show. The hope is that these talented artists will get greater exposure while being more deeply grafted into our community.

“A lot of the people don’t do art fairs or festivals, and haven’t done a lot of work lately but [we were] thinking if we threw it at them, if they would jump at it then that would encourage...

...READ MORE