The last weekend saw the 8th Greytown Arts Festival come to life after many months of planning. In my workplace – the library – we have been involved in a small way in helping the Festival with ticket sales, information and resources; it’s been quite a ride. There was so much going on it wasn’t possible to see everything, so this is quick summary of the events we managed to catch:

We started off the weekend by going to see these lovely ladies on Friday night:

The Beat Girls! They began their performance with swing tunes from the 30’s and 40’s and then morphed into these:

for songs from the swinging 60’s, 70’s and 80’s. Loads of fun!

The hall of the library building was home to the major art exhibition – around the theme “The Last Piece”. Some stunning work, and a busy hub of activity for those contributing to the Community Art Project – you can see it beginning to take shape on the far wall. This photo was taken on Saturday morning, and there was a constant flow of people looking at the works.

On Sunday I had a stall as part of the Cobblestones Open Day. There were lots of locals enjoying the chance to print their own cards using the old presses, watch the blacksmith hammering out horseshoes, try their hand at wood turning with a foot-powered lathe – and of course to buy locally made products like ours!

The highlight of the Festival for me was the marionette play The Kitchen at the End of the World which was written by a local (William Connor) and produced by Stefan Kreft (who also spearheaded the organising committee for the whole Festival). It was an amazing, touching, beautifully crafted piece that I wish I could have watched two or three more times, as there was so much to see and think about.

The team of puppeteers were amazing! They made it look simple and easy – an indication of the talent and hard work it must have  taken. The characters in the play knew they were marionettes – and so could use this to create humour (“I need a string treatment and a stiff drink”) and to raise philosophical issues (“Do you think we’re being controlled?”). It was well worth seeing and if you ever get the chance to do so don’t miss it!

On Monday we went to see the mural constructed over the previous two days by a team of “tape artists” on the wall of the new supermarket. I loved the level of detail in the figures, and especially that the dragon is blowing bubbles, not fire!

This is the square I created for the Community Art Project – made up of the “last pieces” of several quilting fabrics that I had in my bag. If you look hard enough (and know where to look) you might be able to spot it in the finished work. (Hint – it’s in the far left-hand strip).

Isn’t the finished piece spectacular! When we first saw it on Monday we were quite blown away.

Now that the Festival is over it has been fun to be in the library and to see people walk in and then turn to examine the work. Most people spend several minutes looking – some are probably trying to spot their own square, or the ones their children have made, but many are just having fun looking at the variety of techniques, media, colours, textures and shapes. I do hope we get to keep it to hang on the large blank library walls above the issue desk!