CHICKASHA —
The Rock Island Arts Festival is still new to Chickasha. Every year, the festival attracts musicians, artists, craftsmen and more. In the past it has served as a platform for young artists to display and sell their work, but not this year.
"The trouble is that, many of the inhabitants of Chickasha desire artwork that many art students are geared away from making or simply have little interest in making," said Wendy Chambers, a student at USAO. "The typical art-goer, especially of the Southern variety, isn't going to be interested in complicated compositions and sophisticated color techniques, but rather they want artwork that suits their way and style of life."
Virginia Savage, the Co-chair of the Rock Island Arts Festival, came to the festival's defense.
"It's a very young festival," Savage said. "It's just a baby. Our goal is to just get people out there to see the art and walk around. We even do a special thing, where we help students, or any artists for that matter, who might not have the funds. If they volunteer for around five hours, we will give them $25 of the booth price and they can also share booths."
Chambers explained that, as an artist, she finds it difficult to appeal to Chickasha residents.
"I imagine the greatest patrons of artwork in Chickasha are typically individuals wanting portraits and Western-themed artwork, or churches or other organizations wanting murals of biblical themes or Oklahoma scenery. This is not to say that there are not students who create this work, because there are, and there are students who do sell their work within a Chickasha network. However, it's a different story for artists as myself," Chambers said.
Shauna Chavez, an art minor at USAO, also knows how hard it is to sell to Chickasha's audience.
"To be honest, I have never even tried selling my artwork at the festival. I've tried selling at a sidewalk sale in Bricktown and I know how hard it is. It's hard to sell adults that are in the older age group my type of art, pop art, and they're the demographic of people that have the money to buy luxury items like art," Chavez said. "So if you don't appeal to them, then there's hardly anyone out there who's willing to pay and appreciate what you do as an artist."
Not all young artists and musicians in Grady County are familiar with the Rock Island Arts Festival, but could imagine mistakes previous booth vendors may have made to deem the festival as unsuccessful for them.
Orlandez "Sturk" Johnson, a rapper who is studying communication at USAO, knows it's not easy appealing to everyone in Chickasha.
"Maybe the artists and musicians in the past have not been differentiating themselves from the other acts that there are. Maybe they're sitting at a table, hoping people will just walk up to a bunch of unknowns are that selling their CDs and music," Johnson said. "I sold my very first CD, The Crown Me Mixtape, by approaching people in a friendly manner, explaining how many songs were on the CD and the artist I was influenced by."
Drake King, another young musician attending USAO, was unaware of the festival. New to Chickasha, King has also struggled finding places to perform his music.
"It's been hard," King said. "The only venues there are to play at are events the college puts on. That also is a reason why there is a struggle. There are no places to play and when they come about, like the Mocha Monkey Coffee Shop for example, they don't last as an establishment very long."
Savage added, "We are averaging around 3,000 people at the festival. We've expanded to three days and we are expecting to keep growing. You know, there are a lot of good artists in town, you can't really throw a rock without hitting one."
The Rock Islands Arts Festival is Sept. 28-30. Festival hours are Friday and Saturday 10 A.M. - 8 P.M. Sunday from 1:00 P.M. - 6:00 P.M. It is a free event with live music, wine tasting and more.
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Local young artists have stopped selling their work at the Chickasha Rock Island Arts Festival due to lack of interest from festival attendees. LAUREN CARTER / EXPRESS-STAR
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September 20, 2012
Young artists say they have trouble fitting in at Rock Island
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