Published: October 05, 2008 11:13 pm      

Threefoot Arts Festival will be ‘fun for the whole family’

The sixth annual Threefoot Arts Festival will be held next weekend. This coming Saturday downtown Meridian will be home to "art, dance, learning, and just plain fun."

The festival will feature displays from many out-of-town artists as well as local favorites.

Meridian's Mike French will be there with his realistic landscapes and paintings of Meridian landmarks including a reproduction of the MSU Riley Center. French, who studied under Meridian artist Greg Cartmell, formerly worked as a painter at the White House.

New to the festival this year will be Ricco Rideaux, a New Orleans painter who will have around 100 pieces ranging in price from $2 to $200. Meridian Council for the Arts board member Bob Bresnahan said Rideaux first caught his attention with a beautiful painting of a streetcar, which he had on display in Jackson Square during New Orleans' French Quarter Festival.

"If you're looking for something that will bring back memories of New Orleans that is high in quality and low in price," Bresnahan said, "you will want to visit Rideaux's display at the festival."

Bresnahan said he is also particularly excited about the woodwork of Brandon's Steve Windham, who creates pure art pieces as well as functional pieces such as wooden spoons. Bessie Johnson of West Point will be there with her pinestraw baskets, which Bresnahan said are beautiful and surprisingly durable. Local artist Sylvia Follis will be there to display her egg tempera icons of saints, which Bresnahan called "beautiful."

The festival will also feature hands-on art and dance activities for kids, which will be themed this year around the cultures of Japan, Africa, and the Middle East. Children will be able to dance to the music of those cultures and create art based on them for free.

Along with the art, adults will enjoy the many food vendors, the musical entertainment, which includes the band Blues Messenger, and the chili cook-off

The cook-off will have two award categories — people's choice, in which festival patrons vote for their favorite chili, and another award selected by judges from the Chili House.

The cook-off will be an international event of sorts — with one team of French student pilots from NAS-Meridian trying their hand at the art of chili.

The festival and its events will be an all-around homage to the arts in Meridian, in Mississippi and the South.

"The main idea is celebrate our communities' arts," said Meridian Council for the Arts President Kris Gianakos,

The Threefoot Arts Festival will be held Saturday, Oct. 11 from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. in downtown Meridian.





This year's artists



Here's a look at the art and artists that will be at the Threefoot Arts Festival this year:



Jewelry by Connie Abbott of Tuscaloosa, Ala.

2-D art by Elliot Abbott of Tuscaloosa

Clay by Jan Carter of Gore Springs

Mixed Media by Charles Crossley of McComb

2-D art by Gary Curtis of Woodstock, Ga.

Clay by Suzanne Ens of Pensacoloa, Fla.

Clay by Elva Eubanks of Star

Wood sculpture by Jesse Flowers of West Monroe, La.

2-D art by Sylvia Follis of Meridian

Clay by Gregory Freeland of Montgomery, Ala.

2-D art by Mike French of Meridian

Glass by Tom Fuhrman of Woodbury, Tenn.

Clay by Bebe Gianakos of Meridian

Clay by Robert Holleman of Pickens

Mixed Media by Bessie Johnson or West Point

Clay by Jullet Johnston of Jackson

2-D art by Ricco Rideaux of New Orleans, La.

2-D art by Ron Roland of Pensacola

Wood by Mike and Michelle Thompson or Raleigh

Wood by Steve Windham of Brandon