Midsummer Nights' Fair
August 23 & 24, 2013 | 6:00 PM - 11:00 PM

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Midsummer Nights' Fair 2013 Applications

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About the Midsummer Nights' Fair

The 37th Annual Midsummer Nights’ Fair will take place on Friday, August 23 and Saturday, August 24, 2013, from 6:00 – 11:00 p.m. The event will be held in Lions Park, Flood Avenue and Symmes, adjacent to the Firehouse Art Center. 

The Midsummer Nights’ Fair is one of the largest arts fairs in Norman, taking place in the evening, with a one of a kind atmosphere. The Firehouse Art Center takes this opportunity to showcase local artists, share their mission to provide quality art experiences and demonstrate their passion for the visual arts to the community. This juried arts festival features 30 unique, high-quality artist booths that offer pottery, jewelry, glass, sculpture, woodworking and more. The fair is a great opportunity to speak with artists and purchase original works of art priced for every budget, from student to collector.

With artist’s booths arranged to resemble a “town square”, a large central tent will host demonstrations by FAC faculty members and attendees are invited to participate in drawing and sculpting. The Children’s Art Wall will be available for young painters to express themselves, with the assistance of local artists and Firehouse faculty. Attendees will also be treated to two music stages, one featuring local bands and the other McMichael School of Music Rock Clinic bands.

The Midsummer Nights’ Fair is the Firehouse Art Center’s way of giving back to the community. “We are grateful for the continuing support of local artists and members of the community who make it possible for the Firehouse to provide quality art education and exhibitions,” said Executive Director, Douglas Shaw Elder.


For additional information, please call the Firehouse Art Center at 329-4523.

Midsummer Nights' Fair 2013 Full Press Release (PDF)

Children's Activities
This year's Midsummer Nights' Fair features a variety of exciting art opportunities for children, including the "Children's Art Wall", sculpting projects, the Creative Cube project, and figure drawing.

The community's beloved children's art activity, the “Children’s Art Wall”, will be provided for young painters, along with local artists and instructors available to assist the children with their creative compositions. Sculpting projects will encourage children to create animals with either clay or foil; afterward, they will be invited to add their contribution to the FAC's environmental platform showcasing the community of creatures. The Creative Cube project, initiated at the 2012 Chocolate Festival, gives children the opportunity to paint and design the outside of a provided cube.

Both children and adults alike, are invited to participate in our figure drawing activity; located under the central tent, this activity give visitors the opportunity to create graphite portraits of a professional model. Artist Richard McKown will also be on hand for this activity, sketching the model and encouraging parents and children to create and display their masterpieces.

The Central Tent
A central 50’ x 30’ white tent will host demonstrations by FAC faculty members. In addition, FAC faculty that teach children’s classes will be providing opportunities for kids to create artwork.

Demonstrations
Throughout Midsummer Nights' Fair, the large center tent is home to Firehouse instructors demonstrating skills that are taught in some of the classes offered during the year at the FAC. Jewelry teacher Elyse Bogart will be crafting silver jewelry pieces both nights with a few of her longtime students. Sculptor Craig Swan will be working on a portrait sculpture, while Bill Boettcher demonstrates stone carving techniques.

Live Music
McMichael Music Rock Clinic Bands will be performing Friday and Saturday night on the
smaller stage from 6:00 – 9:00 pm. The large stage schedule is as follows:

Friday Evening	Saturday Evening
6:00 pm     Talk Of The Town	6:00 pm     Reg
7:00 pm     Red River Rebellion	7:00 pm     Jimmy James Band
8:00 pm     Miss Black and The Second Act	8:00 pm     Dylan Hammett
9:00 pm     Pidgin Band	9:00 pm     The Handsome Devil
10:00 pm   Osage	10:00 pm   Parker Milsap

A special thanks to Wes McMichael and his support of the Midsummer Nights' Fair and the performing arts.

2012 Judges
The judges selected for this event are Ashley Griffith and Kelsey Karper. Judging will take place early Friday evening and the awards will be handed out later that night.

Ashley Griffith has been a commercial and fine art photographer in the Oklahoma City area for the past 10 years. Recent personal work is a mixture of traditional photography, documentary and "mock-documentary" photography. Born in Oklahoma, Griffith graduated with Associate in Visual Arts at Oklahoma City Community College, and a Bachelors Degree in Photography at Pratt Institute in, New York. Griffith is also the owner of a.k.a. gallery located in Paseo arts district in Oklahoma City.

Kelsey Karper is Associate Director of the Oklahoma Visual Arts Coalition (OVAC), a statewide nonprofit supporting Oklahoma’s visual arts and artists. As editor of OVAC’s bi-monthly publication Art Focus Oklahoma, she works to promote Oklahoma artists and to develop audience interest in the arts. Karper also organizes OVAC's Artist Survival Kit program, offering professional development for artists all over the state. She manages all marketing and public relations for the organization. Karper received her BFA in Photographic Arts from the University of Central Oklahoma and continues her photographic work in historic and alternative processes.

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2012 Award Winners

3-Dimensional