Athens may be a small city, but that doesn't mean there's a shortage of local artists willing to share their work.
Another day was added to ART/oberfest, a festival featuring the efforts of area artists, so that all interested artists could participate, said Sherri Oliver, ART/oberfest coordinator.
We had so many performers that wanted to take part and (the festival) had grown out of what had originally been visualized
she said. It was time to make it a whole weekend event.
The fourth annual festival will take place at ARTS/West, 132 W. State St., and will feature live music, theater, poetry and visual art. All of the art on display is on loan from local artists, and all the performances will be provided for free.
There will be music on Friday with the Aquabear Legion showcase an open art fair with local art vendors tomorrow and demonstrations of local artists on Sunday said Emily Prince, program coordinator at ARTS/West.
This year ARTS/West has teamed up with Aquabear Legion, a collective group of musicians from Ohio, who are providing free music performances-
he said.
Athens residents created ART/oberfest in an effort to give local artists a chance to showcase their work.
You can really appreciate the creativity and the talent of people that are not from Columbus or out of state
but people that live
work and go to school in our community
Oliver said.
This year, ARTS/West also made an effort to get Ohio University students involved in the festival by having a table at the Student Involvement Fair in early September.
OU students can often feel like they are a part of the university but not a part of the Athens community. This is a way to bring it all together and say
you guys are students
we are residents
but we are all artists
Oliver said.
