By KJ Burkley | Reporter
The Martin Museum of Art will make a splash at the Waco Cultural Arts Festival this weekend with hopes of engaging the Waco community through artistic and inspiring art culture.
For the arts festival this year, the Martin Museum of Art will set up a colorful exhibit filled with activities for all ages. Chani Collins, the collections manager of art pieces and artifacts for the museum said the presence of the Martin Museum of Arts is important for connecting with the Waco community.
“It’s important for us as part of the arts community in Waco to be there in support,” Collins said. “Being here on Baylor’s campus, arts fest gives us an opportunity to get downtown and get community members more aware of where we are and what we do because we get seen a lot here on campus, but the Waco community doesn’t know where to find us.”
The Martin Museum of Art contributes attributes of art creation around printmaking. Collins said that there is not a huge support of printmaking at the festival, so the museum steps in to provide resources that attendees can experience.
The color printing activities will represent an extension of the museum’s running theme “Emergence: Art in the Incarnation of Space,” an exhibition that is inspired by famous modern artist Josef Albers who is known for his work with color, Collins said.
“Josef wrote a book called “Interaction of Color,” Collins said. “He’s really known for playing with colors and seeing how colors affect each other and how color creates space, so it’s a perfect tie-in for the arts fest theme.”
One feature the Martin Museum of Art will have is an activity inspired by Albers’ art called a three-color process — something that has never been done in the many years of the museum’s participation in the festival.
The excitement for the Waco Cultural Arts Festival is not only contained to faithful festival participants. Austin junior and festival attendee Stephanie Andrews admires the time and effort that the the Martin Museum of Art puts forth in preparation of the festival.
“I think it’s important for the Martin Museum to support the festival and encourage students to come too because of the whole Baylor United movement,” Andrews said. “This is one creative way that shows we can be diverse but still be bonded together through the support.”
The Martin Museum of Art exhibit will be available for viewing from 10 a.m. till 7 p.m. Saturday and will wrap up the festival from 10 a.m. till 4 p.m. Sunday.
Krista Latendresse, part of the Martin Museum of Art staff, said that the exhibit will be in Indian Springs Park, right across from the Hilton Hotel by the Waco Suspension Bridge.
Collins’ hope for the museum is that the Baylor and Waco communities enjoy becoming creators of expression and craft.
“Our art activity will be available both days,” Collins said. “We hope to see a lot of people who are excited to do the printmaking activity and our other activities, and I hope that we meet new people that didn’t know about us.”
