Riverssance Festival of Fine Art is celebrating its 28th year as the premier fine arts festival of the Quad Cities, showcasing over 100 of the top artists from throughout North America. Riverssance is located on a scenic hill overlooking the Mississippi River in the historic Village of East Davenport. Riverssance will feature a free children's art tent, wine tasting, gourmet food booths and live regional music booked by the River Music Experience. Riverssance is an event under the MidCoast Fine Arts umbrella which is a leading Quad City non-profit organization focused on stimulating our community's economic vitality through the support of regional visual arts and artists.
In conjunction with the festival, each year, the Harley (Harlequin) Award is given in recognition of an individual(s) or organization that has demonstrated a lasting commitment to the promotion and the advancement of the visual arts and artists in the Quad Cities area. However, this year, we remain silent in honor of our long-time friend, promoter of arts and patron, Bruce Carter, he is missed dearly by the Quad Cities art community and especially by the Riverssance committee members. With Bruce's insight and recommendations, he helped the Riverssance committee choose the past award recipients and he presented the Harley to award winners every year on stage during the festival.
This year's commemorative tee shirt design is by artist Stephen Stieninger, of Altoona, Iowa, "I've always been intrigued by hot air balloons, so thought that this might be a good image for this show. It speaks to another time, with the wind and the sun providing the power to carry the ship to far-flung places. Judging by the number of wind turbine components being transported down I-80, perhaps wind is becoming more of an alternative all the time. Most of my work deals with portraits from the late 19-century, and this fits right in!"
Riverssance Festival of Fine Arts is this weekend, September 19th and 20th, Lindsey Park, in the Village of East Davenport. With so many schools and communities reducing their art dollars for education this Festival is one way to continue to promote and provide accessibility to fine arts to everyone. Additionally it is a wonderful event for our community. Admission is $4 per person with children under 12 free. New this year is a two day pass for $6, the pass allows you to come to Riverssance both Saturday (10a - 5p) and Sunday (10a - 4p) - what an inexpensive way to support the arts!!
If you have questions or would like more information on the artist or the festival, please contact me at 563-529-0382 or mdarland@sedonatek.com.
#####
