Nashville Pride 2011

One of many great shots Aurora captured today!

Today was a free-spirited breath of fresh air for myself and my craft with The Nashville Pride Festival.  Aurora and I set up in the rain this morning not expecting a whole lot of things considering our unpredictable Tennessee weather.  Boy were we wrong- Nashville turned out in the rain and danced it right away by the afternoon!  I got to meet some colorful folk indeed who gave me great conversations about not only my art but the free will involved in making it.  You see if we don't get to act and think for ourselves and be true to what we feel, there is not room for art.  One of the things I didn't realize about Pride was the rich tradition behind this event with the local gay community.  It's truly a holiday, having heard stories from all sorts of folks about Prides past and Prides to come.

Throughout the day I had countless company with new friends, old friends, and people of every variety.  One encounter however didn't hit home until I got back to the hacienda tonight.  While talking with a gentleman from California about art and cognitive freedoms today, he introduced his lady friend, Joslyn who purchased one of my Topsy-Turvy prints.  He gave me a flier and told me to come and see her dance this evening at a local club.  One side of the postcard was for his business, The Dildo Doctor which provides "Over 150 styles of HypoAllergenic Glass Pieces."  One the other side was a promo shot for Joslyn James (the porn star who was involved with Tiger Woods.) 

Here are some great pictures, most of which Aurora took today at the festival!

(Left) I lucked out with my spot in the shade! (Right) View from just behind our booth down onto Riverfront Park and the Main Stage.  If you looked directly behind our tent, it was directly across from Titan Stadium.

The Main Stage area

With my friend Zach, who was the architect behind my Fred Phelps portrait which I displayed today!

Aurora with Su (A True Patriot and Teapot Party Office Holder!)

Kevin Roger's awesome words of wisdom...

Nashville GLBT

Nashville Pride

The 2011 Rivers and Spires Festival

One of the billboards featuring my winning illustration!

The 2011 Rivers & Spires Festival kicks off Thursday night in Historic Downtown Clarksville with live music beginning at 4PM and rounding out with Mr. Speed (16 year veterans of being "America's Kiss Tribute") on the Public Square Stage at 8PM!

This is just to warm things up!  The streets will really fill up all weekend with more music, vendors and artisans.  I'll be in the Artz Galore section next to City Hall all day Friday and Saturday along with dozens of other photographers, artists and craftspeople.  Come by and see me to talk about art and take advantage of the only time of year you'll be allowed to drink a beer on the street!  I have tons of new framed work and prints to exhibit and will be giving away autographed Rivers & Spires posters featuring my artwork!

You'll also be able to see all that downtown has to offer as local businesses on Strawberry Alley and Franklin Street have their doors open to the public for even more live music and art.  While you're there, make sure to check out "Imagination Unchained," a group art exhibit above the Front Page Deli featuring work from Charles Bennett, Peggy Bonnington, Andi Casali, Patrick Daly, Christy Johnson, Jay Swafford, and Roly Viruez.  All the artists give will give you a wild ride through their pop surrealism, abstract and low-brow art.  This must-see exhibit is open 1-8PM Thursday-Saturday night!

You can also see one of my own personal favorite illustrations, "Octopus's Garden" at the U.S. Bank Open Exhibit in the APSU Downtown Gallery on Strawberry Alley, which will have it's doors open during the festival as well.  This illustration is exhibited with over 100 local artists.  Proceeds from the show go to scholarships for the Austin Peay Art Department to dole out to young artists!

"Topsy-Turvy: Octopus's Garden" (Portrait of The Beatles) at the APSU Downtown Gallery

Festival Manager, Doug Barber and his hard-working committee hustle year-round to bring together three days packed full of entertainment and activities for the public.  There is something for everyone with Jazz music, Rock music, Country music, and Christian music on multiple stages simultaneously.  The streets will be packed full of local and regional artists, craftspersons, food vendors, and activities.  The Rivers & Spires Festival is FREE every year here in downtown Clarksville.  In it's 9th year, this event has won a slew of awards including being in the Top 100 Event In North America.  This year will be even better all the way through Saturday night when headliner, Clint Black takes the stage.

[Click HERE for more on my winning design for the 2011 Rivers & Spires Poster Contest]

[Click HERE for more about last year's Festival]

[Click HERE for a Map of the Festival and The Rivers & Spires Official Site]

Back-to-Back baby! (cue the Rocky theme)

This morning I got some tremendous news to set a good tone for the week. Doug Barber, who heads up the Rivers & Spires Festival here in Clarksville called to tell me I had won their poster contest for the 2011 event. Last year was the first time the city had held this contest to get a local artist to design their festival poster. I had the honor of being the first artist chosen for the illustration I entered. Before 2010, they had been outsourcing the paintings to an out-of-state artist. The main reason they started the contest was to give local artists the opportunity to gain some exposure through this annual event. It was a real treat seeing my artwork on billboards, newspaper ads, and even tray covers at Wendy's last year! Keep an eye out for the new artwork around town toward the spring!
The 2010 Rivers & Spires Festival was a huge success drawing thousands of folks from all over the region.  This event has won a slew of awards over the past couple of years including the prestigious International Festivals & Events Association’s Gold Grand Pinnacle award and the State of Tennessee’s Tourism Spotlight Award. The festival has also been recognized as among the “Top 100 Events in North America” by the American Bus Association and “Top 20 Events in the Southeast” by the Southeast Tourism Society.  We also had the pleasure of hosting The Charlie Daniels Band as the weekend's headliner back in April.  

(Click for my blog about last year's poster design and pics from the 2010 festival.)

Here is my new work for the 2011 poster and the process of it becoming the winning design! I still have to meet with the event board over the next few weeks so this may be altered by their graphic designer. At any rate, here is the original illustration which was chosen!

I wanted to incorporate the same elements that made my drawing a winner last year but at the same time I couldn't do the same thing right?  One element I added in was the flags, which are a trademark of the festival. I also wanted make the illustration have a Downtown feel.  On the left is Franklin St and on the right City Hall to kind of frame the work out on both sides.  

As part of my prizes, I'll receive a free booth again at the Artz Galore section of the festival.  I hope to see you there for all the fun and festivities.  Stay tuned over the next few months for all the announcements as far as some big names in country music who will be headlining the main stage (If you can't stand the wait, I can give you a hint... I ran across some of the lineup already posted on Pollstar.)  The poster will also be made public with an announcement of my winning as soon as the design is finalized for print.

Just for you because today we're winners...

UPDATE Saturday, December 4th

Click here for today's Leaf Chronicle article about next year's Rivers & Spires Festival's musical guests and the announcement of my winning poster design!

Rivers & Spires 2010

The Rivers & Spires website has a nice page up about this year's poster contest for the local arts & music festival and my winning design!

UPDATE: April / 2010 (after the festival)

The weekend was amazing and we met a wonderful group of people from all over Middle Tennessee! I had the privilege of spending part of my morning Saturday with Hank Bonecutter from WJZM Clarksville!

I had a great conversation with Hank about Meatloaf (off the air). Hank had pleasant things to say about the guy in person from his interviews back in the Bat Out of Hell I days (as do I; I've seen him in concert twice to pay homage). I'm rocking the cover on my T with these folks who won copies of my poster at this year's festival!