Kent Creativity Festival Program
Kent State University College of the Arts and the City of Kent
Present the Sept. 30, 2017 Kent Creativity Festival
This event is also supported in part by the Ohio Arts Council, which receives support from the National Endowment for the Arts, a federal agency
ON STAGE
Current KSU students involved in the music program will play familiar tunes while festival participants come on stage to conduct the orchestra. Get your baton arm ready!
The group will perform on stage and conduct workshops to teach their moves. Participants will be engaged in following a step-by- step process to learn hoop dance skills. Pick up a hula hoop and join the fun!
The troupe will be demonstrating different African dancing, both traditional and modern. After performing on the main stage, a workshop will be conducted teaching the dance that was just performed.
3:00 p.m. -- Pull Up a Chair and Dance! by Professors Joan Meggitt and Barbara Allegra Verlezza
Participants will be guided through dance/movement explorations with an emphasis on the joy of moving and connecting with others. Whether you want to rev up to walk around the festival or relax and renew before setting out again, Pull Up a Chair and Dance! will engage, entertain and invigorate. Open to all ages!
MARCHING BAND PERFORMANCES
Kent Roosevelt High School Marching Band, 11:00 a.m. – Directed by Dr. J. Roebke
Rootstown High School Marching Band, 2 p.m. – Directed by D. McCloskey
unity project
HELP BREAK A GUINNESS WORLD RECORD FOR LARGEST BAREFOOT PAINTED MURAL
Bring your happy feet to the Kent Creativity Festival! Kent State student Kelsey Merritt is asking your help to cover a 30,000 sq. ft. large mural with footprints to break the current world record of 26,000 sq. ft. Organized by colors, the individual murals will be joined together to make a huge piece of art on Oct. 13 on the Kent Commons (the field of Blanket Hill).
CREATIVE ACTIVITIES
Help us create a large piece of art! Participants will weave strips of fabric or ribbon through a wall of chicken wire. Personalize your strip by either drawing a picture or writing and decorating your name, a favorite quote, or how art has impacted your life.
Did you ever wonder how the black squirrels came to Kent? Discover the answer! Participate in creative projects: create a black squirrel bracelet, invent a feeder for our fuzzy little friends, construct a black squirrel model or puppet, and design a black squirrel super hero.
Hale Farm Spinners and Dyers present natural dyeing, using natural materials from garden, field and forest. The team of two dyers will help visitors select materials for dye and then dye yarn or silk cloth in a surprising array of colors.
The group presents improv sessions using universal movements as a way to communicate through movement rather than words. Explore elements in motion and experience how it turns into “art in the moment.”
Compose your own music through creative songwriting activities and then use percussion instruments to give rhythm to your "new creation." A tune may follow!
Take home your own screen printed artwork from the hands-on workshop while learning and discussing aspects of sustainability with regards to paper towel/napkin usage.
Recycled Shirt Craft by Socially Responsible Sweatshop of Kent and Mary Ann Kasper
We will demo cutting regular t-shirts into t-shirt yarn and will make a variety of items for take away. Children and adults may use our vintage sewing machines to sew a seam to make a market bag out of an upcycled t-shirt.
Sculpting by Mark Alexander
A sculpting area will be punctuated with linear points and participants will create connections between these points with repurposed materials. Add your personal thoughts and wishes to the ever changing sculptural environment!
Bookmaking for All by Prof. Linda Hoeptner-Poling & Cassie Pegg-Kirby of the Women’s Center
Building on the quote “Well-behaved women seldom make history,” this workshop empowers all participants to creatively express advice to their younger selves through writing and bookmaking.
Photography Art by DS Architecture
Re-create famous works of architecture from across the world or even a local icon. 3D images and 2D plans will be provided to guide the construction effort and artists will use 6” or 12” foam blocks for the final piece of art.
Button Making with Sparrow Haus by Larrie King
Participants will provide the artwork and we will provide everything else needed to make two buttons each. Artists can use crayons, markers, stencils, stickers, or bring their own supplies!
Creative Painting by KSU graduate student Allison Uhl
Create an abstract or realistic painting using unconventional materials such as kitchen utensils, plastic toys to stamp and wheels to drive through paint, different sized sticks, string, cardboard pieces for scraping, etc.
Jumping Off the Page with Wandering Aesthetics by Kyle Jozsa
Join in on this interactive improvisational theatrical experience for participants of all age and skill levels. Become a character and recreate scenes from fairy tales alongside professional actors.
Art in Motion with Kent Parks and Recreation by Catherine Ricks
Artists will create their very own artwork using paint, art papers, markers, scissors, tape, pipe cleaners, shredded crinkle paper, etc. Join the fun!
Groovy Makey Makey with The Groovy Garfoose by Bonnie Hayhurst
Come and turn everyday objects (like bananas, aluminum foil or play dough that conduct small amounts of electricity) into touch pads! Create MUSIC using object & touch pads, i.e. banana piano, play dough bongos, foil guitars, and a musical dance floor accessible to all abilities. Then come back and play as much as you want!
Haiku Workshop by KSU alumna Valerie Buynak
Try your hand at writing haikus about nature and the natural aspects of trees, foliage and architecture. These are three line poems with 5, 7 & 5 syllables. Participation requires little to no experience in writing!
Wire Community Quilt by graduate student Julie Bearss
Help to design and create a section of a bent wire patchwork quilt using provided materials. Shrink-i-dink materials decorated by the participants will be worked into the design to create a finished product of wound wire squares with highlights of beads and colorful plastic shapes.
Weaving on a Portable Loom by Praxis Fiber Workshop
Participants of all ages will have an opportunity to weave on a four harness loom. Frame looms will also be provided to show more tapestry weaving techniques.
Participants in the world of paper arts in Japan can acquire a sense of diagrammatical pattern, learn a little about Japanese culture through their own experience, and learn about these art forms that use just a piece of paper.
Street Printmaking by KSU students Katelyn Evans and Alex Tharnish
By using chalkboard paint and found objects, participants are encouraged to take the objects, dip them in the provided paint, and then stamp the objects with the paint onto the street or onto white roll paper.
Members of the community are invited to explore different shibori dye techniques using an indigo dye vat-- the age old clamp, fold and sewn resist techniques that are the origin of modern tie-dye. There is an alchemy to dyeing with indigo, when the dipped fabric is removed from the vat and touches the air, it goes through a transformation changing before your eyes from yellows to greens and finally to rich, indigo blue.
Crafts with the KSU Center for Student Involvement
Enjoy an activity centered around the October 8-14, 2017 homecoming festivities, which will culminate on Sat., Oct. 14 for a parade at 10 a.m. and football game against Miami University at Dix Stadium at 3:30 p.m.
Documentary of the Kent Creativity Festival by Independent Filmworks, LTD
Independent Filmworks, LTD. will film this year's Kent Creativity Festival in the form of a documentary, filming and interviewing artists in their studios and in action at the festival. Take a peek at last year’s documentary!
Poetry Experience at the Wick Poetry Center
Be inspired! Enjoy a fully immersive poetry experience through micro-workshops that will guide guests through short writing prompts. Record your poem in a special recording booth and then view it in real time on the full-wall white board in a classroom of the Wick Poetry Center inside the Mary Prentice House.
Small Pillow Making with the KSU Fashion School TechStyleLAB
Create small pillows with custom printed fabric designs on sewing machines set up at the booth. Several choices of fabrics will be offered.
Improv for All with Theatre on the Spectrum by Wendy Duke
A short form improv event that will bring the audience together with our actors, some in wheelchairs and with a variety of physical and developmental challenges. Theatre can be a vehicle for fun, community education and inclusivity!
Sock Puppets by School of Theatre & Dance, theatre students
Enjoy this timeless craft and any impromptu puppet shows that may result!
World Music Petting Zoo by Priwan Nanongkham, Director KSU’s Thai Ensemble
Enjoy a musical journey around the world with a music petting zoo, a fun, hands-on introduction to musical instruments.
Rock Painting & Sidewalk Chalking by Pioneer Girlz
The group will engage participants with words and images of positivity that will inspire and uplift.