Columbus Arts Festival features live art, new Rhinegeist beer
With the Columbus Arts Festival's Friday kickoff came the start of a weekend-long live painting event and sales of a new Rhinegeist beer.
The festival along the Scioto Mile features 200 visual artists, art demos, live music, food vendors and more. Annually, it typically draws nearly 500,000 attendees over three days, event staff said.
The Franklinton Arts District is hosting its first-ever Scribble event, which features 12 Columbus-based artists who began creating murals on four-by-four foot boards Friday. The artists will continue to work on their projects throughout the course of the weekend.
Jami Goldstein, vice president of marketing for the Greater Columbus Arts Council, called Scribble "the wee sibling" of the Franklinton Arts District's annual Scrawl painting event. Scribble was created to show off some of the state capital's gifted artists in a challenging environment.
"We have so much talent in Columbus," Goldstein said. "Not every artist is a festival artist. Being a festival artist means braving the elements, and braving all sorts of things--the setup, the teardown. It's a commitment."
Participating artists range from Scrawl vets to live performance rookies. Bridgette Barnes, 29, is painting Columbus buildings in a way that will demonstrate the coexistence of nature and industry in the city. The Victorian Village resident is a newcomer to art events of this magnitude.
"I'm pretty much a hermit with my work," she said. "I've shown my work at a few group shows randomly, but I've never done anything this public before."
Jennifer Morley, 35, is a Downtown resident who paints out of a studio in Franklinton. Due to synesthesia, she experiences sound as color, so she usually listens to music for inspiration while painting. This weekend, she's painting music-free at Scribble so she can engage with the community members who check out her art.
"This is a fun departure from (painting to music)," Morley said.
Festival attendees can use QR codes to vote on the best mural. The artist who tallies the highest vote count will earn automatic entry into Scrawl.
New Rhinegeist beer
Cincinnati-based Rhinegeist Brewery created a new beer called Sketch in honor of the festival. Sketch is a hoppy wheat ale with notes of orange and grapefruit peel. (Not to be confused with the Sketch beer that Imprint Beer Co. of Hatfield, Pennsylvania, has been brewing that is a double-hopped, hazy New England IPA.)
Last year, Rhinegeist partnered with the Columbus Arts Festival for the first time. This year, the brewery wanted to "take the partnership to the next level," said Marissa Beck, Rhinegeist's director of strategic partnerships. So, they made Sketch.
April Sumani, 43, was tasked with creating artwork that could represent Sketch at the festival. The Near East Side resident isn't an avid beer drinker, but she has gained an appreciation for the brewery that sought her help.
"Rhinegeist invited some folks from the festival to come to the brewery, and we spent the whole afternoon there learning about the history of Rhinegeist and the whole brewing process," Sumani said. "I'm a huge Rhinegeist fan now because of it."
The Columbus Arts Festival runs through 10:30 p.m. Friday, and then again from 10 a.m.-10:30 p.m. Saturday and 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Sunday.
JNimesheim@dispatch.com
@JackNimesheim
This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Columbus Arts Festival features new live painting event and beer
