Cotton District Arts Festival returns to Starkville
Sep. 26—STARKVILLE — It's finally back.
The Cotton District Arts Festival, which got rained out in 2019 and cancelled by COVID in 2020, will take to the streets of downtown Starkville once again on Saturday, Oct. 2, from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.
The festival, which has been going strong for more than 22 years, usually takes place on Super Bulldog Weekend in the spring.
"The numbers weren't where we wanted in the spring, COVID-wise, so we moved it to the fall this year, when we thought the numbers might be lower," said Emily Corban Camp, chairman of the festival. "This is the first time it's not associated with Mississippi State sports events. We're hoping the cooler fall weather will draw people."
The festival will feature 145 arts and crafts vendors, the Taste of Starkville restaurant showcase, a pet parade and live music.
In the Artisan Village, vendors will offer paintings, sculpture, ceramics, jewelry, graphics, and traditional crafts, which include woodworking, candle-making, textiles, canvas goods, birdhouses, leather goods, bath and body products, stained glass and clothing.
"They'll be set up in tents all along University Drive, Maxwell Street and Page Avenue," said Juliette Reid, administrator for the festival, which is presented by the Starkville Area Arts Council, where she is employed through AmeriCorps VISTA. "We're spacing out booths for COVID precautions this year. We're asking vendors to wear masks, and we're encouraging, but not requiring, festival-goers to wear masks."
Camp said it was important to have the festival return this year, and not put if off again.
"We didn't want another year to go by with no support for these artists and food artisans," she said. "So many artists are dependent on festivals for income. We're excited to give them the opportunity to do that again."
Other villages include the Potters' Village, where there'll be live pottery demonstrations; the International Village, with music, dance and cultural demonstrations; the Writers' Village, with kids' writing-related activities, a poetry competition, and authors talking about their works; and the Junior Auxiliary's Children's Village, featuring crafts and educational opportunities for kids.
The pet parade begins at 9 a.m., and live music will be presented throughout the day on three stages.
Seasoned artists
Two artists who will be showing their works again at the festival are Bonnie Brumley of Starkville, and Joe MacGown of the Sessums community.
Brumley, who was born in Laurel, moved to Starkville in 2010 to attend MSU, where she earned a bachelor of fine arts degree with an emphasis in ceramics. After a brief stint in Jackson, she moved back to Starkville in 2016.
She and her husband, Blair Edwards, live in the Cotton District, where she has an art studio in the back of their house.
"When I moved back to Starkville, I didn't have a kiln yet, so I was transporting my stuff to campus to be fired," she said. "I'm finally self-sufficient now with my own kiln and have been for a couple of years."
Brumley, 29, specializes in what she calls functional pottery — serving pieces, bowls, mugs, vases and jewelry.
"I really love to find different textures to incorporate into my work," she said. "I like simplicity in terms of functional work."
This will be Brumley's third year to show her pottery at the Cotton District Arts Festival.
"I really like the opportunity to meet a whole lot of people in one day," she said. "I also like the chance to walk around and see other artists. It's a good way to connect with the community and see new faces."
Brumley has an online shop where she sells her ceramics, but she said pieces sell better in person.
"At a festival, you have the chance to explain your art to people," she said. "They also get to see the process of how a pot gets made, the work that goes into it."
Brumley said she has drawn a lot of inspiration from nature during the pandemic.
"I'll go out in the yard and pick weeds or flowers — whatever has a good amount of detail," she said. "You can get go much detail out of clay. It's very responsive."
In about a month, Brumley and her husband will open a coffee shop called The People's Cup, and she'll have her work for sale there.
"Take something you use every day, like your favorite coffee mug," she said. "There's a comfort in having an object that you really love make part of your day more special. Those rituals are important."
Joe MacGown, who has a studio on his property in Sessums, draws his inspiration from people, politics, nature and religion.
"I'm really into religion, although not necessarily religious," MacGown said. "I just like how people believe random things."
At the Cotton District Arts Festival, MacGown will share a booth with his son, Joseph, who's also an artist, as well as a writer and a musician.
The elder MacGown describes his art as chaotic assemblages of strange mutated creatures, crowded surreal landscapes and mandala-like designs.
"The MacGown side of my family is very creative," he said. "I've been drawing and painting since I was 4. I'd go out and paint landscapes, flowers, but I also liked to do weird stuff. I could visualize."
MacGown, 57, doesn't need much sleep — usually three or four hours a night — so he had a lot of time to be productive with his art, even as he worked as an entomology researcher at MSU until he retired last year.
"The field of entomology was good for me, because it's all about observation," said MacGown, who has had his art featured in more than 80 international shows.
Many of MacGown's detailed drawings and mixed media paintings feature some of the insects he studied, like ants, beetles and butterflies.
His son, Joseph, specializes in ceramics.
"My son and I have a fun dynamic at arts festivals," he said. "He's even more abstract than me. We love spreading the weirdness. Our art is quite different than what you see in this region."
In the MacGowns' booth, they'll have a handful of original pieces, along with prints on wood, canvas prints, mixed-media prints, pen drawings, some acrylics, prints on metal, ceramics and even postcard prints.
"We try to have something for every budget," MacGown said. "The best part for me is the connections we make. We may not make a ton of money, but a connection we make will lead to something else. Festivals open up opportunities for other work."
