Striking Hot
Even the heaviest of rain showers couldn’t dampen the creative spark in the Electric City this weekend. As we fluttered through First Friday and the Arts on Fire festival at the historic Iron Furnaces, we saw plenty of familiar faces in the crowd — all having a grand time.
In our travels throughout the weekend we spotted Conor McGuigan, Nezka Pfeifer, Scott Schaffer, Laurie LaMaster, Stefanie Colarusso (formerly Stefanie Bush – kisses to her and Michael Colarusso, who recently got married), Thom Welby, Nicole Sawicki, Bob and Mary Ann Savakinus, Tonyehn Verkitus, Chester Kulesa, Sarah and Brendan Regan, Bernie McGurl, Jeff Kiefer, Elizabeth Davis, Morgan Evans, Alysia Scazafabo, Maureen McGuigan, electric city’s Alicia Grega, KK Gordon, Ted Michalowski, Catherine Cullen, Joe and Terra McAuliffe, Skip Sensbach, and Mark Chuck, just to name a few.
Indeed, the festivities wouldn’t be complete without the talents of Juggler Rob Smith, who always wows the crowd, and we enjoyed following the talented group of twirlers and drummer Mark Montella from Lackawanna Avenue to the Iron Furnaces.
All weekend long, artists Nikki Moser and Pat McGowan and the team from Keystone Iron Works as well Keystone College alum, faculty and friends from near and far donned their gear and showed us precisely how an iron pour is done. It’s dirty, hot, grueling work that requires a tremendous amount of skill. We also enjoyed watching the creation of a “ring of fire” by members of the Steamtown National Historic site.
There was just one part of the festivities that burned us up. Enter City Bitterfly.
After a successful weekend of educational as well as entertaining activities, we were disturbed to learn that several pieces of cast iron (sculptures created by the professional pour team who volunteered on Friday) were stolen on Saturday from the Iron Furnaces. Disgraceful. Moser has asked the work be returned to the AFA Gallery, Artworks or the Iron Furnaces and said there will be no questions asked. Good thing she’s not a hothead like the Bitterfly because we can guarantee we would not be so kind.
To the vermin who stooped so low, just remember, what goes around, comes around and we hope you get burned in all the right places for what you’ve done.
On a lighter note, we have good news to share in the literary world from Jessica Meoni, Dana Marie Bloom and Brian Fanelli. This trio is the force behind Scranton Zinefest 2012 (www.scrantonzinefest.wordpress.com), which will be held on Saturday, June 9 at New Visions Studio and Gallery, 201 Vine St., Scranton. From noon to 6 p.m., you can peruse the dozens of vendors on hand to buy and trade zines, and meet various artists with some interesting specialties, including an artist who creates blank journals made with wood and recycled paper and another artist whose jewelry is made from recycled materials. William James, a Pittsburgh slam poet, will also attend. Where else are you ever going to have a chance to interact with artists like this? Sounds pretty cool. The day comes to a close with poetry and zine readings, starting at 7 p.m.
A shout out to the organizers of this event, and venue hosts Adam Weitzenkorn and Melanie Boisseau, who are bringing an event that is much bigger than last year’s inaugural festival (this year, they have 45 zine and art vendors) and they’re pulling it off without any grant funding.
We’ll be sure to flutter through the pages of this continuing story over the weekend.
— cb
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