Media coverage - C and G Newspapers

Clinton Township FESTIVAL OF THE SENSES - Celebrating Art, Music, Food, Theater & Literary Works

Media coverage - C and G Newspapers

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Fraser-Clinton Township Chronicle (MI)

First ever Festival of the Senses delights crowds
HEIDI ROMAN; C & G Staff Writer
Published: September 26, 2007
CLINTON TOWNSHIP - In its first year, the Festival of the Senses - A Celebration of the Arts wowed crowds and proved to be a bigger success than ever imagined. The Clinton Township Civic Center was alive with art lovers browsing some of the best talent in Michigan at last weekend's event. The Sept. 22 and 23 art fair combined artwork of every medium, live entertainment and local culinary treats. In one area, crowds gathered to watch a painting being made before their eyes,
while across the park, kids giggled as they tried their hand at jewelry making.
Dennis Valimont, a Clinton Township artist who initiated the festival and organized it with township administrative aide Mary Ann Hosey, was more than pleased with the turnout. The township was unsure of how many people to expect in the first year, but hoped for somewhere between 5,000 and 7,000. By the end of the day Sunday, Valimont estimates nearly 40,000 people had attended.
"It has way surpassed our expectations," Valimont said.
Mother nature was on the festival's side, providing nearly perfect weather for strolling through the Civic Center or sitting near the gazebo to enjoy the music.
"I'm sure the weather's been a contributing factor (to the success of the event)," said Linda Parmantier, a township resident who attended the show. Parmantier often uses the Civic Center trails and dog park, and found out about the event by signs advertising around the park.
"I think it's wonderful," she said of the art fair. "I could see how they could expand it next year."
Because she has an interest in history, Parmantier's favorite part was touring the township's Historical Village, which was open for visitors during the show.
Other guests came for the culinary treats. Local restaurants and eateries, including Longhorn Steak House, J. Baldwin's, and Vince and Joe's, set up shop in a food tent to sell their best-loved dishes.
Clinton Township resident Marcia Savage enjoyed the event so much on Saturday that she came back for more on Sunday. She visited the food tent and then took extra time to browse the art on display.
"I thought everything was topnotch," she said.
Besides guests of the event, artists that were invited to show their work agreed that the event was a big success.
"For a first year show, in our experience, this has been a home run," said Joan Mulvehill, a metalwork artist from Monroe County. "We can see the township worked hard, it shows."
Mulvehill was manning the Blue Turtle Designs booth, a company she and her partner own, selling their art made from bent, welded and rusted metal. Mulvehill attends between 50 and 70 shows each year, and said the Festival of the Senses had a great turnout.
Though the pros were the highlight of the event, it was the young artists that nearly stole the show. A tent devoted to student artists of different ages was bustling with viewers throughout the day, giving the kids a glimpse at what it might be like to make a living selling art. Art students from Clintondale and Mount Clemens high schools, and children from the Boys and Girls Club of Southeast Michigan got to show off their work
"This is the first time they've displayed their work," said Peter Szyszkowski, a volunteer with the Boys and Girls Club of Southeast Michigan's advisory council. While many programs in the club are devoted to athletics, some kids in the club feel more at home in the art room, Szyszkowski said.
"They had no other way of expressing themselves," he said. At the Festival of the Senses, the kids were showered with compliments from event-goers who viewed their work.
"We don't think we'll be able to handle their egos now," Szyszkowski joked. He added that the club would be thrilled to participate next year.
Other children got a chance to make their first piece of art in the kids' zone, organized by the township's Parks and Recreation Department. There, parents watched their kids make jewelry, paint plaster, make and perform with a puppet, and place their hand or footprints on a sign.
Still basking in the glow of the festival's success, organizers are expected to meet as early as this week to start planning for the second annual Festival of the Senses, Valimont said.
Proceeds from the event and artists fees will be donated to the Ted Wahby Cancer Center Children's Wing of Mount Clemens General Hospital and Medical Center.
C & G Newspapers was a partial sponsor of the event.

Infobox
Left: Dearborn artist Steve Glazer, a faculty member at Henry Ford Community College, demonstrated a pottery glazing technique at the Festival of the Senses art fair held at the Clinton Township Civic Center Sept. 22 and 23. Above: While adults spent time browsing Michigan talent, 2-year-old Dylan Hart preferred the foam block pit set up near the township's Parks and Recreation tent.
Photos by Deb Jacques

Copyright, 2007, Fraser-Clinton Township Chronicle (MI), All Rights Reserved.

Pre-festival coverage of September 19, 2007

Fraser-Clinton Township Chronicle (MI)

Feast your eyes on this
Cultural arts fair to blend sights, sounds, tastes
HEIDI ROMAN; C & G Staff Writer
Published: September 19, 2007
CLINTON TOWNSHIP - This weekend could be the start of a new tradition in the township. The Civic Center will come alive with artists, musicians, culinary experts and thespians in the firstever Festival of the Senses - A Celebration of the Arts. The event will be Sept. 22 and 23, and will feature Michigan artists with talents to dazzle. The whole thing began as a dream when one Clinton Township artist, Dennis Valimont, hoped to change the face of art shows.

"I (was) thinking of all the shows that I've been in," said Valimont, who creates picture frames decorated with blown-glass beads.

"I just think I can change the way these shows go and add more artistic things to them."

He proposed the idea of a community art show to the township Board of Trustees, and they enthusiastically gave their approval.

"Things just started rolling," said Mary Ann Hosey, an administrative aide in the township who has worked to make Valimont's dream a reality. "We've been working very hard to make this a fine art festival showcasing the township, but also some of the talented artists in the township and other communities. This has gotten really huge."

Indeed it has. Nearly 150 artists will be featured in the Festival of the Senses. And just about every medium will be represented at the festival: basketry, candles, ceramics, clothing, glass, photography, painting, sculpture and wood, among others.

Participants in the show are Michigan artists, chosen for the originality of their art, and more importantly, whether or not people will actually buy it. The art featured in the show will be affordable, Valimont said.

Some of the artists will work on new pieces during the show, putting on live demonstrations for event-goers.

There will also be local authors, musicians and thespians. Members of the Clintondale Community Theatre will perform, and On Our Own Productions will put on a complete Broadway show, "Forever Plaid," a musical comedy about four entertainers in the 1960s who are killed on their way to a big gig. Forty-five years later, they return to perform one last show.

A Michigan author will be on hand to sign his book about the ghosts of Mackinac Island, which takes readers on a literary tour of the island, telling the stories behind its historic haunts and strange occurrences.

Because the event is meant for families, there will be plenty for kids to do. They'll get a chance to become artists for the day and perhaps have their first chance at creating a masterpiece.

"(Parks and Recreation) will have a program that mimics what the artists are doing," Valimont said. Kids will get to sit at a pottery wheel and make something out of clay or make jewelry.

One artist from Plymouth who has written and illustrated numerous children's books will be on hand to give kids their first lesson in drawing. Members of the Greater Clinton Township Historical Society and Historical Commission will help kids make corn- husk dolls and other toys children played with long ago.

"We hope that kids will get an understanding of the arts," Valimont said, "and if they have talent, to nurture this talent and carry through with it by going to the right school."

Valimont hopes to show young people that being an artist is a valid way to make a living. Students from local high schools and the College for Creative Studies will have their own tent to show off some of their work.

And because food is an art, too, local restaurateurs and culinary experts will provide tastes for every palate. J. Baldwin's, Longhorn Steakhouse, Vince and Joe's, Maui Wowi, Mr. Pita, Tubby's Submarine and Shield's Pizza have signed up. Gelato, fudge and other treats will be available.

In its maiden year, the show has already gotten bigger than organizers ever imagined. If all goes as planned, the festival will become an annual tradition.

"I think it's going to be really amazing," Hosey said, "and we hope to keep it going next year."

All proceeds from the event are being donated to charity. Sales of food and artists' fees to enter the show will benefit the Ted Wahby Cancer Center Children's Wing of Mount Clemens General Hospital and Medical Center.

C & G Newspapers is a cosponsor of the event

The Festival of the Senses will be Saturday, Sept. 22, from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., and Sunday, Sept. 23, from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. on the Civic Center grounds, located at 40700 Romeo Plank Road.

For more information, call Mary Ann Hosey at (586) 286- 9366 or visit www.ctfestivalofthesenses.com.

You can reach Staff Writer Heidi Roman at hroman@candgnews.com or at (586) 218-5006.