Arts sprawl all over River Campus during annual festival

Art appreciators young and old came to Southeast Missouri State University’s River Campus by the thousands Saturday for the River Campus Summer Arts Festival.

The one-day festival filled campus facilities with a variety of performances, exhibits and entertainment spilling outside into the surrounding grounds.

The outdoor venues featured interactive stations for children to make crafts and explore the arts.

Pottery and petting zoos pulled many festival-goers to “Bottom o’ the Hill,” where an entertainment tent hosted music and a magician throughout the day.

As the day went on, the Avenue of Art gradually grew along the sidewalk outside of the Cultural Arts Center’s lower level.

Artists create art on the sidewalk Saturday during the River Campus Summer Arts Festival in Cape Girardeau.Laura Simon

Using chalk and pastels, artists of all ages each filled one square of the concrete canvas throughout the day while local artist Craig Thomas stood by to help.

Beginning at 9 a.m., Thomas spent nearly seven hours using mainly black and white pastels with one golden shade to draw jazz legend Louis Armstrong.

“I was going to go for a monochromatic look, but I wanted to jazz it up,” Thomas said.

Thomas also mentioned nearby artist Scott Kelley’s original piece, “The Rematch.” Inspired by a boxing match between Andre Ward and Sergey Kovalev set to take place later that night, Kelley created an abstract illustration of how he predicted the fight would end.

Just above the Avenue of Art, the Bedell Performance Hall hosted two productions of the musical “Dear Edwina Jr.”

With a cast of young performers, the show told the story of 13-year-old Edwina Spoonapple as she tries to help neighborhood children through performance art.

Outside of the hall, activities filled the atrium and spilled down the Cultural Arts Center’s hallways.

Attractions included performance of Robert Scott’s “All by Myself” by the River City Players, music and dance performances, a puppy corral hosted by the Humane Society and a costume shop where children could make masks.

Members of the local studio Aerial Arts performed aerial shows in the Cultural Arts Center Dance Studio throughout the day.

The art form mixed dance and gymnastics through the use of aerial equipment, including silks, ropes, swings and trapezes.

Students and teachers with the studio hung from the ceiling, floating mid-air with suspended silks wrapping their bodies for support.

According to Lauren Jones, owner of The Edge-Your Fitness Advantage located inside City Center, an aerial dance program has started at the university.

“We just did our first summer-intensive, and we’re hoping to make it part of the curriculum in spring 2018,” Jones said. “We have it, and Mizzou doesn’t.”

Other buildings on the River Campus housed performances as well. Acting performances occupied rooms in the Dobbins Center, while dance performances could be found down the hall in the dance studio.

In the Seminary Building, the university’s Vocal Arts Boot Camp concluded with a “Sing Out” recital in the Shuck Music Recital Hall.

Young vocalists began the camp Monday, spending six days preparing their voices for solo performances at the end of the week.

“I was a little bit nervous, and my voice was definitely tired after the week,” Varnon said after his performance of Mozart’s “The Birdcatcher” from “The Magic Flute.” “But I was excited to perform, and it’s fun because you get to show off what you’ve learned. It’s a really great camp, and SEMO does a great job.”

bmatthews@semissourian.com

(573) 388-3652

Pertinent address:

518 S. Fountain St., Cape Girardeau, Mo.