Wausau's Artrageous Weekend: Your guide to the art extravaganza
WAUSAU - Every year at this time, art fans young and old flock from north, south, east and west, flying to one common home: Artrageous Weekend in Wausau.
This nest — in central Wisconsin's Marathon County — is home to two long-time arts festivals, one popular avian-themed art exhibit, a couple other art exhibits, artists demonstrations and meet-and-greets, arts and crafts vendors, food vendors, arts activities for kids and families, music and other entertainment.
Here's what you need to know about the 30-year-old artistic extravaganza, planned for 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday and Sunday.
What you need to know: Locations and shuttling
Wausau's Artrageous Weekend 2019 is divided into four parts — two pop-up arts festivals and two centered around displays. They are: Wausau Festival of the Arts and the Center for the Visual Arts, held on and around the 400 Block in downtown Wausau; the Birds in Art 2019 exhibit opening at the Leigh Yawkey Woodson Art Museum; and Art in the Park, held in two exhibition buildings at Marathon Park.
Admission to all four events is free, though arts, crafts and food are available for purchase.
There will also be free and handicapped-accessible shuttle bus transportation between the events. Between 10 a.m. and 5 p.m. on both days, shuttles will leave every 15 to 20 minutes from bus stops at the corner of Fourth and Jefferson streets in downtown Wausau, at the Woodson Art Museum on 12th Street (near their south parking lot), and near the East Gate Hall building in Marathon Park, as you enter the park from Garfield Avenue.
Wausau Festival of Arts
The 55th annual Wausau Festival of Arts will be open from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday and from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Sunday, with vendors' tents extending from the 400 Block and going down Third Street in downtown Wausau.
This festival offers visitors a chance to peruse and purchase artwork by more than 120 juried visual artists and vendors from all over the United States. Artwork representing a variety of mediums will include: ceramics by Adrienne Brebrick of Wausau, fiber works by Carol Smith of Merrill, glass works by Tammy Wolter of Waupaca, graphic arts by Melissa Mason of Plover, jewelry by Jan Raven of Wausau, paintings from Rebecca Korth and sculpture works from Dan Vidaillet, both of Marshfield.
Festivities will also include live music on two stages — one on the south side of downtown Wausau on the 400 Block, and the other on the north side on Grant Street. Instrumental and vocal music will be provided by the Wausau Concert Band, the Dan Larson Trio, Wausau Pro Musica and the Denise Sauter Quartet, among others.
There is also a Family Art tent and family-focused stage, Still Young at Art adult art classes, Young Collector Market and Scholarship Silent Auction.
The 2019 concession vendors — which include Boy Scouts of America Troop No. 409, Wausau Elks No. 248, Everest Area Optimist Club, Trinity Lutheran Church and School, and the Lions Clubs of Rib Mountain and Rothschild-Weston — will be selling food on Jefferson and McClellan streets.
For more information on the Festival of Arts, call 715-842-1676, email info@wausaufoa.org, or go to wausaufoa.org.
The Center for the Visual Arts will feature fine art exhibits currently on display in their many galleries during Wausau's Artrageous Weekend.
Center for the Visual Arts
During Wausau's Artrageous Weekend, the Center for the Visual Arts will be open from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday and from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Sunday at 427 N. Fourth St.
The Center for the Visual Arts will feature fine art exhibits currently on display in their many galleries: 2019 Roots-Taking Seed juried exhibit, on display through Sept. 14 in the Caroline S. Mark Gallery; A Trail of Intuitive Abstraction-an exhibit featuring the work of Denise Presnell, on display through Oct. 12 in the new Vault Gallery; and an exhibit featuring the work of students and volunteers from the Center for Visual Arts, on display through Sept. 14 in the Loft Gallery.
Artists will give demonstrations in the Vault Gallery, Studio Room and Pottery Studio, and the center's gift shop, in the Third Street Lifestyle Center of Washington Square, will feature original handcrafted artwork — many already on display — by more than 50 local and regional artists.
For more information on the Center for the Visual Arts, call 715-842-4545, email info@cvawausau.org, or go to cvawausau.org.
Karen Bondarchuk participates in Artists in Action during the 2015 "Birds in Art" opening weekend festivities at the Leigh Yawkey Woodson Art Museum in Wausau.
Birds in Art 2019
The Leigh Yawkey Woodson Art Museum will open its 44th annual Birds in Art exhibit to the public with special weekend hours from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday and 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Sunday at 700 N. 12th St.
This international juried exhibit, "presents paintings, graphics, and sculptures created by more than 100 artists who bring a global perspective to their passion for birds," according to a museum news release.
Opening day events will kick off with an opportunity for visitors to meet more than 60 worldwide artists who "flew in" just for this occasion. This artists meet-and-greet is set for 9 a.m. to noon Saturday in the galleries and the museum's sculpture garden. It will serve as an opportunity for visitors to have commemorative 2019 exhibit posters and catalogs signed by the artists themselves.
Also on Saturday, from 9:30 a.m. to 10:30 a.m. in the sculpture garden, Alan Woollett, a British colored-pencil artist chosen to be the Master Artist for this year's exhibit, will give a presentation on the highlights of his colored-pencil and graphite artworks career. Artists will also give demonstrations of their work in various mediums from 10:45 a.m. to noon Saturday.
Birds in Art 2019 will be on display Saturday through Dec. 1.
For more information on the Birds In Art exhibit, call 715-845-7010, email museum@lywam.org, or go to lywam.org/birds-in-art.
Art, artists and art lovers will gather Saturday and Sunday in Marathon Park for Art in the Park. The event is part of Wausau's Artrageous Weekend.
Art in the Park
Since 1976, the Wisconsin Valley Art Association has organized and presented its annual Art in the Park juried arts and crafts festival as a way to support community art scholarships.
The 2019 Art in the Park will be held from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday and from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Sunday in the East Gate Hall and Exhibition Building at Marathon Park, 1201 Stewart Ave.
The festival brings together more than 120 juried fine artists and handmade craft exhibitors from throughout the United States. More than 30,000 people attend the two-day festival, according to the Wisconsin Valley Art Association's website.
Items for sale include fine arts and handcrafted items for gifts, pets, children, home and garden include pottery, wearable art, paintings, photography, and more. A children’s art and craft area offers free make-and-take activities, as well as children’s book reading sessions.
Other Art in the Park activities include artist demonstrations and a Wisconsin Valley Art Association member art exhibit. Food and drink concessions will also be available from local nonprofit groups and businesses.
For more information on Art in the Park, email the art association at wisconsinvalleyart@gmail.com or visit wivalleyart.org.
Original news link: https://www.wausaudailyherald.com/story/entertainment/events/2019/09/04/wausaus-artrageous-weekend-your-guide-to-the-2019-art-extravaganza-birds-in-art/2144125001/
