Southern Lakes Parks & Recreation adds hands-on art activities to Fenton Art Walk

The already scenic view of the Shiawassee River in the Fenton Community & Cultural Center’s backyard will be even more eye-catching during the Fenton Art Walk, July 11. Fishing poles will be vertically mounted along the riverbank for event-goers to decorate, creating an avant garde art installation in celebration of the river.

This unique attraction is the brainchild of Southern Lakes Parks & Recreation Director Vince Paris, whose goal for his organization’s contribution to the event is to engage the community with the Shiawassee River through art.

“The fishing poles are going to become an interactive art project along the meander of the river, and each pole will take on an artistic personality that each participant puts into it,” Paris said.

Southern Lakes Parks & Recreation is asking that community members donate old, broken, and unwanted fishing poles in order to make this activity a success. Poles can be dropped off in SLPR’s office in the Fenton Community & Cultural Center.

A variety of other interactive art activities will line the Shiawassee riverbank from Leroy St. to the bridge behind the community tennis courts, including a clay sculpture station, river species illustration, sidewalk chalk drawing, and two additional community art concepts.

Participants will get to throw balloons full of paint at a wooden canvas to contribute to an abstract piece of art. This activity was a success at the 2014 Fenton Art Walk, delighting both children and adults. Event-goers will also be able to paint a three-dimensional abstract sculpture with long paintbrushes. “It’ll take on its own life, you’ll see,” Paris said. “This will complement the free-flowing and meandering environment of our Shiawassee River.”

During the Fenton Art Walk, fine art will be displayed inside local businesses and the Fenton Community & Cultural Center. The juried art show will include prizes for fine art and the Artzy Hat Prize Competition. An opening reception will be held at the Fenton Community & Cultural Center on Friday, July 10 from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m. The Art Walk will take place Saturday, July 11 from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m.

Paris hopes that the Fenton Art Walk will help to highlight the Fenton Community & Cultural Center, including its river walk, as an arts and cultural destination. “The river is part of the Cultural Center. A center is not a building,” Paris said. “A center is a place; an environment; a feeling you get.”

The Fenton Art Walk is funded by the City of Fenton DDA and organized by the Lakes Area Arts Council, with the Fenton Community & Cultural Center and Southern Lakes Parks & Recreation as collaborators. For more information, visit www.FentonBeCloser.com.