Editor’s note: This press release was provided by the Pelham Arts Center

ArtsFest 2019 at Pelham Art Center

Friday, October 4: Songwriter Showcase with #WomenCrush Music

Saturday, October 5: Public Art in the Courtyard, IN/FLUX Artist Talk

Sunday, October 6: Diwali Hindu Festival of Lights

Pelham Art Center announces special programming for ArtsFest weekend beginning Friday, October 4th. Events throughout the weekend invite the community to discover the Art Center’s current exhibitions, enjoy live performances, and create art together.
Friday, October 4, 6-9PM: Songwriter Showcase with #WomenCrush Music ($10 suggested donation)

Join Pelham Art Center to kickoff ArtsFest weekend with a showcase of local women singer-songwriters hosted in collaboration with #WomenCrush Music. There is a $10 suggested donation for this event, where guests can enjoy live music, drinks, and Pelham Art Center’s fall gallery exhibition.
#WomenCrush Music is a non-profit organization that supports rising women songwriters in community chapters nationally & internationally. Learn more on their website.

Saturday, October 5, 11AM-3PM: Public Art in the Courtyard (Free and Open to All)
Come to the Pelham Art Center Courtyard for a fun afternoon of public art participation! Community members are invited to create with exhibiting artists at the Pelham Art Center. Niki Lederer will guide attendees in creating an individual and collaborative “spacecraft” made from recycled material. Participants should bring their own plastic bottles (cleaned out first) to do this project inspired by the 2019 Pelham Reads book selection Hidden Figures. Melissa Maddonni Haims will be present creating a large collaborative knit/crochet piece. Attendees should bring their own 10×20 inch knit or crochet rectangle that will form a community constellation of fiber art!

Both artists have public artwork on view in the courtyard and at Wolfs Lane Park. Learn more about RECLAIMED and Yarnbombing. IN/FLUX artist Nicky Enright will also be live to interact and exchange Globo currency.
This event is immediately followed by Artist Talk: IN/FLUX

Saturday,October5,3-5PM: IN/FLUXArtistTalk(FreeandOpentoAll)
Pelham Art Center presents a gallery discussion with the artists of IN/FLUX, a visual art exhibition bringing together immigrant and first generation artists curated by Executive Director Charlotte Mouquin and Gallery Advisory Board Member Victoria Rolett (On View September 20-November 2).
The artists of IN/FLUX reflect the complexity of immigrant experience through installation, sculpture, encaustic, photography, design, collage, and bio art. Come hear insights on their inspiration and process, and discuss the exhibition with the community.

Sunday, October 6, 2-4PM: Diwali Hindu Festival of Lights
Pelham Art Center hosts a Folk Arts celebration of Diwali on Sunday, October 6th. Diwali is a major festival for Hindus, Sikhs, Buddhists, and Jains, who believe that light is a metaphor for knowledge and signifies health, wealth and peace. Madhusmita Bora & Prerona Bhuyan of the Sattriya Dance Company will perform Sattriya. Sattriya is a 500-year-old living dance tradition from the Hindu (Vaishnav) monasteries of Assam in Northeast India. The dance, practiced by celibate monks, remained confined to monastic rituals until the 1960s. In 2000, the Indian government inducted Sattriya into the pantheon of major Indian classical dances. Guests will enjoy audience participation, traditional hands-on art workshops and henna body art.