YELLOW SPRINGS — The Yellow Springs Arts Council will host “Celebrating the Banner Festival” from Jan. 19 until June 30. The opening reception planned for 6-9 p.m. Friday, Jan. 19.
The Banner Festival was a beloved public art tradition in Yellow Springs for many years. The banners hung over downtown streets and filled the space with color, humor, and beauty, according to the YSAC. Many local artists created unique banners, year after year. “Celebrating the Banner Festival” will answer how it got started, how it kept going for so many years and whether or not there will be another. Invididiuals are invited to hear stories, see pictures of banners throughout the years and see some of the original banners that still exist.
The opening reception will include a banner festival panel talk with Maxine Skiba, Beth Holyoke, Katherine Merrill, and Terri Schoch, as well as banner slides created by Irwin Inman a banner festival video created by Susan Gartner and live music by Mitch Coleman on keyboard.
“Conceived by local artist Maxine Skuba as a way to brighten the downtown area during the gray winter months, and also as a means for individuals to create and display public art,” the YSAC said of the event in a press release. “Each year a wide range of towns-people-both artists and non artists, school children and senior citizens — designed and sewed banners for this event.”
The YSAC will also announce during the opening reception the new home base for the YSAC permanent collection — The John Bryan Center. YSAC officials will be showing off the new work donated in 2017 to the local art collection. The YSAC invites all to come meet the artists and see the new art in the collection. Refreshments will be served.
