AGAWAM — The Agawam Community Artists and Artisans will host the fourth annual Pioneer Valley Art Festival from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday and Sunday, Aug. 24-25, at the Polish American Club, 139 Southwick St., Feeding Hills.
This year, there will be two new exhibits: “Art Walk Through History” and “Art Around The World.”
“We have a real brainiac in our group and she comes up with all these ideas,” said ACAA President Ceil Rossi, referring to group member Judy Lever-Duffy.
“Art Walk Through History” will consist of 49 historical depictions of locations around Agawam through the medium of watercolor, oil and acrylic paintings, said Rossi. Locations include the Captain Leonard House, Agawam Woolen Mills and the former Pirates Cove jungle ride at Riverside Park (now Six Flags New England), which featured a moat and an island where monkeys would live for the summer.
Joyce Belliveau said painting Pirates Cove brought back memories for her. Specifically, of her father trying to capture a monkey that escaped and ended up in his garage.
“My mother said to my dad, ‘what’s all this crap all over my car?’ They couldn’t figure it out, but then my father spotted this monkey on the rafters,” she said.
In 1984, Houdini the Monkey fled Riverside Park after the tree branch he was standing on fell into the moat. Houdini ran to Suffield, where he hid in the garage of Gloria and Lionel Belliveau, according to a Springfield Union newspaper clipping Belliveau provided. Riverside Park employees set up a cage, but failed to capture it. Lionel re-rigged the cage and baited Houdini with banana pieces. That worked. Houdini had been captured after five days on the run.
For the “Art Walk Through History” exhibit, Belliveau grabbed a photo of the ride and recreated it with watercolors.
“They don’t have that ride at Riverside anymore,” Belliveau said, “so, I thought that was kind of historic for people. It’s kind of a funny story. It brought back memories for me, and my dad died shortly after that. It was a big deal, with him fighting this monkey.”
Asked what she wants people to take away from her painting, she said, “Maybe, ‘Oh, I remember that ride. Oh, isn’t that cute.’”
“Art Walk Through History” will also feature two tents from the Southwick and Agawam historical societies.
“Art Around the World,” Rossi said, comes from Duffy’s idea to attend events like the Turkish and Puerto Rican festivals around Greater Springfield, and ask the participating artists if they’d like to be in the ACAA’s own festival.
Shaaban Ndungo, who sells African craftwork under the name “Unique African Craft,” said Rossi approached him about it at WorldFest, a West Springfield event that took place for the first time in June. He sent in an application after WorldFest was over.
“I’m a U.S. citizen but I have a background where I came from, which is Africa,” he said. “Anything that has to do with me showing where I came from, that’s a reminder for me, and that exposes people to the culture.”
Ndungo lives in West Springfield, but he sources his wares from the markets of his home country, Tanzania. At first, he sold them to family and friends, then to other Africans in Western Massachusetts.
At the Pioneer Valley Art Festival, he will sell drawings of animals and of members of the Maasai tribe of northern Tanzania holding spears. He will also be selling dashiki shirts, kitenge fabric, and Maasai tribal robes, as well as earrings, bead necklaces and handmade bags. Prices will range from $5 to $50.
Some of the money raised will go to orphanages in Tanzania, he said.
“It was me helping or giving back,” he said. “I’m now going to be able to say now that I’m helping as much as I can using my salary.”
The full “Art Around the World” exhibit will feature Ndungo’s wares alongside Turkish embroidery and Moroccan wedding dresses, said Rossi.
In total, there will be 70 artists and artisans at the Pioneer Valley Art Festival, said Rossi, displaying their paintings, photography, woodcrafts, pottery, wire art and even cork birdhouses. Artists will come mostly from the Springfield area. The farthest is from Broad Brook, Connecticut, a neighborhood of the town of East Windsor.
Painter Richard Nowak, pottery maker David Hebert and glass artist Hugh Naggar will give demonstrations. The ACAA will also host an “Art with a Heart” acrylic painting workshop, which will cost a small amount of money, Rossi said. The proceeds go to local food banks.
At the festival, the ACAA will also sell off the 250 canvases that make up this year’s New England Mosaic. This year’s theme was “I Love New England”; canvases feature the Citgo sign, lobsters, Dunkin’ Donuts and Dr. Seuss, Rossi said.
Each canvas that makes up the 24-foot-long wall of art will cost $25, said Rossi, and will be mailed to the buyer after the festival. Proceeds will go towards next year’s Gloria McLellan Scholarships, which the nonprofit gives to high school seniors pursuing a college degree in visual arts. This year, the nonprofit awarded $3,000 in scholarship money, said Rossi.
A separate silent auction will also raise money for the scholarships.
Rossi said the festival is exciting but a lot of hard work for the organizers.
“I can’t wait until it’s over. There’s so much to do,” she said.
Admission to the festival is free. More information can be found at agawamarts.com/pioneer-valley-art-festival.
