It's been two years since I first went to Artfest, but it feels like home. You know, a place where you can let your freak flag fly.
Already at work: Ricë Freeman-Zachery and her husband Earl Zachery, busy taking pictures for their next book project.
While Ricë and I caught up a little, look what Tally found:
It's the "Mixed-Media Dollhouse" promo postcards that Teesha allowed us to include in every goodie bag!
The day started out great and just kept ramping up to be better. After a relaxing ferry ride, we cruised up the Olympic Peninsula, stopping at a little tea house in Port Gamble.
They let you wear a big foofy hat, or a small veiled one, so you can feel extra girly as you eat your finger sandwiches and tea. (Since they couldn't sprout more heads to wear more hats, another pair of women solved that problem by changing their hats repeatedly.)
Once we'd registered and gotten settled in our officers' housing [ooh, fancy!]...
... we found some of my old friends at the opening night meeting, and some new ones as well.
Teesha and Tracy gave us the last-minute lowdown on things, then kicked off a lil' dance party with the band Surrealized featuring a multimedia showcase. (Sorry for the quality of the next pic... point-and-shoots don't do well under trippy lighting conditions.)
Tally and Regina gettin' their groove on...
Meanwhile, LK Ludwig and MaryBeth Shaw were holdin' it down in front of the band...
And then it was off to find the party in the dorms, where we found Catherine Witherell...
who sympathized with Tally about the rough drive up, and then we met her daughter the amazing Grace (sorry, had to make the pun) Witherell.
After that, it was talktalktalktalktalktalktalk... partly about the book...
but mostly just easing back into an atmosphere where you don't have to explain what the hell your obsession is with that art stuff. Because everyone gets it, even if they don't get exactly what you're expressing with your art. Metal, paper, acrylic paste -- bring it on! It's Artfest. Time to drop whatever occupies you at home and sling some paint/goop/patina/whatever.
Next up: first day of classes. Awwwww sookie sookie now! as the philosopher said.