~ Mark Your Calendar ~ The 6th annual Francisco's Farm Arts Festival at Midway College is June 27 & 28 ~

Each week between now and the Festival, we'll introduce you to one of the 150 artists from 17 states who will be coming to Midway in June. If you enjoy the newsletter consider sharing with friends and help us grow!

Meet Mark Maffett ~ Imagineer ~

My friend Joy (who is very aptly named, by the way) emailed me the other day to say, "BTW, who is the bone man?  You know, the guy who does the beautiful work with bones.  While I was out gathering wildflowers on the River Road hillside in Frankfort today I found what I think is a lot of maybe a fox -- vertebrae, complete teeth, etc.Wonder if he'd want them."

She was talking about Mark Maffett, a Woodford County builder who also creates fantastic structures that make you wish you were two inches tall. He allowed us to exhibit several of his pieces last year in Francisco's Gallery - The Artistic Wealth of Woodford County - and we hope to showcase him again there this year.

photo courtesy of Sarah Wilson, Director of Public Relations at Midway College (who is also, by the way, a graphic artist, fine art photographer, and imagineer whose works will be showcased in Francisco's Gallery again this year)

Maffett describes his creations - "These things all started in 1961 after seeing the movie Swiss Family Robinson. That tree house was the greatest thing I had ever seen. As a kid though, I never had the major tree, materials or know how to build a real one. Sometime in junior high school I realized that in miniature I could build what ever I wanted without constraints. The first pieces were somewhat Victorian or English Tudor and represented simply my interest in Architecture & Woodworking & Living in a Tree. They have since evolved into expressions of my feelings about the human relationship with the natural world, or more precisely the lack thereof."

The structures are "meditations on self reliance, consumption of resources, sustainability and the balance of nature more easily expressed in sculpture than words."

If you can't wait until the end of June, you can see Maffett's constructions at The Gallery - 120 Lexington Street in Versailles - home of another imagineer - Paul Atkinson. A professional graphic artist and photographer, Atkinson's main focus is photography. He says, "A picture is worth a thousand interpretations, and from time to time we see just what we want to see."

photography copyright Paul Atkinson - Rockledge Photography & Design - all rights reserved

I've got to run over to Joy's house, pick up those fox bones and take them to Paul's gallery for Mark. I'm grateful for the opportunity.

Thanks for your support! Talk to you next week!

 
Marcie Christensen
Event Coordinator / Imagineer
   

  PS - Join us for a wonderful musical evening in Midway!
News - Margaret Lyle Gravitt has just joined the line-up
 

Wednesday, May 27th ~ 6pm ~ Thoroughbred Theater

"Night of Midway Talent: A Fundraiser for Midway Renaissance, Inc."

Admission is Free, Donations are welcome

Featuring: Midway Baptist Praise Band, Bill and Leslie Penn, The Jones Boys, Billy and Lauren Hill, Margaret Lyle Gravitt.......And More...

PPS - Help This Art Festival Survive 

As I'm sure you can imagine, fundraising is a serious challenge this year. In challenging economic times, non-profits take advantage of the potential to raise pennies from every decent source and the pennies add up! You absolutely would not believe how much you can help us survive just by using a Kroger Gift Card.

Many non-profit organizations and schools earn money through this program, and we've joined them!

Order your Gift Card from us today. Mail a check for $5 and a self-addressed, stamped envelope to Francisco's Farm at the address below, and I'll send your card (preloaded with $5) and complete instructions. Each time you recharge (add money to) the card, Kroger will donate cash to the Festival.

When you order a Gift Card we'll put your name in the FarmBucks Drawing. One lucky winner, drawn at the beginning of June, will receive $100 in FarmBucks to spend on art at the Festival. AND every time your recharges total $500, we'll put your name in the drawing again!

Magnify your efforts by encouraging friends and family to order Gift Cards, too! There is no limit to the number of cards we can distribute or the amount of money we can earn.

Questions about how the Gift Cards work?
Click here for the All The Answers!