The Lubbock Arts Festival is This Weekend With Featured Artist Baron Batch

The annual Lubbock Arts Festival will be celebrating its 35th anniversary, April 12-14, 2013, at the Lubbock Memorial Civic Center, 1501 Mac Davis Lane. This three-day celebration is the largest fine art, fine craft event in West Texas.

Professional football player and Texas Tech alumnus, Baron Batch, has been selected as the Featured Artist for the 2013 Lubbock Arts Festival.

Each year the Arts Festival selects a visual artist to honor and spotlight their work. The artist must have ties to the community, as well as, unique and innovative pieces that are reflective of their own style.

Batch, a running back for the Pittsburgh Steelers, began painting while rehabilitating a knee after surgery. “I experimented with mediums, adding color to my walls with each new piece of art that went up. I discovered that I preferred using acrylics on wood, which is more durable and textured than other mediums, such as paper canvas,” said Batch. “I created what was meaningful to me.”

Batch will be onsite throughout the Arts Festival. His original work and prints of his art will be available for purchase with a portion of the proceeds benefitting the Lubbock Arts Alliance’s after school art programs. “Accomplishments like this are what I’m most proud of,” Batch tweeted.

Every year the Arts Festival features over 150 visual artists from around the nation displaying and selling original work in the mediums of painting, drawing, pottery, fiber, leather, jewelry, glass, wood, and sculpture. A juried gallery of professional work will be available for viewing along with artwork from area school children. There will be different performing stages each spotlighting the very best local and regional talent singing, dancing, acting, and playing instruments. Demonstrations by artists creating their work will take place along with ten different “Kid Stops” providing FREE art related to activities for children. The “Kid Stops” include ‘make and take’ projects, a Home Depot activity, a chance to perform on the Kids Karaoke stage, and a book fair.

Tickets, Hours and Pricing:

All of this can be enjoyed for the very low admission of just $3 for adults and $2 for children under 12.

Hours are Friday, April 12th & Saturday, April 13th 10AM-8PM, and Sunday, April 14th 12PM-5PM.

Special ticketed events include Premiere Night honoring Karen Savage, art patron and community leader; “Music In Motion” a collaborative performance of Lubbock Symphony Orchestra and Ballet Lubbock; and matinee performances of the “Velveteen Rabbit” by Lubbock Community Theatre. For more information about these special events and general information about the Lubbock Arts Festival, please contact the Lubbock Arts Alliance, www.lubbockartsfestival.org, 806-744-ARTS (2787).

The Lubbock Arts Festival is made possible by a sponsorship from Civic Lubbock, Inc. This project was funded in part by a grant from the Sybil B. Harrington Endowment for the Arts, a component fund of the Lubbock Area Foundation. This project made possible in part through a grant from the City of Lubbock as recommended by Civic Lubbock, Inc. This project is supported by the Texas Commission on the Arts.