Super festival

The whole ball of beeswax about the 4th annual Art Attack!

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In the winter of 1960, the comics world saw its first super team-up when DC’s mightiest heroes — including Aquaman, Green Lantern and Wonder Woman — formed the first iteration of the Justice League to battle a giant space echinoderm. So when economic downturn and loss of regional awareness threatened Lansing’s historic REO Town district, a similar team-up of exceptional entities united with a common goal. And thus the Art Attack! festival was formed, comprising local artists, musicians and food vendors to battle the threat of redevelopment and to raise awareness of a community rich in culture and creativity.

“We were looking for an opportunity like this,” said James Groves, one of the founders of the Showdown in REO Town component of the festival. “It was the perfect coincidence.”

At the Showdown, organized by REACH Art Studio, artists had about six hours to complete a work of themed art. This year’s goal: Decorating a trash can to be placed in one of Lansing’s parks.

Groves, a tattoo artist at the Tattoo Shop in Lansing, had his can decorated with (exceptionally fitting) images he called “the Trash Monkeys.” The array of bright colors and highly stylized figures is something easily likened to street art. Six hours is a definite strain to be creative, but Groves felt he was armed with the best tool for the job.

“You get such a smooth blend with spray paints,” Groves said. “You can work big quickly.

Meanwhile, a group of Groves’ competitors were also executing a clever spin off the theme. Their circular drum was colored to be reminiscent of a decomposing Coca-Cola can. Evidence that perhaps the more consistent theme of this year’s “showdown” was hardly a confinement for the artist’s imagination.

“It’s great how the Showdown was organized this year,” said Marcus Cottom, one of the collaborators for the soda can piece. “There is more sense of fairness.”

The team comprised Steve Carian, Paul Vetne, Marcus Cottom, Garrett Giger and Nathan Gonzolez. Carian and Vetne are also tattoo artists at Lansing’s Liquid Tattoos.

While the Showdown is one of the huge attractions at Art Attack!, several vendors were also on hand exhibiting and selling their creations. One such artist was REO Town resident — and recipient of the Art Council of Greater Lansing’s 2014 individual artist grant — Katie Woodhams, who has a long history with being creative.

“My mother is an art instructor,” Woodham said. “I probably used a paint brush long before I ever used a pencil.”

Woodham works in the medium of encaustic, or beeswax, painting. Pigment is added to heated beeswax on wood, panel or canvas allowing the artist to implement a structural depth to the work. Woodham has studied photography and holds degrees in fine art and zoology, but had a crash course four-day encaustic seminar.

“I found I was able to express myself in a way I was never able to before,” Woodham said. “It’s the best way to articulate ideas.” 

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