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Public artist Joey Salamon in front of a few of the tiles he created for the public exhibit.
Pioneer photo/Dylan Schwartz
BIG RAPIDS — The 2023 Festival of the Arts is underway after Friday evening's opening ceremony.
The month of creativity started strong with a reception that included food from Three Girls Bakery, music from the band Havusback featuring George Arndt, words from public artist Joey Salamon who added his unique panels to a building on the north side, and a rousing speech from Ferris State University President Bill Pink about the importance of the festival, encouraging people to share the Festival of the Arts with everyone, not just those in Big Rapids.
"These are the kinds of things, friends, that we have to make sure our surrounding communities are aware of," he said.
Pink remarked on the passion of the artists in the area, whether it's musicians or visual artists, and noted the amazing opportunities FOTA will present people over the coming month.
"These are opportunities for you to take and drink in the arts. Spread the word. Tell everybody, let them know that this is the place to be. This is the place to come," Pink said.
Salamon described one such opportunity from his perspective of doing public art, adding his vibrant window panels to the Simonds International building on the north side.
"I spent two months in pretty much just solitude, just painting and watching documentaries, basically," Salamon said about his undertaking for the event.
Each panel is different due to the distance between the windows on the building, Salamon said, so he decided to have them all be unique but part of a unifying theme that might take several drives past to truly get the gist of.
"They all fit together, but they all represent kind of their idea," Salamon said, adding that there's a lot to process each time you drive by the building.
"I think it's more interesting when you drive past because there's a lot to take in," he said.
The opportunity to bring color and happiness to an area of town, and a building that most people hardly notice, was something that Salamon enjoyed.
"In general, the whole idea is to just bring a lot of colors, which is supposed to add happiness, and that was the main goal, and I like it," he said.
Following the opening reception, Latin jazz band Tumbao Bravo filled the Immanuel Lutheran Church, where the reception and subsequent concert were held, with their unique sound to ring in the beginning of the month.
