Paradise City Arts Festival Celebrates 20 Years of Remarkable Art

and Stylish Crafts, Northampton, MA

New England’s most exciting and comprehensive arts festival, Paradise City has won many national awards for the quality and diversity of its fine crafts, paintings and sculpture. Founded by two working artists, this event is a unique opportunity to experience an entire festival designed from an artist’s perspective.

 

Josh Simpson is one of America’s foremost glass artists. His blown glass platters, vessels, and sculptures are celebrated internationally.   View Larger Image

Northampton, Massachusetts, September 22, 2014  – The 20th Annual Paradise City Arts Festival opens to the public at the Three County Fairgrounds in Northampton, MA on Columbus Day Weekend, October 11, 12 & 13. The Fairgrounds are located at 54 Old Ferry Road (off Route 9).

New England’s most exciting and comprehensive arts festival, Paradise City has won many national awards for the quality and diversity of its fine crafts, paintings and sculpture. Founded by two working artists, this event is a unique opportunity to experience an entire festival designed from an artist’s perspective. Held in four buildings and under tents, Paradise City is an experience like no other — beautiful, unique, festive and fun.

This milestone event is the chance to meet face to face with 275 extraordinary artists traveling from every corner of the country, enjoy sensational cuisine by Northampton’s best chefs and catch live performances by nationally and regionally acclaimed musicians. Stroll through a lush sculpture garden filled with artful delights and visit special exhibits, demonstrations and activities… all compelling reasons to visit Paradise City during the peak of New England’s fall foliage season.

American Craft Week
Join Paradise City Arts Festival during American Craft Week, when the nation recognizes the countless ways handmade objects enrich our daily lives and contribute to our national aesthetic and economy. Paradise City is proud to be a sponsor of American Craft Week. Founding Director Linda Post says, “In this digital age, dominated by the production of objects without the touch of human hands, American craft makers have actually formed the cutting edge of a new movement. The younger generation, jaded by cookie-cutter products, has embraced the handmade like no other generation since the 1960s!”

“Face to Face:” From Portraits to Selfies, the Art and Craft of Making Faces 
Through the ages, portrait styles have ranged from realism to cubism to today’s selfie, and manifest themselves in every media. At the Paradise City Art Festival this October, there will be faces in paintings, sculptures and photographs, on clocks and chairs, embedded in jewelry and vases. Funny faces, stoic faces and tranquil faces will peer out at you in the special “Face to Face” exhibit. These faces engage, confront, entertain and provoke, all filtered through each artist’s style and perspective. “Who sees the human face correctly: the photographer, the mirror, or the painter?” – Pablo Picasso

Silent Art Auction Benefit for WGBY Public Television for Western New England
PBS provides multi-media ABC’s for kids, exciting entertainment for grown-ups such as Masterpiece Mystery and Downton Abbey, and fascinating scientific, political and cultural programming for all. WGBY Public Television for Western New England will receive 100% of the proceeds from the Festival’s Silent Art Auction, featuring hundreds of beautiful and valuable pieces donated by the Festival Artists.

Fabulous Food and Cool Jazz under the Festival Dining Tent
“The food soars beyond expectations,” writes Boston Magazine. The Festival Dining Tent is a microcosm of Northampton’s vibrant restaurant scene, with recipes that span the globe. Expect lots of tasty surprises from the region’s restaurants at this fall’s show, using locally grown foods straight from the Valley’s farms. Sample exotic curries, pad thai, wood-fired pizza, fresh lobster rolls, pulled pork sliders, dim sum, locavore burgers, overstuffed burritos, mango lassi, warm apple crisp and homemade ice cream.

Restaurants include Local Burger, Sierra Grille, Spoleto, Amber Waves, India House, Pizzeria Paradiso, Bart’s Homemade Ice Cream, Mama Iguana’s and the Great Wall.

While dining, enjoy live music on the Festival Soundstage every afternoon:

Saturday: The O-Tones swing with soulful jazz ballads and punch out fiery Motown and R&B. The six-piece band’s powerful vocal harmonies, driving rhythm section, hot tenor sax, blazing guitar solos and funky keyboards brought them the title “Best Swing Band in the Valley”.

Sunday: Roger Salloom brings down the house with his award-winning original music, down-home blues and country rock. He’s played with the likes of The Band, Steve Forbert, Doc Watson and John Prine. Salloom returns to the show with a seven-piece band including some of the region’s most prominent musicians.

Columbus Day: The Art Steele Blues Band is a fixture in the New England blues scene, and Art himself is a poet, raconteur and philosopher. “When we play,” says Steele, “we want to sweep people into our framework, paint a picture in their heads and a feeling in their hearts.” Cap off the holiday weekend with the passion of the blues.

 

Admission: Adults: $13.00, Seniors: $11.00, Students: $8.00, Three-Day Pass: $16.00, 12 and under: free.
Free Parking. Free full color program with admission. Discount admission coupons at www.paradisecityarts.com

 

For more information: Call 800.511.9725 or visit: www.paradisecityarts.com
About Paradise City:

Paradise City produces award-winning festivals of contemporary craft and fine art, showcasing the works of some of America’s most prominent independent craft makers, painters and sculptors. Paradise City’s shows provide artists with a sophisticated marketplace for cutting-edge work, and are an important resource for serious collectors, homeowners, galleries and decorators. Among the many art media included are works in studio furniture, art glass, large-scale sculpture, ceramics, jewelry and painting. The company produces a glossy color biannual magazine which is direct-mailed to 70,000 subscriber households and distributed at all events. www.paradisecityarts.com serves as an extensive visual preview for all Paradise City shows, as well as providing an interactive educational resource for both the public and the press. Visitors access product and contact information for participating artists before, during, and after the shows. In addition, registered media regularly access camera-ready images to use in national and local coverage.