Chicago residents Derek Fawcett, left, and Dave Rothkopf are members of the band Down the Line who performed Sunday at the East Lansing Art Festival.
Balancing his love of music with teaching is something that comes easily to MSU history professor Peter Knupfer, who performed with his band, Detour, at the 45th annual East Lansing Art Festival on Saturday. “Music balances out my life very well,” he said. “I do my bit at the university, and I do my bit with the fiddle. It works out nicely.”
Musicians and artists from across the country gathered their pieces and rehearsed in preparation for the festival, held in downtown East Lansing.
Organizers expected up to 80,000 people to browse the booths of about 230 artists.
Knupfer said the band plays an interesting style of music that is a mixture of traditional and progressive bluegrass. Saturday was the first time the band had performed at the festival.
“We think it’s a great opportunity to play for the people of the art festival,” Knupfer said.
The band is currently working on its second album, which will be released sometime this summer, he said. They will also be performing at events like the Great Lakes Folk Festival in East Lansing and Blissfest in Harbor Springs.
“We’re getting around and building a great audience around the state,” Knupfer said.
Another band making their debut at the festival this year was Chicago-based bluegrass band Down the Line, who performed Sunday.
The band was asked to perform at the festival after an appearance at the Ann Arbor Folk Festival in January, said Derek Fawcett, the band’s vocalist and djembe player.
Fawcett said the band’s makeup is unique.
Three of Down the Line’s four members share lead vocals, while the sounds of the mandolin, acoustic guitar, bass, harmonica, djembe and violin round out the band’s signature style, he said.
“We think it’s a pretty interesting combination of instruments,” Fawcett said. “I hope it’s compelling for the audience. Our sound is The Eagles meets Fleetwood Mac, meets The Cars.”
The professional musicians have released four albums, their latest, “Home Alive,” was a live recording released in March.
In the past year, Fawcett said the band has played with Peter Frampton, Ben Folds and Pat Benatar.
Corin Van Wyck, arts program coordinator of the festival, said the festival’s artists first had to send in an application to be judged by art gallery owners and artists with the best score in their medium were invited to the festival.
Chester Winowiecki, a ceramic artist and an MSU alumnus, said this is his fifth year showing at the festival because he loves coming back to East Lansing.
He said the festival is particularly important to him because it is the only show he participates in where he has a booth devoted solely to his ceramic musical instruments.
“I make a variety of instruments, all made primarily from stoneware clay,” he said. “I find ceramics to be very well balanced between emotional and intellectual.”
Some of the instruments he makes are didjeridoos, an Australian Aborigine horn, hand drums, whistles, xylophones and finger drums.
Winowiecki said he had a wonderful time at the festival, but he definitely could feel the economy affecting the art show.
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For Jerry Krider, a returning woodworker from Columbia City, Ind., the East Lansing festival is one of the first outdoor events he participates in each year.
He initially applied to show his work because of the festival’s reputation for excellence.
“It’s a shot of adrenaline,” Krider said. “It’s very encouraging to know that others find the work pleasing.”
Krider, whose work consists of exotic wood puzzles and sculptures, said all the wood he uses is presented in its natural coloration, and the pieces depict a variety of scenes from Biblical stories to animals, fruits and vegetables.
“The great variety of wood colors and textures has been exciting to encounter,” Krider said. “Creating art is emotionally stimulating and rewarding for me.”
During the festival, professional jurors evaluate the exhibitors, selecting winners to be announced Sunday afternoon on the main stage.
One past award winner is Michael Stephens, a jeweler, who returned to show his work at the festival over the weekend.
“The (festival) has special meaning to me since 2006 was the first full year for me on the art fair circuit as a professional artist and the award was the first that I had ever received for my art,” Stephens said.
In 2006, the East Lansing Art Festival honored Stephens with an award of excellence.
Stephens described his work as sculpted art jewelry. He said while he was touring Israel in the early 1980s, he was given several pieces of beautiful ancient glass by an artisan in Jerusalem that inspired him to create pieces of jewelry.
The self-taught artist said his weekend in East Lansing exceeded all expectations.
Stephens said he was pleasantly surprised by the acceptance of the new work he was displaying.
“Of the 60 different venues we go to, this festival is equal to the best of the best,” Stephens said.
