Ohio Staters, Inc, will be hosting the second annual Festival of the Finest on Friday. The event will take place from noon to 5 p.m. in the Ohio Union.
The event showcases various mediums of art including traditional paintings, photography and performance art, including performances from the Medieval and Renaissance Performer’s Guild in the Union. Other performances will take place throughout the day in the U.S. Bank Conference Theater.
“It should just be a good time,” said Hans Voss, co-chair of the event.
The festival will showcase art submitted by people who pursue art as a hobby rather than a career.
“There are a lot of students that have art that they do that they spend a lot of time on that don’t get a chance to show it,” Voss said.
The paintings, photographs, performances and other varied arts will be on display for free to help bring recognition to those casual artists’ hard work.
“That’s kind of the point of the festival, to give students who wouldn’t normally display their art a chance [in a] very public place to do it,” Voss said.
The first festival was last year outside of the Wexner Center.
“There was nothing like this on campus that I had seen before,” Voss said. He said his goal was to “put art in a public place for any passerby to see it.”
Voss’ original plan involved art spread across the Oval.
“Slowly, I realized how unfeasible that was,” Voss said. Voss reached out to other groups interested in a similar event to eventually put together the first festival.
He feels the Union is an even better place for the event.
“With the new Union here, this is a great public place to display art.” Voss said. “There are a ton of people here, right now, just walking through.”
Voss hopes the event will help reach people with a limited interest in art.
“We want to have people who wouldn’t normally go to a gallery [have] the opportunity to see that art,” he said. “Instead of people going out to the art, we want to bring the art to you.”
Voss said he wants this festival to provide the chance for everyone to experience the moment when a piece of art catches one’s eye and stirs up a reaction. Voss feels by exposing people to art it can help enrich their lives.
“That’s kind of the philosophy of art. It just generally makes our human experience better,” he said.
Established during the Great Depression, Ohio Staters, Inc. is a nonprofit organization interested in “projects to promote the welfare and traditions of the university,” Voss said. It is the oldest student service group on campus. The organization is made up of 36 students and 14 faculty and staff members. The group conducts projects across the university all year long.
