Benjamin Logan Elementary School students are playing a special role this week in preparing a unique type of artwork for a concert slated for Friday evening at the Holland Theatre in conjunction with the Downtown Bellefontaine Hometown Christmas festivities.
An Indiana artist who has visited their classroom throughout the week – Sam Bartlett – is a featured musical performer during the concert, the Winter Trad Extravanganza, that begins at 7:30 p.m. following the annual parade at 6 p.m.
Performances by Bartlett’s band, SUPERTRAD, will include the resident artist on the Irish banjo, along with accordionist Eric Schedler, percussionist Mark Hellenberg and Holland Theatre managing director, bassist Chris Westhoff. Athens County’s Pokey Hellenberg also joins in the session on the ukulele.
“In light of the Christmas festivities throughout the evening, we’ll offer a little intro to the winter season and some lively Celtic Christmas tunes,” Bartlett said Wednesday. “We’re looking forward to a fun, intimate and up-close in person show, with something for everyone.”
The Benjamin Logan students and other area youths are invited to attend the show to see their efforts on the stage for a scrolling picture art form called “cranky storytelling.”
The pupils helped to create a lengthy, illustrated scroll this week with oil pastels that depicts the story of Robin Hood, Bartlett said. The scroll is wound onto two spools and then the spools are loaded into the story board box for audience members to enjoy.
The scroll is hand-cranked while the story is told. Area resident Bob Lucas will perform a tune to accompany the Robin Hood story.
“It’s kind of like making an analog movie,” said Bartlett, who has visited Logan County a number of times during the past five years through youth residencies with LoCo Art.
While the Indiana artist is visiting Logan County this week, he also has been working with LoCo Art again for an afternoon residency at the Holland Theatre to restore a 2016 LoCo Art mural for the new Logan County Art Center office space located adjacent to the Holland Theatre, 127 E. Columbus Ave.
The Logan County Art Center is a collaboration between LoCo Art, the Holland Theatre, Mad River Theater Works, Windmill Productions for a the shared office space, calendar and resources, Westhoff explained.
Office hours at the center are 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Wednesday through Friday, and MacKenzie Myers has been hired to staff the location.
The 24-foot mural will be a centerpiece in the board room of the office, and it was originally created by Bartlett during a previous residency. The whimsical and playful piece features a variety of Logan County landmarks, including the Logan County Courthouse, the Piatt Castles and fittingly, the Holland Theatre, along with a number of train silhouettes in honor of the importance of locomotive and transportation history of the area.
“We’re doing a lot of detail work and looking at the integrity of the colors and refreshing this piece,” Bartlett said of the mural work. “I’m excited that the mural is being re-purposed for this new creative endeavor in this location.”