ArtsQuest remembers 20 years

ArtsQuest looks back on 20 years of creativity

By Deborah Wheeler

debbie_wheeler@link.freedom.com

When ArtsQuest opens its week of celebrating the arts May 4, it will be the event's 20^th anniversary.

For this milestone year, the now prestigious and nationally recognized juried art show's founders recall its humble beginnings.

The organizers to whom the torch has been passed, are also taking this opportunity to pay homage to these pioneers who went before.

Seagrove photographer Susan Foster is one of three people credited with founding what is now known as ArtsQuest, along with Jan Clarke and Jeff Ellis. There was no budget for the endeavor, just those three and an idea.

Foster had a photo and framing gallery in Grayton Beach in 1989. She had done outdoor art shows before and decided it would be a great idea to have one in Grayton.

"It sounds simple, but it was not," she says in retrospect. "I think we had 30 artists the first time and we called it the Fine Arts Show at Grayton Beach."

Clarke remembers begging artists to come and set up in the hot, dusty streets of downtown Grayton Beach.

"Ena Fagan from Fort Walton participated, as she has every year, and Dwight Ward. Diana Bonds from Pensacola won the first artist award and we gave her a little sandcastle carving. She won three years in a row. Those were funky times. It was like old Key West and we were pioneers," said Clarke.

The next year, more artists participated.

Former gallery owner Hilda McDonald helped that second year.

"We closed off the streets for it. It was not sophisticated and nothing matched," said McDonald. "We just had lean-tos and we were in the way. We had to work real hard. We had no money and they didn't take us seriously. We worked four or five years there directing traffic, putting up and taking down tents. Jan did the calligraphy and lettering. I did PR and posters. Kris and Manny Chavez put signs up all the way to the Destin Bridge. One year a storm came through right after we got the signs up and knocked them all down. I had to go out and put them all up again. But we were having fun. There was a closeness we all had as pioneers and struggling made it special."

By 1994 the festival had outgrown Grayton and the participating artists wanted a two-day show.

In 1995, the decision was made to move the festival from Grayton to Eden State Park and change the name to ArtsQuest Fine Arts Festival.

"It was beautiful there," said Foster of the Eden locale.

McDonald agreed.

"It was still fun at Eden. It was intimate and you knew everyone," she said.

ArtsQuest moved to The Village of Baytowne Wharf in 2003 to accommodate larger crowds and more artists. McDonald will entertain on keyboard there on Mother's Day.

"I never thought it would grow to the way it is now," she said. "Now you see a lot of strangers and it has a different flavor, but it puts us on the map. It has become a real production and I am extremely proud of its growth and support."

Foster agrees.

"It's not the same at Baytowne. It's bigger with more artists, but it's more well known. It makes me proud to be a founder," she said.

ArtsQuest organizers will offer a sunset toast to the event's founders and 20 years of creativity on May 5 at 6:30 p.m., at the end of the Grayton Beach boardwalk. A limited-edition 20^th anniversary poster designed by Foster will be available for purchase.

ArtsQuest schedule of events

• May 4: Gulf Coast Choir performance, 3 p.m., Good News United Methodist Church, 4747 U.S. Highway 98W, $15

• May 5: Back to Grayton Beach sunset toast, 6:30 p.m., boardwalk's end, free

• May 6: Fine art of looking good fashion show and luncheon, 11 a.m., Santa Rosa Golf & Beach Club, 4801 Scenic Road 30A, $35

• May 7: Student art exhibit, 2:30 p.m., Seaside Neighborhood School, 30 Smolian Circle; 5:30 p.m., Butler Elementary School, 6694 Scenic Road 30A, free

• May 8: Champagne shopping tour, 4 p.m., shuttle from Gulf Place, Seaside or Rosemary Beach, free

• May 9: Fine arts preview gala, 5 p.m., Marlin Grill, $20

• May 10-11: 20^th anniversary ArtsQuest Fine Arts Show, 10 a.m. - 7 p.m., The Village of Baytowne Wharf, free, shuttle from Grand Boulevard