By DAVID DUPONT
BG Independent News
With the Black Swamp Arts Festival making a return Sept. 10-12 from a pandemic hiatus, the folks who run the Kiwanis Youth Arts area are uncertain how events will unfold.
“We’re not quite sure what to expect since we didn’t have it last year, so that puts a constraint on what we can do. We’re not sure how many kids will come. It’s going to be tons or not a lot,” said Amanda Speers, who co-chairs the Youth Arts Committee
They have stocked up with enough t-shirts, paint, cardboard, newsprint, and other materials to accommodate 1,500 youngsters. That’s what the festival usually counts on. “We got enough stuff as if it was any other year. … We’ll either have a lot of stuff left or we’ll be buying stuff Saturday night. We planned for both scenarios.”
She added, “Ben’s has really worked with us.”
“We decided it was a good year to rebrand,” she said.
“Fan favorites” will return. Those are tie-dyeing, hat making, and the task area.
The latter allows kids to design a project, then volunteers cut out the cardboard they need, and the kids build their vision. They can work as a group or individually.
The hat-making is also expanding to encourage more decorations – drawing on the hats, fashioning flowers to attach. “We’re adding a whole other element to the hats.”
Also, they will have the forms to make larger hats for teens and adults. They’ve made hats in the past, Speer said, “but they never really fit their heads.”
In addition to these, there will be a painting station where they can mix colors and use a variety of papers.
There will also be a weaving station with a variety of materials they can work with.
“It’s very open ended.”
And they’ll be sidewalk chalk on hand.
“A lot of the activities we made it so kids can sit down and work on their own or sit as a family and work together,” she said. There are also projects they can bring home with them to make.
The goals are always constant, Speers said. They have to make something, learn something, and have fun in the process.
That philosophy is what attracted Speers to get involved in the committee.
She has been a volunteer in the area for 15 years, and this year became co-chair with Matt Reger, the long-time Youth Arts chair.
The role is a good fit for Speers. A 1996 graduate of Bowling Green State University’s School of Art, she has taught art at Springfield Local school, Montessori in Bowling Green, and currently at Eastwood Elementary. And she’s taught classes at the Toledo Museum of Arts for over 20 years. “I love that job.”
The mother of three has enjoyed attending the festival, and in the late 1990s sold her glasswork there.
The Kiwanis Youth Arts Village will be open Saturday and Sunday from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m.
