Art and community converge at 34th annual Tephra ICA Arts Festival

by Emma Kingkeo, Reston Letter Intern

Reston weather cooperated as hundreds of festival-goers flocked to Town Center on May 17 and 18. Photo by The Reston Letter.

For 34 years, the Tephra ICA Arts Festival has brought tens of thousands of people together to appreciate diverse arrays of artwork. On May 17-18, Reston Town Center was once again transformed into a vibrant, outdoor gallery filled with original works of art for audiences to admire and purchase.

Showcasing everything from abstract paintings to handwoven textiles, more than 200 local and national artists and artisans alike set up booths along the streets. For many, the festival wasn’t just a chance to sell their work—it was an opportunity to connect with the community.

“I think meeting the people that buy the work, you know, you get to know where the work is going, how excited they are about the pieces, and that really brings a lot of joy, not only, hopefully, to their life, but mostly to mine,” said John Scanlan, a photographer from Glenwood, Iowa, who has participated in the festival as a vendor for around a decade. As he journeys all around the world for his work, customers are often eager to hear stories from his travels or share stories of their own from places they’ve visited.

Unlike traditional art galleries, where artwork is left on display for anyone to see in a more formal setting, festivals foster a more dynamic environment by allowing for face-to-face interaction between artists and the public. Additionally, recurring vendors can reunite with customers who purchased artwork in previous years.

This year, a highlighted performance by Chicago-based artist Claire Helen Ashley converted the park into an otherworldly landscape with colorful, inflatable sculptures. Titled “Radiant Spawn,” the interactive art featured volunteers dressed in green performing as alien creatures discovering their new environment inside these sculptures.

Ashley believes that art festivals are an excellent opportunity to reach an audience that might not normally come to a gallery or a museum. She aims to allow as many people as possible to enjoy her work without necessarily having knowledge or a background in art. “I was really excited to come to an art festival and perform with these sculptures that aren’t necessarily salable objects,” she said.

Individuals of all ages could be seen laughing and playing with the inflatable creatures, much to Ashley’s delight. “I use color deliberately in the work as a way to kind of draw people or to make people pay attention to it,” she said. “I kind of think of color as being linked to our genetic coding for survival, so that we know we have to pause and pay attention to it somehow.”

The festival stands to be not only an exhibition for potential buyers, but also a celebration of creativity and an important factor in keeping Reston’s community engaged with the arts.

“Reston was founded with the belief that the arts are an essential component of a well-rounded life,” said Jonell Logan, Executive Director and Curator at Tephra ICA. “The Festival is a great opportunity to support this philosophy, which is at the core of our mission, with our local and extended communities.”

While Reston Town Center has undergone considerable changes over the years, the Tephra ICA Arts Festival has remained a constant—steadfast in its mission to elevate art within the community.

“A lot has changed over the years, but certainly the quality of the art show has been up there and the way they treat the artists is very nice. It’s a very easy show to do,” said Scanlan.

Visit tephraica.org/ to learn more about Tephra ICA and its programs.