Sculpture festival offers outlet for 3-D artists

Athens' reputation as an artsy city is no secret - once again the Classic City has landed a spot on AmericanStyle magazine's annual Top 25 Arts Destinations list. Any casual visitor to Athens is sure to lay eyes upon local artwork galore as the walls of coffee shops, restaurants, hair salons and bars across town offer dozens of outlets for artists to get their work in front of the public.

But for artists working in three dimensions, exhibit opportunities are mostly limited to the more traditional museum and gallery spaces. Offering a new outlet for three-dimensional artwork, the Classic Center Arts Foundation's first Athens Sculpture Festival allows the public to get a glimpse of the wealth of talented sculptors in our little city. Sculpture will be on display in the Grand Hall of the Classic Center on Thursday through Saturday. Winners of $2,000 in cash prizes will be awarded at a Patron Preview Party on Wednesday and an additional $1,000 People's Choice award will be announced Saturday.

"Part of the mission of the foundation is to provide recourses to entertain and educate our community about art and to support the local diverse arts in Athens," says foundation director Julie Walters. "We are proud that the walls of the Classic Center are adorned with art that we have purchased from local artists."

Inspired by a similar event in Hill City, S.D., Walters conceived of the Athens Sculpture Festival more than a year ago. "The board decided that it was a need that needed to be filled and we were just the organization to fill it," she says, adding the open call for entries received a great response and a selection committee had a difficult time narrowing down the number of works. "We wanted to limit the number of artists to only 20 our first year," Walters says. "They did a great job and you will see the festival represents a wide and diverse selection of art and artists," she adds.

Featuring monumental works such as Beverly Babb's meticulously crafted oversized steel jigsaw puzzle; Ann Hamlin's African-inspired welded found-object construction "Stop screwing the elephants"; John Kehoe's elegant Carrara marble abstract "Bird of Peace"; Doug Makemson's ch

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