East Lansing Art Festival: What to know as artists prepare for 2022 event

EAST LANSING — The East Lansing Art Festival will return for its 59th year this month, bringing 171 artists downtown for the two-day event.

This year's festival — a return to normal after last year's smaller event, which was postponed until August — will also feature live performances, a large-scale floral art installation, and a demonstration space for techniques including pottery throwing and VR art software.

Heather Majano has run the festival for three years now, through 2020's entirely online version and last year's half-sized lineup. She said the team is excited to be done having to pivot. 

Though this year will have the full-sized artist lineup, that doesn't mean a full end to the online offerings. Exclusively virtual programming includes poetry readings and artist interviews.

"We've learned a lot in the last two years, and we're moving forward," Majano said.

Festival gives new artists booth experience 

For Morgan Patterson, this year's festival will be her first as an exhibiting artist rather than as an attendee.

Patterson, 28, has been taking her wood mosaic work seriously for the last five years as she works a day job as a data analyst at Michigan State University. She grew up going to ELAF, and decided this year to apply as an Emerging Artist, a program that gives a platform and booth experience to local up-and-comers.

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"I didn’t know when the deadline was. I looked it up, and it was the same day that I applied," she said. "I kind of threw it in there like, 'If it happens, that’d be great. If it doesn’t, you know, there’s always next year.'"

Fourteen artists applied this year to be featured in the show's emerging artist lineup, an increase from the usual three or four that required more discerning curation. An anonymous jury of local art experts graded the work. The eight highest-scoring applicants, including Patterson, were invited to show their work in the festival.

Since she got in, she's been working on getting her inventory ready, wrangling a 35-piece collection including wall art, trays, ornaments and furniture. Some of that work is Michigan-themed, which she imagines won't hurt when trying to sell pieces.

Festival prep means a lot of runs to the hardware store and hours of batch cutting, staining, gluing and framing her pieces in the living room and garage of her one-bedroom apartment. 

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She said it's easy for doubt to creep in as she sees artists online with huge social media followings and the expectations of public-facing work in a festival.

"I love the work that I do," Patterson said. "But sometimes the thought is: are people going to think it’s fine art? It’s like, am I able to fit in this category as well?"

The point of the program is to fight that doubt, Majano said.

"A lot of startup artists have imposter syndrome, they don't feel like they're really an artist," she said. "But when they come to the festival, they're empowered."

Inside festival season crunch time

Lansing couple Steph Joy and Daniel J. Hogan, both artists, share a space at the Cedar Street Art Collective. Things can get a bit hectic when festival season rolls around and both of them are preparing.

Home-stretch tasks include framing or matting finished work to be sales-ready, ordering limited edition prints and restocking what sold best at previous shows.

Daniel, who works for the state, found a niche selling his whimsical cartoon art in East Lansing. Artists alleys at comic conventions mostly wanted dollar sketches or fan art, but his original light-hearted visual storytelling hits best here. ELAF is usually his best festival of the year sales-wise. The college town atmosphere is a lift, he said.

"It's more of an audience who's open to quirkier things that I make," he said. "There are different outlooks on what art is or what people like, which helps."

The Hogans, who were both Emerging Artists in previous years at the East Lansing Art Festival, know that building confidence as an artist is hard. Steph credits her comfort to her day job selling fine jewelry. The gig has made it easier for her to look someone in the eye and say a painting costs $3,000.

Like Patterson, Steph grew up going to ELAF. She values being part of inspiring future artists like she was as a kid.

"To be able to participate on the artists' side of it, in my hometown area, it's just special to me," she said.

How to attend

When: The festival will take place from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. May 21 and 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. May 22. 

Where: The festival is located in downtown East Lansing on Albert Avenue between Abbot Road and Bailey Street with some artist booths a block down M.A.C Avenue. Parking is available between Albert and Grand River avenues, with more locations on the festival's online site plan.

Price: It's technically free to attend, but plenty of artists will have work for sale. It's best to keep some money on hand in case something is too good to pass up. 

Contact reporter Annabel Aguiar at aaguiar@lsj.com. Follow her on Twitter @annabelaguiar.