“Sesame Street” was was like a third older brother to me as I was growing up—around for short periods to give my parents respite from my tireless running and yelling. It helped develop my love of letters, numbers, Ms. Gina and television. Most importantly, the Muppets introduced me to the magical world of puppetry. Now, like millions of others from my generation raising kids, I’m trying to convince my daughter how much better Grover is than Angry Birds.On Sunday, Sept. 9, we can indulge our collective love for puppets by attending the giant puppet samba parade. These locally made large puppets are presented by the OFFCenter Community Arts Project as part of the 10th annual We Art the People folk festival that takes over Downtown’s Robinson Park from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. There will be plenty of family events, with individual and group art-making for participants of all ages. Musical performances include the mustachioed gypsies of Zoltan Orkestar. Dancing, food and ever-popular and messy face painting will entertain the kids and give you a break from their running, yelling and demands that you look at them. If you like art on your walls instead of on your face, the Outpost’s Inpost Artspace hosts “Folk Artists of Albuquerque.” This show features local artists Kenny Chavez, Brooke Palmer and Jeff Sipe. Chavez is a longtime Albuquerque presence, specializing in recycled art. The works of both Chavez and Sipe are deeply and beautifully New Mexican. A reception for this show will be held Friday Sept. 7, so you can make this one of the stops during your First Friday gallery hopping (you do gallery hop, right?). The show is up all month, so you can also check out the art when you catch Los Angeles-based jazz heads Slumgum on Sunday, Sept. 9, at the Outpost. For more on them, read Mel Minter’s writeup in music or go to outpostspace.org.
Culture Shock: Folk Yeah
2 min read
Courtesy of OFFCenter Community Arts
