UPDATED May 7: The deadline has passed for submissions to theArlington International Film Festival (AIFF) for its 12th annual festival, scheduled Nov. 3 through 6 at the Capitol Theatre.
The festival held its poster-contest award reception Friday, May 6, at the Arlington Center for the Arts, 20 Academy St.
George Summers Jr., at right, a founding member of Brickbottom and a fiber/batik artist, was the guest speaker at the event that officially launches the film festival's season.
Those involved celebrated the art of design and illustration with Mass College of Art & Design students:
Alex Lewis, Arianna Stoughton, Faye Silvia, Jamie Reinhold, Larry Bousquet, Lexii Goumas, Lin Jeffrey, Luke Donoghue, Marissa Mazzone, Medeline Gutierrez, Salvatore Spacco, Sandra Kalayjian, Taylor Adams-Bass, Vanessa Kraps, Vicky Chen, Vivienne Wychorski.
The winning designer will be announced and awarded.
The program host is L-J ShenFilerman, a 17-year-old writer/director from Arlington. His film "Sanctuary" received AIFF 2020 Best of Festival / Student Division Award and was a 2021 official selection in the All-American High School Film Festival, New York City.
Poster Contest Judges: Elisa Adams, David Ardito, Jennifer Cheng DesAutels, Marc Gurton, Erica Licea-Kane, Elena Mathis, Agathe, Pias, Vicky Rodriguez.
Music: Guitarist, Carl Romero
Summers said in a news release: “Passionate about all the arts and especially the journey that one undertakes to create and make art. Not too long ago someone asked me what my vocation was, and I responded, 'I live an artistic life!'”
Summers is a fiber artist living and working in the Boston area. He graduated in 1981 with a BFA in illustration and design from UMass./Dartmouth and an independent study in batik and continued his arts education at the Museum School, Boston.
10 one-person shows
Over the past 30 years, Summers has had 10 one-person shows and has exhibited extensively in numerous groups shows around the country -- most recently at the Queer Biennial, Navel Gallery, L.A. (2018). His batik work is in many private collections, including the Tom of Finland Foundation, which recently received one of his batik quilts as a gift.
Summers is one of the founding members of Brickbottom in Somerville, a vital community artist’s residence/studio, nonprofit gallery and artists’ association. Founded in 1987, the community has become a well-known model for other artists’ live/work developments throughout the country.
For 20 years, George was the retail gallery manager for the Society of Arts + Crafts, the oldest nonprofit crafts organization in the country, until it closed in 2020.
George maintains a studio practice at Brickbottom, teaches batik at the Brookline Arts Center, where he received the 2020 Berliner Award for 30-plus years of service and he volunteers his time with SPOKE (formerly the Medicine Wheel) that uses art to heal and transform youth.
Partnership with NINOVA Films, 'SEMS' during May
The AIFF announces its partnerships with NINOVA Films to screen "SEMS" this month.
Growth of the festival has been a result of the years invested in building relationships near and far. AIFF invites you and your company to sponsor "SEMS" on the AIFF website for May.
"SEMS" (20 minutes)
Mehmet Can Bindal | 2020 | Turkey | Documentary
Trailer >>
A Uzbek man establishes himself as a dog walker in Cihangir, an area of Istanbul where the intellectual people live. After 10 years of building a successful business, he is seen as a family member of his many clients and when he decides to return home, they question how they will survive without him?
This announvcement was published Monday, Dec. 20, 2021, and updated May 2.
