KindlingsFest, the four-day celebration where art and ideas intersect with the spiritual, begins this week.
All events are open to the public but registration is required.
Now in its second year, the event will feature four artists in residence, a lecture series, catered lunches, an art walk, a film festival, a community concert, and the “BagEnd” Café at the Community Church Family Center. The festival runs from Wednesday, July 22 to Saturday, July 25.
“Orcas is an intellectually and spiritually alive place,” organizer Dick Staub said. “So it’s the perfect spot to have KindlingsFest.”
This year’s theme is “C.S. Lewis and Broken Beauty.”
“In every human story there is a brokenness that can be beautiful,” Staub said.
Dr. Jerry Root is back by popular demand with a new lecture series. Artists in residence include painter Bruce Herman, C.S. Lewis scholar/author Michael Ward, filmmaker Rick Stevenson and singer songwriter Michael Kelly Blanchard. All of the artists will be available for conversation and discussion.
Root will deliver a lecture at 10 a.m. each morning; topics include “Madness, the Arts, and the Restoration of Sanity,” “Beauty and the Awakening of Desire,” “Art and the Awakening of Empathy,” and “Creativity and Personhood: the Discovery of Self.”
A buffet lunch, catered by the Orcas Village Store, will be held at noon each day for $12.
At 7 p.m. each evening, Staub, who is President of the Kindlings, a broadcaster, and the pastor of Orcas Island Community Church, will host The KindlingsMuse podcast event with the artists in residence. At 8:30 p.m. the group will head out for a BagEnd Café hosted by British actor and arts advocate Nigel Goodwin. The cafés are improvisational and participatory celebrations of those at the event. BagEnd is a reference to Tolkien’s “Lord of the Rings.”
All of the daily events listed above will be at Orcas Island Community Church.
New this year is an Orcas Artwalk on Thursday, July 23 from 3 to 7 p.m. Maps will be provided for a self-guided tour of Orcas art galleries in Eastsound, including a stop at Benson Hall where Bruce Herman will display his “Called” painting as well as four privately owned Rembrandt etchings from the life of Christ. Lynsey Smith, who is organizing the art walk, says the galleries are so thrilled with the idea that they’re planning several more throughout the summer. Future artwalk dates are: Aug. 7, Aug. 21, and Sept. 4, all from 4 to 7 p.m. Maps are available at galleries throughout town.
On Friday, several award-winning documentaries can be viewed on the big screen at the church. At 7 p.m., “As We Forgive” will be shown, a student academy award winner for best documentary about a reconciliation in Rwanda. Stevenson’s film “Expiration Date” is scheduled for 8:30 p.m.
A finale to the program is on Saturday night, with a free, outdoor community concert on the village green with Blanchard followed by complimentary root beer floats back at BagEnd Café.
Staub says they are close to the 300 registration limit, but have allowed for some overflow. Tickets are by donation at www.thekindlings.com; $50 per person is suggested, but no one will be turned away for lack of funds.
