The town of Bluff, Utah – surrounded by national parks, prehistoric sites, wild canyons and river recreation – will celebrate its 12th annual Arts Festival on Oct. 14-16.
Writers, filmmakers, musicians and visual artists gravitate to the red rock scenery of this area to live and work. The weekend will include 16 hands-on workshops on painting, papermaking, cooking, willow weaving, writing, photography and hiking. The two-day “Trail of the Artists” will feature artist demonstrations and special exhibits at local galleries. On Friday, storytellers will gather around a bonfire on the banks of the San Juan River.
On Saturday, daytime events include workshops and the Trail of the Artists. In the evening, the film festival will include three regional films and an audience Q&A with the filmmakers. Filmmaker George Csicsery, mathematician and professor Hugo Rossi and Navajo students and their families will join us to celebrate “Navajo Math Circles,” a film about the transformation that knowledge can bring to a struggling community. Filmmaker Justin Clifton will show “The Bears Ears” – the complex tale of politics and conflicting ecological and recreational values that define the struggle to protect this final frontier of southwestern wildlands. “Exploration, Encounter & Exchange: Long Walk of the Navajo” explores the fateful encounter between the Navajo people and the United States in the 1860s, which led to the death of thousands of Navajo people and the loss of their homeland.
October is the best time to visit the Bluff area, with ideal temperatures and the cottonwoods beginning to color the river corridor.
For a schedule of events and to register for workshops, visit bluffartsfestival.org or at www.facebook.com/bluffartsfestival.