cropped full image of letters at panoply

Did you attend Huntsville’s Panoply Festival this past weekend? If you did, you got to see local artists in action, including UAH students and alumni. 

Panoply is the Southeast‘s premier arts weekend where Huntsville’s innovative spark shines through a festival of art, music, and more. After COVID-19 canceled last year’s festival, it was a special gathering of local artists. 

ArtsHuntsville reached out to current students and alumni in the Department of Art, Art History, & Design to create a new addition to the festival, including large-scaled Panoply letters. The artists included Samantha Tallichet (‘21 BFA Drawing & Painting), Sylvia Cortes (‘23 BFA Drawing & Painting), and Sarah Joy Dunlap (‘20 BFA Drawing & Painting). The project was commissioned to showcase highlights of the festival, Big Spring Park, and Huntsville. You can see images on the letters that included the Saturn V Rocket, Koi fish in the Big Spring Pond, cherry blossom trees for the park, and more. 

The installation included seven wooden letters, and each one is eight feet tall. The artist used a combination of outdoor house paint and acrylic paint to create the images. The letters were on display during the festival near the pond at the Huntsville Museum of Art in Big Spring Park. 

Sarah Joy Dunlap enjoyed getting to participate in the annual festival again. 

I think that Panoply is a wonderful staple of Huntsville. I’ve always loved being able to see and learn about local art and meet local artists. I was able to work the UAH Art Club tent at Panoply for a couple of years, and was very happy when I was asked to join in on this project for 2021’s Panoply. Huntsville’s art scene is already fantastic and is full of potential. I look forward to watching it continue to flourish, and I hope to be a part of that flourishing!

Samantha Tallichet shares her views on the importance of this annual art festival,

“The Panoply Art Festival is an important part of the artist community in Huntsville because it is a celebration of local artists and small businesses. It allows for people living in Huntsville and surrounding areas to come together, express themselves, and explore different art forms. From a very young age, my family and I have attended the festival. Going to see all the artists and their wonderful artworks as a child served as a huge inspiration for me wanting to pursue a career in art. I have participated in the festival for several years, both having artwork on display and volunteering. It is an honor to be a part of this project and work with Arts Huntsville.” 

The gallery includes the progress of each letter and the final display. For more information on Panoply, please visit artshuntsville.org

PPanoplyLettersInProgess
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Samantha-TallichetAction
Sarah-Joy-DunlapAction
After-Base-Paint-3
After-Base-Paint-1
After-Base-Paint-2
Sylvia-CortesAction
LPanoplyLettersInProgess
APanoplyLettersInProgess
NPanoplyLettersInProgess
O-Letter-at-Panoply
OPanoplyLettersInProgess
L-Letter-at-Panoply
P-2-Letter-at-Panoply
P-Letter-at-Panoply
Y-Letter-at-Panoply
A-Letter-at-Panoply
Credit-Sign-at-Panoply
Full-Image-of-Letters-at-Panoply

For more information on the Department of Art, Art History, and Design, please email art@uah.edu