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The 37th Annual Art and Photography Show, of the Carroll County Historical Society - The Algonquin Mill Fall Festival, Carrollton, Ohio
October 12, 13 & 14, 2007

The Algonquin Mill Festival is a trip back in time, feauring foods and crafts from many years ago. Other attractions includ antique tools, steam engines, machinery and antique power show as well as quilting, spinning and weaving. There are horse drawn wagon rides, antique cars and tractors and best of all; The ART AND PHOTO Show in the barn.  

The Art and Photo Show started with the first festival in 1969 with a few exhibitors from the locality. Today the festival is popular with visitors from Ohio, Pennsylvania, West Virginia, New York and many other states.

The visual arts portion of the show include watercolors, oils, acrylics and many diverse mediums. For a gallery of the art Click Here. The Art and Photo Show is held in the barn's attic where hay, straw and feed was previously stored. The barn is in its self a wonderful piece of American farm archeticture and is therefore a perfect venue for the gallery. While most of the participating artists are amateurs we also have a good number of professionals as well and have established a seperate judging division just for them. The farm that the festival is held on is owned by the Carroll County Historical Society and is maintained as a living museum. Fall is a beautiful time of the year in the beautiful rolling hills of eastern Ohio and this season and this farm makes for a perfect festival venue.

Artists and Photographers deliver their work to the top of the barn for entry early in the festival. The art is seperated by judging category and hung with care, this typically take an entire day. During the week the art and photographs are judged by two professional photographers and two professional artists. In 1969 there were just a small number of participants but today more than 100 artists and photographers submit their work to the exhibit. There are five fine art divisions and two photography divisions for awards. The divisions include an adult amateur and an adult professional and three educational divisions, high school, middle school and elementary. For photography the work is divided into simply adult and student. Awards are 1st, 2nd and 3rd place in each division with a grand prize of "The Award of Excellence" out of all of the work in the exhibit. Some years the judges, at their discretion, also will award a single "Honorable Mention in Excellence". Last year to encourage interest and future participation, gifts, donated by art materials manufacturers and local merchants, were given with the awards.
10 volunteers from the local community make up the committee that accomplishes all of the tasks needed to make the exhibit a success. These include members of the Historical Society and just residents from eastern Ohio, what they all share is a love and passion for the visual arts. The current director, now in her 3rd year, is an artist and an instructor of art, she is also a member of the Carroll County Historical Society. She has done a tremendous job in encouraging involvement, a considerable amount of hard work and dedication is required to organize such a unique event.

Last year several new categories were added to the exhibit, our plan is to add one or two new categories to keep the interest and excitement at a high pitch. Some of the new categories have been Wood Carving, Scupture and Collage/Mixed Media.

Work required to bring this event to the public includes searching for gifts from vendors, cleaning the barn and preparing a small old one-room farm house for the exibitors to use for demonstrations. This lovely old farm house is where artists work for the education of visitors, last year the house featured two colored pencil artists, an acrylic painter and a stone 'sculptress' working for the entire length of the festival. This is one of the most important aspects of the festival as it allows visitors to view the artistic process, ask questions of the artists and simple chat about art. Due to cool weather and windy conditions last year we laid down a fire in a little woor-burning stove providing a cozy and comfortable enviornment for artists and visitors alike. In the future we plan on using this facility for teaching workshops.

To contact the Algonquin Mill Art and Photography Festival:
Carroll County Historical Society
P O Box 174
Carrollton, OH 44615
1-877-727-0103

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