Macon festival highlights tech spirit of artists

With flames shooting out of the mouth and hands of the 28-foot robot at Tattnall Square Park on Sunday, Shane Evans controlled the 2,000 pound structure he said represents American society.

Evans was among the creative minds participating over the weekend in the Make-End Maker Festival in Macon showcasing artists who create technology-based works, paintings, sculptures, hand-crafted guitars and more. The event, hosted by the College Hill Alliance, was brought to Macon for the first time as a way to support innovative entrepreneurs, organizers said.

Evans said he was unaware he would be able to travel across the nation with Robot Resurrection when he was building the steel structure composed of mainly reclaimed airplane parts. Instead, it was a chance to make a piece of art representing the underlying level of control over people. In today's society Americans love to purchase goods and quickly dispose of them for the latest thing, Evans said.

"We kind of all became robots because we are controlled by the powers that be," the Denver resident said.

The Make-End Maker Festival fits the College Hill Alliance mission of providing avenues to well-paying jobs. Local artists are able to collaborate with like-minded people from other places and further build that entrepreneurial spirit, said Nadia Osman, director of revitalization and business initiatives for the College Hill Alliance.

"It's a recruitment and retainment tool for people in Macon," Osman said.

As ends of mud-colored clay dropped to the ground, local artists Alexis Gregg and Tanner Coleman continued carving designs into a roughly 5-foot-by-6-foot piece of clay featuring a figure they call the Patron Saint of Macon. The owners of AnT Sculpture and Design said the grid of clay would eventually become an outdoor brick and mortar piece.

"We've mostly created large-scale public, playable art but now we're focusing on marketable, residential products," Coleman said.

On Sunday, Georgia College's Adam Crawford put made the final strokes on his painting of a young Little Richard. The 20-year-old art major also had a group project where festival attendees painted a canvas with the event's logo.

"It's cool to see everyone's touch," said Crawford, who also took part in last month's Deep Roots Festival in Milledgeville.

Macon natives Chris and Gail Jones said coming to the festival was a good way to spend a weekend together. He was mostly interested in the exhibits involving robots while his wife enjoyed checking out other artworks.

"We are outdoors on a pretty day and we wanted to support events like this in Macon so they'll keep doing them," Gail Jones said.

To contact writer Stanley Dunlap, call 744-4623 or find him on Twitter@stan_telegraph.

This story was originally published November 15, 2015 at 10:07 PM with the headline "Macon festival highlights tech spirit of artists ."