Page 14 - The Michigan Daily - Tuesday, July 19, 1983

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Art fair haters hide from crowds

By Barbara Misle
When the art fair comes to Ann Ar-
bor, Ralph locks his doors. Burying his
face in a newspaper, safely barricaded,
behind the TV set in his living room,
Ralph won't set foot outside until the
caravan of artists leave town.
Ralph isn't an ogre. He likes kids,
movies, and apple pie, but for four days
every July, Ralph joins a cult - The
Art Fair Haters. While most Ann Arbor
residents are being swept away by the
gala spirit of the art fair, people like
Ralph go out of their way to avoid the
crowds onStateStreet.
THE FIRST insidious electrical cords
appear the night before the fair, and
within a few hours the city is infested
with booths, noise, and pushy crowds.
To an art fair hater, this metamor-
phosis is not a creative experience, it is
a nightmare.
Don't think the art fair scrooge is
culturally deprived or doesn't ap-
preciate beauty. An art fair hater can
love a trip to the art museum because it
only lasts about an hour. But it's a dif-
ferent situation when hundreds of ar-
tists, packing enough carrot juice and
tofu to last four days, invade the city.
The value of art is not a consideration
when Ann Arbor is out of control.
Parking spaces become fond
memories, indoor restaurants are a
mirage, and between the heat and
trying to find a map, watching the
Dukes of Hazard begins to sound ap-
pealing.
THE ONLY WAY an art fair hater
will venture into the crowds on State
Street is through persistent nagging -
or bribes - by a friend or mate. You
can spot the unhappy art fair hater
We've been supplying local
artists with quality supplies
and frames
longer than anyone cares
to remember.
ART FAIR SPECIALS:
20% Off
Art Supplies &,Framing
July 18th thru August 6th
MORE THAN A BOOKSTORE
Main Stire: Electronics Showroom:
549 EUnversityAe. 11100 UerstyAve
An Abor. M 48104 Phoe (313)623201

easily among the masses of people flip-
ping through racks of bargain clothes.
Head sunken low and hands stuffed in
their pockets, art fair scrooges are
always searching for the nearest food
vendor.
"If I gotta be here, there better be
something good to eat," the scrooge
mumbles.
An art fair hater sees no value what-
soever in the items on display. While
friends "ooh" and "ah" over the "in-
teresting" clay sculptures, art fair
haters believe they made similar

with a portfolio of credit cards), wearing
canvas shoes and sunglasses, need to
collect sculptures to put in their china
cabinets, but besides being "conver-
sation piecs," 90 percent of what's on
sale is useless.
BUT WHAT ABOUT the children?
There are great toys for kids such as
wooden trains, bright hanging rainbows
and even old-fashioned, hand-sewn
dolls, all priced about three times more
than in department stores.
You can rave .about handmade
quality, but realistically, if parents pay

While friends 'ooh' and 'ah' over the 'in-
teresting' clay sculptures, art fair haters believe
they made similar creations in sixth grade arts and
crafts class.

creations in a sixth grade arts and craf-
ts class.
MOREOVER, dishing out hard-
earned money for a ceramic reproduc-
tion of a Far-Eastern bird is incom-
prehensible to an art fair scrooge. What
can the average person do with the
goods on sale at the art fair?
At least buying the expensive
crafted work is convenient. At most
booths a "may I help you," is followed
with a "we take visa or master card."
Perhaps the crabby women shoppers,
toting clear plastic shopping bags, (filled

$50 for a special toy, they probably
won't let little Johnny or Brunhilda play
with it because it's too expensive.
Maybe the art fair can only be ap-
preciated by nouveau artsy types - you
know, people wearing leather halters,
dangling feather earrings that brush on
their bare shoulders. They can
probably look deeper into the fair than
most of us.
THE MAIN REASON that art fair
haters steer clear of the mess on State
Street, however, is that they know the
celebration has little to do with art or

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Levitations ljft local magicia
The two television shows meet with
(Continud from Page4) him later this summer, he said, for a
ike nothing for granted," Harary says show to be broadcast this fall. In the
rinning. show Harary plans to make two women
Among his other illusions, Harary vanish off the helioport on the top of the
as levitated motorcycles, chopped off Renaissance Center in Detroit and
eads with aGuillotine, cut members of make them reappear again in nearby
is audience in several places, levitated Hart Plaza.
omen on brooms in the forest, made Harary is moving up the magicians'
eople appear in boxes, and made a ladder, but he admits that sometimes
host appear on the ceiling of his themagic just isn't there and that can
ster's room. make for some rather embarassing
AND WITH offers from television situations.
rograms such as PM Magazine and Harary remembers one show he did
ood Afternoon Detroit this summer, for an audience of druggists where it.
arary plans to bring his act to national took five tries to put a woman back
levision for a second time. At last together after she had been "cut" in
ear's Detroit Thanksgiving Day several pieces. "It was mayhem on
arade Harary performed during the stage," Harary said, "but nobody knew
re-parade festivities. that We messed up."

creativity. Creativity and art don't
mean much to Ann Arbor merchants;
to them, the art fair means cash. And to
loyal patrons items purchased at the art
fair are status symbols.
Everyone knows you can find much of
what's displayed at the fair a lot
cheaper during the year, but there is an
aura about buying an item - even one
as ordinary as a key chain - at the art
fair. Instead of paying about a dollar
for a metal key chain at K-Mart, the art
fair loyalist will spend about $10 for
"something different."
To an uninformed observer - a
potential art fair hater - the metal key
chain might look like a crushed soup
can, pounded into the shape of a nose
with a sledge hammer. But the cultured
purchaser explains that the artist spent
three days painting the metal contrap-
tion by hand with a thin-bristled paint
brush.
Granted there's more to the four-day
celebration than the art. There are
people who travel miles to see the fine
entertainment, such as talented square
dancers or folk-singing duos. There are
others who take advantage of the
bargains local stores offer on the mer-
chandise they couldn't sell during the
year.
And of course, there's the fabulous
food, which is usually the same fare in
Ann Arbor restaurants during the year,
but once it is outside and costs more, it
tastes alot better.
So while the rest of Ann Arbor has
their four-day affair with art, the cult of
July scrooges will be crouched in a
closet at home - praying for rain.
Misle is the Daily's editor-in-chief.
to success
ANOTHER TIME he performed a
trick where he suspended a woman on a
sword in a forest who couldn't be
brought down for twenty minutes.
In the past years, Harary has
traveled to Mackinac Island, Michigan,
as well as major cities across the coun-
try. The show, Harary says, is avant-
garde in that it blends the beauty of
music, dance, and the theater along
with the art of mind control and magic.
Harary says he first got the idea of
such a combination from his high
school experience with theater.
"I DECIDED I could entertain
anytime I wanted and didn't have to
wait for aplay," Harary said.
Numerous years of music lessons and
dance training also helped.
Last year Harary netted $32,000
through his magic which has since
mysteriously disappeared. Most of the
money he has raised he made doing "a
lot of kids parties" which bring in the
most money because of the low equip-
ment costs. But Harary adds they are a
tough audience since they frequently
try to cballenge the magician.
HARARY ASPIRES someday to be
up in the ranks of magicians such as
Harry Blackstone.
Harary says he admires Blackstone's
"style, his command for the stage, and
his total control of the audience." His
own goal, after being the first magician
to levitate the Goodyear Blimp, is to
leave a permanent mark in the world of
magic.
Harary will put on his show for the art
fair July 20 on East University Street
near the West Engineering Building.

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