By DANA WILSON

The fifth annual Small Stones Festival of the Arts offers a diverse variety of literature, music and arts-related programming including a juried exhibit of fine art painting and photography at three venues in Grafton. Extended festival hours run from October 14 through the 23rd.

As a prelude to the Festival, and a fundraiser for the event itself, a fun block party—Gazebo Palooza—was held in and around the Grafton Town Common on September 17th. Food from Bushel ‘N Peck, Cancuns Family Mexican Restaurant, Grafton Grill & Crust, The Grafton Inn, Pepperoni Express, Post Office Pub, Reunion Table & Tap and the Town House Tavern was featured at Gazebo Palooza along with music from the Town House Tavern’s patio with Steve Richards emceeing.

All proceeds from Gazebo Palooza go towards the Smal Stones Festival of the Arts, which continues to grow.

Five regional arts organizations – Apple Tree Arts, the Worcester County Camera Club, the Blackstone Valley Art Association, the Shakespeare Club of Grafton and Claflin Hill Symphony Orchestra have collaborated to create this year’s fine art and photography SSFA.

Exhibit hours are Saturday, October 15 and October 22, 11:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m.; Sunday, October 16 and October 23, noon to 4:00 p.m.

Weekday hours run Wednesday, October 19 to Friday, October 21, 4:00 to 7:00 p.m. The painting and photography exhibit will be held at the Great Hall, Apple Tree Arts, One Grafton Common, Grafton.

The Claflin Hill Symphony Orchestra Chamber players will present a lecture and demonstration concert on Saturday evening, October 15, 7:00 p.m. at the Congregational Church of Grafton, 30 Grafton Common.

The principal string musicians of the CSHO will deconstruct a Mozart string quartet demonstrating the classical form and structure. Then, they will perform the entire piece. The quartet, joined by Paul Surapine, founding executive and artistic director of the CHSO, will perform Mozart’s “Quintet for Clarinet and String.”

The literary track, organized by The Shakespeare Club of Grafton will include three programs to be held at the newly imagined Grafton Public Library, 35 Grafton Common.

“Shakespeare Now and Then” will be presented Saturday, October 15 at 3:00 p.m. by Helen Whall, English professor emerita of the College of Holy Cross. Dr. Whall questions why Shakespeare remains today? Why was he so successful in the 16th century? She will discuss how theatrical innovations helped liberate the English language and how events that occurred during his time run parallel with similar occurrences in the 20th and 21st centuries.

  Whall asks us to wonder why today’s public continues to produce and read Shakespeare while the once

equally well-read epics of Homer, Virgil, and Milton are now neglected? Part of the reason, she

speculates, is because they are NOT theater. But it’s also, she argues, because of Shakespeare’s literary genius that his popularity and influence on living art continues. 

Nicholas Gage, the award-winning New York Times investigative reporter, author of seven acclaimed books and producer of the Oscar nominated film “The Godfather Part III,” will present “A Writer’s Odyssey,” a personal recollection of his storied career on October 21 at 7:00 p.m. 

His early literary work, “Eleni,” a searing account of his mother ‘s life and death during the Greek Civil War, has been translated into thirty-two languages, made into a film, and was hailed by critics as “one of the rare books in which the power of art re-creates the full historical truth.“ His coming-of-age memoir, “A Place for Us,” recounts his struggles to adjust to a new life as a young immigrant in Worcester in the 1950s.

Then step back into Victorian times at the performance of Victorian Gossip Girl™: Annie Adams Fields, produced by History At Play™, LLC.  Mrs. Fields invites us to a humorous, intimate tea party at her “waterside museum” in Beacon Hill. Wielding an incredible influence on literary decisions at Ticknor and Fields Publishing House, (forerunner to Houghton Mifflin Harcourt), she counted amongst her closest friends Nathaniel Hawthorne, Oliver Wendell Holmes and Charles Dickens.

 During the tea party, Mrs. Fields shares tales about her beloved friends, chronicled in her novel “Authors and Friends” published in 1896. The evening is filled with tales of Victorian revelry, laughter, and even some blushing cheeks.

 Victorian Gossip Girl™ is produced and performed by Judith Kalaora, a professional educator, award-winning playwright, producer and living historian. Founder and Artistic Director Kalaora created History At Play™, LLC to educate and entertain audiences young and old with an emphasis on influential and often forgotten figures. The performance will be held Saturday, October 22 at 7:00 p.m.

  Artists will learn the basics of how to bring their art to market at our program “How to Market Your Art” presented by Michael Rose, gallery manager of the historic Providence Art Club. Rose has a wealth of in-depth professional knowledge and resources on how to be successful when marketing to galleries and auction houses. This thorough lecture will provide inspiration and direction for artists who are selling through their own studios as well. Join us October 19 at 6:00 p.m. for this presentation at the Great Hall, Apple Tree Arts, One Grafton Common.

  The popular artist and juror talks return Sunday, October 16 at 1:00 p.m. The artist discussions will center on their work while the juror’s presentations will provide insights about their thoughts and perspectives regarding their favorite festival artwork. 

  The mission of the Small Stones Festival of the Arts is to elevate the practice and appreciation of fine art and photography in the Blackstone Valley and beyond. The Festival is produced under the aegis of fiscal sponsor, Grafton Arts, Inc., a nonprofit 501 (c) 3 organization.

  Sponsors for the 2022 Festival include Artscope, Gaudette Insurance, Grafton Cultural Council, Homefield Credit Union, JCSI, Jubilee Chocolate, Mass Cultural Council, Pepperoni Express, Roney Funeral Home, Sydney Padgett of Mathieu Newton Sotheby’s International Realty, Theroux Dental Associates, Katheleen Schaker of Touchstone Crystal, Town House Tavern at One Grafton Common and Yesod Foundation, Inc.

Sponsorships are available to help support the 2022 Festival. Please contact Chair Ken Crater at [email protected]. For more information, visit https://smallstonesfestival.org.