Artopia: The art of fun in Georgetown

Artopia isn't your typical summer festival.

There are carnival games, live music and libation, but being a Georgetown affair, there are also eclectic elements — a fire troupe, a peep show, acrobatics, hula hoop workshops, crazy hair stylings, a petting zoo and power-tool races. Oh, and don't forget a screening of "Shakes the Clown" by "Police Academy" actor Bobcat Goldthwait, about an alcoholic clown.

"What makes Artopia different is it covers a broad spectrum of arts, performance to sculpture to music," said principal curator Gabe Stern. "It's a great venue for local Seattle artists that don't necessarily fit in a typical gallery setting."

For example, Seattle artist W. Scott Trimble is building a life-size wooden rollercoaster sculpture. The piece is roughly 80 feet long, 7 feet tall and 12-to-16 feet wide. Viewers can walk on it and bands will play on it.

"I like these festivals for their public accessibility," said Trimble, whose work has been shown at 4Culture, the Greg Kucera Gallery and Bumbershoot Music and Arts Festival. "I like dialoguing with people outside the art world ... that don't normally go into a gallery."

Trimble is joining 150 artists, along with 60 bands on three stages for Artopia's fourth year. One of the popular elements is the power-tool races. Participants transform tools like belt sanders into miniature cars that race down a 60-foot track.

"It's been sort of a backyard garage sport since the 1950s and '60s," said organizer and industrial artist Rusty Oliver, who has traveled to Amsterdam for a race. "It's not quite what people expect. They might want to wear safety goggles."

Besides sparks from power tools, there will be flames from fire dancing. Longtime Seattle troupe Pyrosutra will be playing with fire — eating it, waving it around, hula hooping it and wearing it on headdresses. These flames last from 2 ½ to 3 ½ minutes and can be a foot across.

"It's a lot of fire and it can get really hot," said Kimberly Brown, 37, who has performed with fire for the last decade. "As soon as you start moving, you start sweating."

This is the second time for the troupe at Artopia, with a live band. Last year, they arrived just for their performance but became intrigued by the rest of the festival.

"Once we got there, we realized we missed out on a really cool event," said Brown.

That is the organizers' hope — that folks get an intimate look into a neighborhood they might have overlooked in the past.

"I want people to be able to come down and have a really, really fun time and get to know the artists in the community of both Georgetown and Seattle," said Joselynn Plank, an Artopia curator. "All the artists are basically working for nothing. ... They are coming down for the fun of it, and showcase what they do to get their names out there."

Marian Liu: 206-464-3825 or mliu@seattletimes.com