Local artist and 2006 Anthony Wayne High School graduate Bradley Scherzer has been selected to participate in the 2022 BLINK light art festival in Cincinnati, OH. His interactive art piece, entitled POOF! will be on display October 13-16.
POOF!, first commissioned by The Arts Commission for Toledo's 2019 Momentum Festival, has appeared in other art festivals, most recently Dlectricity in Detroit last fall.
Brad credits Anthony Wayne art teachers Sue Ann Ladd, Karrie King, and Wendy Murphy with setting the incredible creative foundation on which he has been able to build his career as a muralist, installation artist, and high school art teacher.
PRESS RELEASE from BLINK:
BLINK Cincinnati’s pandemic hiatus has ended, and with this return one local artist is celebrating.
Returning for the first time since 2019, the nation’s largest light, art, and projection mapping experience - aptly called BLINK - returns to Cincinnati from October 13 through 16 complete with an all-star roster.
Appearing alongside an impressive list of internationally recognized creatives will be local muralist, installation artist, and high school teacher Bradley Scherzer.
“It is truly an honor to be featured in not only the nation’s biggest event of this kind, but alongside big name artists that I respect and admire,” explained Scherzer, who applied and was selected for BLINK from amongst an incredible pool of projects entered.
Experimentation and innovation is in Scherzer’s wheelhouse; as a teacher he’s constantly on his toes to refine projects and keep his students excited. That excitement will translate to BLINK, as his installation is highly interactive. “The little kids especially go wild for POOF! Squealing, running, jumping, smiles - it’s a really fun time,” shared Scherzer about the project headed to Cincinnati.
The aforementioned POOF! is “a giant creature sporting a symbiotic relationship with humans. It relies on its bright and colorful good looks to get people to feed it. Creating joy and fun for all, the POOF! gets fed all the tasty neon puffs it could ever want,” as explained on bradleyscherzer.com.
POOF! might otherwise cut an intimidating figure at 23 feet across, but the bright, day-glo colors and interactivity ensure everyone who stops by can’t resist checking it out. “Even adults are enamored with the creature; it really becomes a family affair, with kids and their parents sometimes joining in the fun for an hour or more at a time,” shared Scherzer about the reaction he anticipates from BLINK guests.
The artist has evidence to support this expectation. The traveling show that is POOF! has been in two major festivals leading up to BLINK; some 42,000 visitors to Detroit interacted with the creature during the 2021 Dlectricity festival in Midtown, and POOF! debuted during Toledo’s 2019 Momentum Festival to the delight of 22,000+ visitors young and old.
Though Scherzer teaches art and photography at Fremont Ross High School, there’s a fair bit of both science and engineering going on within POOF!. The result is almost theatrical; a swirling, whirling delight of color, which comes together thanks to POOF! Pals - volunteers and friends of Scherzer who play the part by dressing in the brightest costume and keeping the mystery of POOF! Alive for visitors. “I am thankful to have nearly a dozen fellow Toledoans heading down to Cincy with me. POOF! is a major undertaking, requiring about six people at all times to keep the creature fed, visitors engaged, and the POOF! ‘food’ recirculating. It takes nearly a full day, two ladders, and four or more people to construct this monster, so I am incredibly grateful to those willing to make this magic with me!”
Scherzer invites people near and far to Cincinnati - especially Toledo - to venture to Cincinnati starting Thursday, October 13th. The festival transforms over 30 city blocks in Cincinnati and Northern Kentucky into an immersive art experience. Among the 101 art installations scattered across the city you can find POOF! at Smale Park on the Cincinnati riverfront, just next to the Roebling Bridge.
Original source can be found here.
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