Sandstone Festival
In parts of Medial C - particularly around the area of Triple Mesa - the arid, calciferous earth is rich with sandstone deposits, some of which have eroded away over time to reveal the aesthetically pleasing layered structure beneath the surface. In the Free Faces League, construction and mining efforts liberate large quanities of sandstone in chunks of various sizes.
Instead of letting all this sandstone go to waste, League citizens have created a tradition around polishing, shaping, or otherwise processing it as a form of artistic expression. Each year, the Sandstone Festival is held around midsummer in Triple Mesa as a means of showing off some of the best pieces of sandstone sculpture and other art pieces created over the course of the previous year.
Components and tools
Works submitted to judging during the Sandstone Festival may be of almost any description, so long as the primary material used in their construction is sandstone sourced from somewhere within the League. Sculptures and polished 'gems' are the traditional and most common forms of submission, but mosaics, reliefs, and multiple medium works are also a common sight. Paintings have been composed by carefully separating and milling down different colors of sandstone and emulsifying the powder in paint or resin.
Participants
The Sandstone Festival is equal parts a public exhibition of talents and competition between individuals or groups of artists. A panel of volunteer judges from various backgrounds, including geology, history, and the arts, judge competitors' works based on a combination of personal taste and professional experience, but festival-goers also take part in the voting process. The winners among various categories, including best sculpture, best interpretive work, and more, recieve a small prize purse, a plaque, a photo in the local papers, and possibly a place to display their piece in a local museum or educational institution.
Observance
The Sandstone Festival takes place annually from Sunten 29th to Absunten 2nd in the square near The Steamhouse in Triple Mesa. Judging typically takes place on Taka-i so that competitors and festival-goers who couldn't get the next day off can still fully participate; security is employed to store and protect any works left behind by creators who could not stay for the last day.
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