Faerieworlds 2009!

Recent Articles
August 1st, 2008 - Festival a Time to Embody Those Avatars
July 22nd, 2007 - Winging it at Faerieworlds
July 31, 2006 - Flocking To Faerieworlds
July 26, 2006 - Proud of Froud
July 27, 2006 - Ancient Concept Takes Wing
July 27, 2006 - Where the Glitteratti Go for their Gear

Archived Articles
2005 - Veneta Winery Becomes a Fairyland - Register Guard-
2005 - Faeriworlds 2005 Review fom Wanderwords.com
2005 - Eugene Weekly Introduction
2005 - Eugene Weekly: Celtic Convocation-The music of summer festivals
2004 - Green Man Review - Article 1
2004- Green Man Review Article 2
2004- Green Man Review - Cunningham Memorial
2003- When Worlds Collide - Review by 2Camels.com
2003- A Faerie Affair - Arizona Republic
2002 - Elks Opera House Hosts Flights Of Woodland Fancy
2002 - Faery Philosophy Seeing the Divine in Nature
2002 - Playing in the faery's key

PRESS QUOTES
“Two weeks ago, several of us from GMR attended the Faerieworlds Festival put on by the Frouds and held here in the beautiful state of Oregon. We met bards, storytellers, artists, musicians, healers, crafters, and tricksters by the score. From 60’s style macrame dresses worn with feathery angel wings to diaphanous silk concoctions worn with stylized masks, from SCA garb to Renaissance Faire-wear to improvised barbarian outfits of leather and fur...Vendors and artists were the other major draw for the festival, and there were some wonderful ones. I came home with a pocket stuffed full of business cards and flyers, and I spent more money that I had intended on merchandise.“
-Rebecca Scott
Green Man Review

“The concept has allure for children, folklorists and all-purpose whimsical folk, as well. There is fairy music, much of it borrowing Celtic sounds and rhythms; there are T-shirts with fairy pictures that sell big at teenage boutiques, and fairy cards and posters in New Age bookstores. And British artist Brian Froud has sold millions of large-format books of paintings of fairies, which he, like most fairy folk, spell the old-fashioned way: “faeries.”
-Michael Kiefer
The Arizona Republic

“Whether being introduced to the world of Faerie through films or books, the consensus appears to be the same for the many thousands of festival-goers who have come out to enjoy the beautiful weather and wondrous sights of this special day. Some will sit comfortably in the soft green grass...listening to Celtic and Medieval European music, played live from the central stage... others will shop the Renaissance craft village, where sparkly geegaws, faerie-themed artwork and heavenly fragrances abound. While still others will spend the afternoon interacting with and photographing the many Faeries who flit hither and yon throughout the glen.”
-David Salcido
2Camels.com

“The free spirits of trolls, pixies, Gelflings and nymphs frolicked below the stage in fluttering voile and tinkling bells, bobbing and weaving like reflected moonlight off a midsummer night’s dream. The Faerieworld’s Festival was as mythically magical as expected, as intriguing as imagination itself. A one-of-a-kind other-worldly event, it was a night when faeries took flight.”
-Sandy Moss
The Daily Courier

“There are a lot of good musical reasons to head out to Secret House for the 2005 Faerieworlds Festival, including Karan Casey, Trillian Green and Woodland. But we kind of grew up a little nerdy-like, and thus feel a need to point out the other draw of the festival: the work of Brian Froud. Froud’s influential fairies (shown to their best and funniest in Lady Cottington’s Pressed Fairy Book) and other creatures are probably more familiar than his name: He and his wife, Wendy, worked with Jim Henson’s Creature Shop on projects including Labyrinth and The Dark Crystal, and their touch shows in Gelflings and goblins alike.”

-Brent Campbell
Eugene Weekly

Attending the 2005 Faerie Worlds outside of Eugene, Oregon was mind blowing and mesmerizing. Excellent bands, good entertainment, great vendors, incredible artists, and yummy food. A 5 stars out of 5 event. Highly recommended.
-Leafworks
Wanderwords.com

ARCHIVED PRESS ARTICLES

FAERIEWORLDS 2005 ARTICLE
EUGENE REGISTER GUARD
Veneta Winery Becomes a Fairyland
Faerieworlds Festival is two days of music,
art in an otherworldly setting

The “realm of the faerie'' will encompass the woods around the Secret House Winery in Veneta this weekend during the two-day Faerieworlds Festival.

Billed as “a very special weekend of magic and celebration,” Faerieworlds will include two days of live music, world- renowned art, elaborate multi- media and otherworldly live performance's according to a news release.

On Saturday and Sunday, the winery will become a “virtual faerie realm'' and will feature a Faerie Vending Village, Froud Faerie Lightshow, Froud

Art Show - named for and celebrating the artist Brian Froud - in addition to a children's area, wandering performers a fire show, costume contest fashion show and more.

Two practitioners of Irish and Celtic music will headline the festival's main stage. Award-winning Irish vocalist Karan Casey, former lead singer of Irish supergroup sold, and renowned fiddler Kevin Burke, of Celtic Fiddle Festival fame, will bring a taste of the Emerald Isle to Veneta. Burke also will present a fiddle workshop as part of the event.

Casey, who spent 4 and 1/2 years with Solas, was once described

in the Wall Street Journal as one of the true glories of Irish music today. She attendend University in Dublin and studied at both the Irish School of Music

and the Royal Irish Academy of Music. In 1993 she moved to New York City where she soon joined Seamus Egan, Winifred Horan, John Doyle and John Williams in Solas.

During her time with Solas, Casey recorded her first solo record “Songlines'' in 1997. Her most recent solo record is called “The Wind Begins to Sing.”

Burke was influenced by Jimi Hendrix in Bob Dylan in addition to the renowned fiddler Michael Coleman. In 1972, Burke came to the United States to record an album with Arlo Guthrie, “Last of the Brooklyn Cowboys” and in 1975 he joined Christy Moore's band. He permanently moved to the United States in 1980, and now makes his home in Oregon.

Saturday's entertainment schedule will feature the mythic rock band Woodland with the World of Froud lightshow, and Northwest festival favorites Trillian Green, featuring a Beyond the Ninth Wave Light- show by Welsh artist Jen Delyth.

On Sunday, the Sugar Beets will take the stage, as will pagan rockers Gaia Consort, Sasha Butterfly, the Trance Zen Dance band and others.

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FAERIEWORLDS 2005
REVIEW FROM WANDERWORDS.COM
AUGUST 1, 2005

Faerie Worlds Festival Faerieworlds (www.faerieworlds.com) is an international festival inspired by the artistic works of artist Brian & Wendy Froud and the musical talents of “Woodland”. Each year, hundreds to thousands of musicians, artists, authors, craftspeople, and faerie enthusiasts gather together to celebrate the realm of faerie. Put on annually by Brian Froud, Woodland Productions, and Imaginosis … Faerie Worlds is a unique and celebrated festival of its own accord. Faeries, pixies, satyrs, dragons, gnomes, tree people, mermaids, and God/desses of all kinds can be found playing, frolicking, dancing, walking, and hanging out at this event. Attending the 2005 Faerie Worlds outside of Eugene, Oregon was mind blowing and mesmerizing. Excellent bands, good entertainment, great vendors, incredible artists, and yummy food. A 5 stars out of 5 event. Highly recommended. Every year in July. See Web site for details ….

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FAERIEWORLDS 2005 ARTICLE
EUGENE WEEKLY
JULY 21, 2005

As Brett Campbell points out on page 26, there are a lot of good musical reasons to head out to Secret House for the 2005 Faerieworlds Festival, including Karan Casey, Trillian Green and Woodland. But we kind of grew up a little nerdy-like, and thus feel a need to point out the other draw of the festival: the work of Brian Froud. Froud's influential fairies (shown to their best and funniest in Lady Cottington's Pressed Fairy Book) and other creatures are probably more familiar than his name: He and his wife, Wendy, worked with Jim Henson's Creature Shop on projects including Labyrinth and The Dark Crystal, and their touch shows in Gelflings and goblins alike. The elder Frouds won't be at Faerieworlds, but the family is represented by the next generation: Toby Froud, whom you might remember as the baby David Bowie kidnapped in Labyrinth. That's right — the baby with the power. Power of voodoo? Yeah, yeah, we know all the words. See Saturday Calendar.

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FAERIEWORLDS 2005 ARTICLE
EUGENE WEEKLY
JULY 21, 2005
Celtic Convocation-The music of summer festivals
BY BRETT CAMPBELL

Cynic that I am, I admit to being put off by the name of the annual Faerieworlds Festival, which this year comes to Secret House Winery outside Eugene on July 23 and 24. But what matters is the music, and in that department, the festival has scored big with its headliner, the spellbinding contemporary Irish singer/pianist Karan Casey and her band.

Since her days fronting the Irish/ American supergroup Solas, Casey has drawn worldwide raves for her bell-like soprano, which seems equally at home covering traditional Celtic and English ballads, Appalachian folk tunes and modern singers from Billy Bragg to Billie Holiday. Recent shows, including several at our own recently-closed Café Paradiso, have featured more of her own socially conscious songwriting, but it's that gossamer voice and her deft use of it that put her in the pantheon of modern Celtic chanteuses such as Mary Black, Susan McKeown and so many others.

The festival also includes another frequent Eugene visitor, the agile Portland-based fiddler Kevin Burke with Ged Foley. One of the world's greatest Celtic fiddlers, Burke (who plays Saturday) alone is worth the price of admission. Along with Casey, Sunday's lineup features another silly name/great music combo, Magical Strings (Celtic harp and more), Country Fair vets Trillian Green (flute, cello, and percussion virtuoso Jarrod Kaplan), Eugene's (deservedly) most popular band, the Sugar Beets, and many more Northwest-based Celtic ensembles. Check www.faerieworlds.comfor the full schedule.

FAERIEWORLDS 2004
GREEN MAN REVIEW ARTICLES
AUGUST 2004

Two weeks ago, several of us from GMR attended the Faerieworlds Festival put on by the Frouds and held here in the beautiful state of Oregon. We met bards, storytellers, artists, musicians, healers, crafters, and tricksters by the score. From 60's style macrame dresses worn with feathery angel wings to diaphanous silk concoctions worn with stylized masks, from SCA garb to Renaissance Faire-wear to improvised barbarian outfits of leather and fur, we saw folk of every possible belief and tradition. Furries danced with hippies and witches held peaceful discussions with Hari Krishnas. Vegans ate side by side with folk making like Henry the Eighth with barbequed turkey legs.

I'm fairly certain that, if there are true Fey, if the Border truly does shift and shimmer, that we may have met some Otherworldly Beings at Faerieworlds. Certainly I noticed something while wandering amongst the thousand or so folk in attendance. On a sweltering day, in a dusty venue where the porta-johns, though plentiful, required a hike up a gravelled hill in the blazing sun, in an atmosphere where more than one temper may have been short if not infinitesimal -- in all of that time, I never heard one cross word spoken. Not one. I witnessed no arguments, no snappish tempers, no cranky words. Even the children were nearly angelic.

Good luck? Maybe? Magick? Maybe. No matter what led to this idyllic experience, one thing is certain: this is what we strive for here at Green Man. This is the situation we wish to present to you, our readers: an eclectic, slightly crazy, magickal place where folks of all types can come to learn about items of interest to us all and mingle with those of like mind.

We hope you enjoy this place beyond the Fields We Know. We're happy to have you here. Hopefully we can all learn something from each other.

Our first featured review comes from our experience at Faerieworlds, and that's the review of the event itself: 'What the heck's a Faerieworlds Festival, I asked myself when Ryan and Maria Nutick asked me to go along with them to review this year's festival. Rebecca Scott here, and to a certain extent, I'm still wondering. What was that? Fun, warm, and tiring might be a place to start, and I'm left with a jumble of impressions that creep into my dreams at night; when I wake I have trouble separating out the dreams from memories, even though I know that, while I was actually at the festival, my experience was pretty mundane.' See what Rebecca has to say about this year's Faerieworlds.

At Faerieworlds, we ran into Phil Brucato, formerly of White Wolf and one of the imaginations behind Vampire: The Gathering and Mage: The Ascension. He has a new RPG out. But this is far more than a game; it's a story and an enchantment as well. Rebecca Scott gives us an Excellence in Writing Award winning review of the first edition of what some of us old-timey Dungeon's and Dragons folk feel may be the best game ever. Period. If you don't get it for the gaming, you'll want to get it for the writing: Deliria.

After Rebecca, Ryan and I made the rounds of the festival itself, Gary Whitehouse attended a special Faerieworlds concert held in honor of the late great Johnny Cunningham: 'Phil Cunningham sat alone on the large stage, eyes closed, as he wrung a slow, sad air from his custom Borsini accordion in memory of his brother Johnny. The Faerieworlds Festival crowd of several hundred, which moments before had been boisterously dancing, clapping, singing and talking, fell silent. The fair-haired Scot said the tune, which he had never before played in public, was named simply 'Johnny.' It was the first tune of an encore by members of an all-star band that gathered to pay tribute to Johnny Cunningham, fiddler extraordinaire, who died in late 2003. The late musician was remembered by his surviving relatives, friends and fellow performers as a sweet human being, a stellar player and composer, and a candidate for 'king of the faeries.'

The night before the festival, Ryan and I attended a concert by one of our favorite bands, Gaia Consort. We were pleasantly surprised by their opening act, S. J. Tucker. As I say in my review of that show, 'Gaia Consort is one of my favorite bands, and this show was a wonderful treat to start what turned out to be a magickal weekend. Discovering Sooj Tucker was truly serendipitous, and we look forward to seeing all of these wonderful performers again and again. Any time you get the chance to see either Gaia Consort or S.J. Tucker, go. Wear your dancing shoes.' Next week I'll have reviews of S.J. Tucker's new CD Haphazard, and soon I'll have one of Gaia Consort's new CD Evolve. Yes, Faerieworlds had so many wonderful surprises...

GREEN MAN REVIEW
FAERIEWORLDS FESTIVAL 2004,
Horning's Hideout, North Plains, OR, USA
July 31-August 1, 2004

And our time is filling like cups of honey wine
Sweeter the water, the deeper the well
--"Three," Gaia Consort

What the heck's a Faerieworlds Festival, I asked myself when Ryan and Maria Nutick asked me to go along with them to review this year's festival. Rebecca Scott here, and to a certain extent, I'm still wondering. What was that? Fun, warm, and tiring might be a place to start, and I'm left with a jumble of impressions that creep into my dreams at night; when I wake I have trouble separating out the dreams from memories, even though I know that, while I was actually at the festival, my experience was pretty mundane.

I'll start with the location. Horning's Hideout in North Plains, Oregon, was a nigh-perfect site for a faerie festival. Tucked away in the hills, we had to drive down gravel roads lined with beautiful trees and giant ferns to get there. The main stage backed onto a pond, complete with fountain, islets, and arching wooden bridges. Immediately in front of it was the dirt dance floor (where they set up sprinklers to cool the dancers), with grassy, shaded slopes beyond that forming a natural amphitheater. Above that, the merchant booths were strung out in three or four groupings, and behind those were more trees. Despite the dust raised by so many feet, it was an absolutely beautiful place, and I enjoyed just sitting and looking at it.

Music seemed to be one of the main purposes of the festival. There was music on the main stage the entire time I was there, and very pleasant it was, but almost all of it was purely instrumental, which tends to fall into the background for me. I did hear a beautiful and touching rendition of "Paddy's Lament," but failed to catch the name of the group which performed it. By and large, I'll have to leave the music reviews to others. I will say that the constant presence of music made everything more enjoyable.

Vendors and artists were the other major draw for the festival, and there were some wonderful ones. I came home with a pocket stuffed full of business cards and flyers, and I spent more money that I had intended on merchandise. A few personal favorites were: The Terra Cottage, with its marvelously funny clay sculpture; the Dragonmaker, with her lovely dragons and masks; Belfry Masks, which sold very elaborate masks and wings, and Samiah with her beautiful coats, skirts, and gowns. There were so many lovely things, I hardly knew where to look.

Of course, the festival's special guests brought in more than a few people; well, what faerie-fan wouldn't turn up for all three of the Frouds? Imaginosis and World of Froud had a nice, large booth just above the amphitheater, with plenty of Brian and Wendy's work on sale, and the pair of them did two-hour signings both days. Word has it that Toby Froud got up and performed, but I'm sorry to say that I missed it.

The fact that I missed Toby's performances may be related to my only major complaint about the Festival: it suffered from a lack of clear information about places and times for nearly anything. The Web site and the flyer that was handed out on site were both slick, handsomely laid out, and beautified with Froud drawings, but they tended to lack certain vital information. A listing was given for the bands Sunday, but not Saturday; the location of the World of Froud booth was not shown on the map; neither Toby's performances nor the Frouds' signings were listed; and the workshops I saw signs for weren't mentioned at all. I'm told that this is pretty standard for young festivals (this was only Faerieworlds' second year), but that doesn't make it any less annoying.

The high points of the festival for me were the unexpected things. The Mud Faerie was out, dressed in one of the best costumes I saw all weekend, making marvelous sculptures in the mud. I got to sit in on a jam session that included Chris and Sue from Gaia Consort, S.J. Tucker, and Corinne. Beautiful music, a light breeze, and a view of the lake cooled me off more than the air conditioning we'd been headed for when we found them. Finally, I got to hear Phil Brucato read from his new book.

For those who don't play role playing games, Phil Brucato used to write for White Wolf Games, where he wrote a lot of the best parts of that company's popular line of World of Darkness games (including Vampire: The Masquerade and Mage: The Ascension). Now he's got his own company, Laughing Pan Productions, and he's working for himself. Deliria is his new game; it's based on faerie tales in the modern world. To set the mood, the book is peppered with original stories. Brucato read "Grimblegroth," "Thorn," and a few other fragments. I was astounded at how well he read them, until he told the audience that he'd trained as an actor. "Grimblegroth," the story of how one hiker learned to not litter, sent chills racing across my skin; "Thorn" reminded me of how it felt to be a depressed teenager who went to extremes in attempts to feel alive, and with Mr. Brucato's voice to lend it extra power, it touched and thrilled me. Since I still had a long drive ahead of me, I left after his reading, but it really was the perfect note to end the weekend on.

The Faerieworlds Festival could've been better organized, it's true, but there's something about that many people gathered together, all of their minds and hearts focused on a vision of the world as magical. . . . It's no wonder I had dreams.

GREEN MAN REVIEW
JOHNNY CUNNINGHAM MEMORIAL REVIEW
Phil Cunningham, Kevin Burke, Susan McKeown, Aidan Brennan,
Seamus Egan, and Solas - Faerieworlds 2004
Faerieworlds Festival, North Plains, Oregon, July 31, 2004

Phil Cunningham sat alone on the large stage, eyes closed, as he wrung a slow, sad air from his custom Borsini accordion in memory of his brother Johnny. The Faerieworlds Festival crowd of several hundred, which moments before had been boisterously dancing, clapping, singing and talking, fell silent. The fair-haired Scot said the tune, which he had never before played in public, was named simply "Johnny."

It was the first tune of an encore by members of an all-star band that gathered to pay tribute to Johnny Cunningham, fiddler extraordinaire, who died in late 2003. The late musician was remembered by his surviving relatives, friends and fellow performers as a sweet human being, a stellar player and composer, and a candidate for "king of the faeries."

It was a night for reminiscing. "Johnny was a very skinny kid with white-blonde hair," Phil said. "His nickname at school was 'Faerie.' When I came to the same school two years later, my nickname was 'Faerie, Jr.'"

But it was mostly a night of musical tributes. The band -- fiddlers Kevin Burke and Dana Lyn, guitarist Aidan Brennan, multi-instrumentalist Seamus Egan and singer Susan McKeown in addition to Phil -- chose numbers from all segments of Johnny's career, including the seminal Silly Wizard, Nightnoise and his many solo outings and collaborations.

The first part of the program featured a quick skim through of one of Johnny's last big projects, the Obie-award winning musical play, Peter and Wendy, based on J.M. Barrie's book Peter Pan. Actress Karen Kandel, who performed all of the voices in the original puppet production of the play, again did the honors here, narrating the story as illustrations of the tale flashed on a large screen overhead. The high point was the "Alligator Tango," the song of Capt. Hook's scaly nemesis.

Then the band ran through some of the high points of Johnny's earlier career, including "O'Carolan's Concerto," from the Celtic Fiddle Festival album; the jig set "Pipe on the Hob/ Hag at the Churn" from an early Bothy Band album; the reel set "Martin Wynne's/the Longford Tinker" from the Bothys' first album; and "Night in That Land," a lovely waltz-time air from the group Nightnoise. Throughout there were personal memories and comments from the musicians. Phil confessed that he'd spent the previous night attempting to learn "Martin Wynne's" off of Burke's old LP; "you didn't learn it," Burke chided him at tune's end. Phil said he had only learned after Johnny's passing that his brother had written "Night in That Land" one night while visiting Phil on the Isle of Skye.

After Phil's solo encore turn, the rest of the band returned, bringing with them Casey Neill with his guitar, for a rousing singalong on "The Mingulay Boat Song," with its enchanting chorus: "heel y'ho boys, let her go, boys, /bring her head round into the weather/heel y'ho boys, let her go boys,/sailing homeward to Mingulay." Then, because the concert was coinciding with a "blue moon," the second full moon within a calendar month, the band, with McKeown leading on vocals, performed a jigged-up version of "Blue Moon," which segued into "It's Only a Paper Moon," and finally into a straight rendition of "Over the Rainbow." Again, the hundreds in the crowd joined in, singing along in a touching, emotion-packed finale.

The crowd had been warmed up by Solas, which had dedicated a beautiful air called "Every Mountain You Climb" to Johnny, led by fiddler Winifred Horan. Seamus Egan played whistles of various sizes, banjo, mandolin, and acoustic and electric guitar, Mick McAuley accordion, Eamon McElholm guitar and Deirdre Scanlan vocals in the hour-long set.

Songs and tunes Solas performed included "Bird in the Tree," "Wiggly Jigs," "Seoladh na nGamhna" and Dougie McLean's "This Love Will Carry," all from Another Day; "The Waking Up Set" and Woody Guthrie's "Pastures of Plenty" from The Words That Remain ; Bob Dylan's "Dignity" and "Beck Street" from Edge of Silence; and the reel set "Granny Quinn's/Lilac/Sporting Paddy" from The Hour Before Dawn. Win and Deirdre kicked off their shoes and leapt off the stage during the rousing closing number, "Bird in the Tree," to join with the dancing crowd. And "This Love Will Carry" became yet another touching singalong for the rapt audience.

FAERIEWORLDS FESTIVAL 2003 REVIEW
2CAMELS.COM
Festival Location: USA, Sedona, Arizona -
Article Title: When Worlds Collide
by: © David Salcido 2003

They say that at certain times of the year, the veil between our world and the otherworldly realm of Faerie becomes so thin as to be non-existent. When that occurs, Faeriefolk glide and gambol through this, the human domain, magic fills the air and anything is possible. The date is May 10th, 2003 and once again the veil is at its thinnest. The event to mark this auspicious occasion is the first ever Faerieworlds Festival, a celebration of music, art and imagination for the 21st century. As a result, costumed revelers abound, coming in all shapes, sizes and cultural backgrounds, from points all over the globe, to pay homage to all things Faerie.

Adding to the otherworldly quality of the occasion is the fact that this particular festival takes place in the neo-spiritual environs of Sedona, Arizona, nestled as it is amongst majestic red bluffs, squat pine trees and the infamous vortexes which give this once sleepy little town its mystic drawing power. "It's a bit like Mars, isn't it?" says Eugenia Middleton-Price, a self-proclaimed "changeling" and first-time visitor, who has traveled all the way from Manchester, England to experience this latest crossing. "All this lovely red dirt. Perfect for mud daubing. Faeries love mud daubing. They say there's magic in this dirt and I can certainly believe it. I can feel it invigorating me through the soles of my feet."

Brian Hoge has different reasons for being here. A bespeckled film student from Los Angeles, California, he's driven here to, as he puts it, "Meet the King of the Faeries, himself." That would be Brian Froud, the creator of the internationally bestselling books Faeries, Lady Cottington's Pressed Fairy Book, Good Faeries/Bad Faeries and others, who, along with his lovely wife Wendy and handsome son Toby, have journeyed from Devon, England to bestow a touch of authenticity to the proceedings. "This guy's been an inspiration to me ever since I was a kid and I saw the movies Dark Crystal and Labyrinth," Hoge enthuses. "The creatures in those films were so amazing to me, I knew that filmmaking was the way to go. If I can create worlds with even a fraction of the magic those films had, I'll be happy."

Whether being introduced to the world of Faerie through films or books, the consensus appears to be the same for the many thousands of festival-goers who have come out to enjoy the beautiful weather and wondrous sights of this special day. Some will sit comfortably in the soft green grass of the Sedona Cultural Park, listening to Celtic and Medieval European music, played live from the central stage by such eponymous groups as Mandrake, Wild Thyme and The New Potatoes. Others will shop the Renaissance craft village, where sparkly geegaws, faerie-themed artwork and heavenly fragrances abound. While still others will spend the afternoon interacting with and photographing the many Faeries who flit hither and yon throughout the glen.

In fact, there will be no dearth of fantastic and amusing sights for curious onlookers this day. "I'm the frat faerie," says one fellow, wearing sunglasses and dressed in a tattered t-shirt bearing his fraternity symbols, an equally tattered pink tutu and an outrageous headdress composed of spiraled wire and wilted vines. "I kind of made this costume at the last minute," he adds, beaming like an elf in a shoe shop. "But this is nothing. I just saw a Viking couple buying beer and, over there by the food booths, was a guy with horns and hooves eating nachos." He shakes his head and wanders off to join a group of spellbound children watching as busy Mudfaeries carve a smiling dragon into a clay hillside. Such distractions are commonplace throughout the park.

Indeed, at any given moment, one is likely to come across faeries, sprites, elves and pixies of every age and assortment. Some are young and comely, others have seen a few too many seasons or healthy meals to justify the gauzy finery and brief raiment of the fae folk. But it's all in good fun and a testament to the many magic mirrors, which must surely proliferate throughout our mundane realm. Here a willowy redhead with opalescent wings flirts openly with an earthy fellow bearing horns, leather leggings and little else. There a whimsical drag duo on stilts, in flowing Renaissance dress and rosy-cheeked half-masks above bearded chins, entertain the crowds with Monty Python-esque banter and off-color blessings. Verily, everywhere one looks, wings, ears and horns pervade. So, too, do the pranks.

It isn't surprising to find faeries trying to spirit away young children to the Children's Faerie Workshop area. Or snatching food, bags, hats or anything else not tied down, from unsuspecting tourists. Or even buzzing around one unlucky fellow wearing Scottish attire, with the single-minded purpose of finding out just exactly what such gentlemen wear beneath their kilts (the answer, to his dismay and the crowd's amusement, is nothing but hair). There are no raised voices or temper flare-ups when such occasions present themselves. It's almost as though those attending expect such shenanigans. Embarrassment is quickly forgotten and snatched items are always returned, usually with a flower or a particularly colorful rock as gifts to ensure appeasement. Simple pleasures from a simpler time, all spontaneously geared to bring enjoyment and a sense of wonder to smiling revelers.

The day ends with a spectacular finale, consisting of musical performances by Woodland, Johnny Cunningham and Susan McKeown along with a Faerie Lantern Performance courtesy of the Froud Digital Lightshow. It's a magical end to a magical day as, once again, the veil condenses, Faeries fade away into the twilight and the mundane amongst us count our blessings that we have been favored with such a visitation. Of course, scraping the smeared remains of unsuspecting faeries, who wandered a bit to close to the highway, from the windshield of one's motor vehicle, is always guaranteed to bring one right back down to earth. But that's a troubling thought, and much less magical moment, for another day...

To find out more about the Faerieworlds Festival and begin making plans for next year's event, visit the website at www.faerieworlds.com

A FAERIE AFFAIR
FAERIEWORLDS 2003 PRESS ARTICLE
Elusive folk and their followers to alight in Sedona for all-day festival
Michael Kiefer
The Arizona Republic
May. 6, 2003 12:00 AM

Amy Ford sees fairies.

Some are as small as houseflies, others 18 feet tall. They're pixielike or feminine, sometimes androgynous, and once, she claims, she woke up in the woods near Cornville to find herself held captive.

"It was just like Gulliver's Travels," she says. "The fairies had tied me down with dried grass," while one laughed right in her face.

"It scared the crap out of me."

Ford claims she's seen fairies all her life, and though she won't say exactly how long that is, it looks to be 30-some years. She's a musician and astrologer from Scottsdale, short and buxom with long, dark hair and darker eyes. And though she seems reasonably sane, she acknowledges, "I'm wired way different."

Ford is part of a growing subculture of fairy folk, not all of whom claim to see fairies - though that number is bigger than you might expect. The concept has allure for children, folklorists and all-purpose whimsical folk, as well. There is fairy music, much of it borrowing Celtic sounds and rhythms; there are T-shirts with fairy pictures that sell big at teenage boutiques, and fairy cards and posters in New Age bookstores. And a British artist named Brian Froud has sold more than 8 million large-format books of paintings of fairies, which he, like most fairy folk, spell the old-fashioned way: "faeries."

"Faeryland is like the sea," Froud says. "It's like the tide, and sometimes the tide is out a long way and Faeryland is very difficult to reach. And sometimes the tide is in. And it does seem to me that the tide was out for some years, but it's really come in now."

That tide has come in far enough that promoters expect more than 4,000 people to attend an all-day Faerieworlds Festival on Saturday at Sedona Cultural Park. The festival will include music, multimedia shows, live interactive performances and, especially, Froud and his artwork.

The expected attendees will be true believers like Ford, but also Renaissance Faire fans, families with young children, masqueraders, New Age dabblers, Goth kids who have "discovered Faery," as one promoter put it, and even "folks factioning out of the old Grateful Dead days who don't have anywhere to go."

Fairies originated in Celtic folklore, and, more often than not, they were frightening, otherworldly forest beings that were blamed for unexplainable events, such as ill children, people turned mad and dark thoughts.

"They're about expression of things in everyday life that we can't express openly," says Ari Berk, a professor of folklore at Central Michigan University. "Fairies have always spoken to the human desire to have some kind of conversation with the environment around them."

They've populated art and literature for centuries, not just as fairy tales, but also in Shakespeare and in the poetry of William Butler Yeats. More recently, they appear in the Lord of the Rings films, as the elves.

Although children are naturally drawn to fairy tales, the current pop phenomenon is not really about children. Froud's art, for example, is not only well researched but very adult.

"Fairies have been relegated to the nursery for far too long," Froud says. "That's a 20th-century point of view really. Fairies have always been dangerous creatures. That's why they had to be placated. That's why little gifts were left out at night, little saucers of milk, or, otherwise, your cattle died, or, indeed, your children were stolen or people died. The word 'stroke' comes from 'elf stroke' because a fairy had touched you. So fairies have always been dangerous. And one way that people have tried to make them safer is to turn them into fairy stories, something that was safe, and say, 'Oh it's just for children, isn't it?' "

Froud, 56, lives in Dartmoor, England, an area he says is slightly wild and desolate, and whose landscape influenced his palette.

"When I looked at trees and rocks and hills when I moved to the country, I wondered what the inside of them looked like," Froud says. "And as I was wondering that, then I started painting fairies, and they were indeed at the souls of trees and landscapes."

He was inspired by illustrations of fairy tales and did a lot of research with his collaborator, Alan Lee, for his first book, Faeries, which they published in 1978. It has sold more than 5 million copies, including more than 100,000 since last October, when a 25th-anniversary edition was published.

Froud followed up with several other titles, including Good Faeries/Bad Faeries, whose paintings sometimes verge on the erotic, with lithesome near nudes, a merging of several tingling and anticipatory fantasies, and decidedly not for children. His art was the inspiration for the Jim Henson films The Dark Crystal and Labyrinth, and Froud's wife, Wendy, was one of the puppetmakers who designed Yoda for the Star Wars films.

Since he began painting fairies, Froud says they now present themselves to him as, he believes, they present themselves to others. The paintings, he says, are like maps that allow people to safely go on their fairy journey, as he puts it.

"A lot of people go on the journey and don't return because they lapse into madness," he says.

Saturday's festival in Sedona promises plenty of controlled madness.

"Right now, everything's so heavy and intense on the planet that I think people need a fantasy to go to where they feel like they have power, where they feel they have something to go to," says Emilio Miller-Lopez, one of the festival's organizers. "What our events offer people is a chance to participate. Everybody's part of the show."

Miller-Lopez is a spritely fellow of 28 with a shaggy gnome's beard and a shock of hair long enough to evoke memories of the early 1970s. His wife, Kelly, 27, has cascading Maid Marian locks and glittery makeup. Both dress elfin, in earth tones and billowing sleeves. They draw stares even in Sedona.

The couple perform in Woodland, a band with Celtic-music roots and a rich New Age sound, which will play at the festival. Kelly says she has seen fairies since she was a child, and she first latched onto Brian Froud's work when she saw The Dark Crystal and then bought the Faeries books, which she eventually showed to her husband. Together, they sought out Froud's agent, Robert Gould, who is also a fantasy artist, well known as the illustrator for Michael Moorcock's Elric of Melnibone novels.

Working with Gould's company, Imaginosis, they staged multimedia fairy shows in Prescott, Santa Fe and Los Angeles. Fairy fans turned out in droves.

"It was incredible," Gould says. "People were standing in line for an hour. Everyone was in costume. Families came. It was pretty wild."

The Santa Fe show took place on Halloween, and the upcoming Sedona festival is just after May Day, which, as Kelly Miller-Lopez explains, are those times of the year when the veil is thinnest between the real world and the fairy world and human-fairy encounters are more likely.

Gould would like to take the show on the road and maybe develop it into a Cirque du Soleil-style of interactive performance.

As for the people who claim to see fairies, even Froud is not sure how many really do.

"It took me a long time to actually work that out," he says. People constantly ask him how they can see them, too.

"You don't use your eyes," he answers. "You see a fairy through your heart."

FAERIEWORLDS 2002
PRESS ARTICLE
Elks Opera House Hosts Flights Of Woodland Fancy
By Sandy Moss
The Daily Courier

Peacock wings, wands and wimples, staffs and crystals, crowns and thistles ... added up to a night of magic and twinkle as fairy enthusiasts flocked together for Woodland music and Froudian art at the first ever Faerieworld's Festival.

For one magical night, the Elks Theater became the "Elf's Theater," drenched in faery dust from faery realms.

From the music of Woodland, to the fantasy art of Brian Froud. to the audience members themselves - many of whom dressed as fanciful faeries in chiffon and glitter - it was the world of faery, fun and fancy.

A much-to-short clip from John Walker's film, "The Faery Faith," featured the master of the faery realm himself, Brian Froud, speaking of his fascination with faery myth and legend.

"You don't see faeries with your eyes, but with your heart," Froud said. Faeries live between the waking and the sleeping, in twilight between light and dark."

The Faeryworld's Festival producer, Imaginosis' Robert Gould, offered words of welcome and introduction for Woodland, the Froud's artwork, and faery and folklore scholar Terri Windling.

Windling read a faery fiction of her own making that wove the imagination with mystical creatures clothed in feathers, beads, candlelight and spider webs Local poet and television personality Lady Mathers recited a poem on the Wisdom of Old Ways in honor of the spring equinox.

"As sure as I know my name - there are faeries here," she said.

A trio of hip-hoppers took the audience on a "Journey into the Underworld."

"Through the veil of make-believe, we become who we really are," they rapped.

A digital light presentation on a screen above the stage showed fantasy scenes from the Froud's "The Winter Child" put together by graphic designer and Woodland songwriter Emilio Miller-Lopez.

Most magical of all was the mystical music of Woodland - enchanting, entrancing, citing faeries to dancing.

"Dances in the bonfire light, I remember ...," they sang and played with lute and lyre. "There is a voice that sings through everything .."

Woodland's Kelly Miller-Lopez sang and performed on harp and percussion; Emilio Miller-Lopez strummed guitar and sang; Angela Woods stroked warm tunes from the violin as John Peckham accompanied with bass; Lily Swan sang and played piano, harp and flute, and Carlos B. Jones tapped drums and percussion.

Together, Woodland chanted the words of William Butler Yeats' "Into The Twilight," set to medieval, lyrical rhythms.

The free spirits of trolls, pixies, Gelflings and nymphs frolicked below the stage in fluttering voile and tinkling bells, bobbing and weaving like reflected moonlight off a midsummer night's dream.

The Faerieworld's Festival was as mythically magical as expected, as intriguing as imagination itself.

A one-of-a-kind other-worldly event, it was a night when faeries took flight.

FAERIEWORLDS 2002
Faery Philosophy -
Seeing the Divine in Nature
By Ellie Moon
Flagstaff Live

Emilio Miller-Lopez and his wife, Kelly, understand how people might have a knee-jerk aversion to deifying nature.

"It''s more about acknowledging and giving thanks. It's so simple. It really is just that - seeing the beauty of things. If you're grateful, then you've pretty much got it."

The organizers of the March 22 Faerieworlds Festival at Prescott's Elks Opera House are trying to get across the ancient Celtic idea of divinity in all nature, the belief that beings live in and around all things, both living and inanimate. They believe people can become aware of another world populated by fairy tale characters and nature spirits simply by acknowledging divinity in the natural world.

"To us, the realm of faery itself transcends fairy tales as we know them," Emilio Miller-Lopez says. "What we're really talking about is mystery and the spirituality of nature.

"It's not just imagining a fantasy," he continues, "It's consciousness blended with nature."

This is one of the reasons the couple is organizing the Faerieworld's Festival --- not just for its entertainment value, but to foster a link between people in the stressed-out modern age with ancient and simple beliefs.

"We feel much of America has disconnected from their roots," Kelly Miller-Lopez says. "We feel diving into our roots has been very healing."

Her husband says modern religion has taught us to reject the material realm, the physical. But the ancient Celts believed in the divinity of all things.

The couple is part of Woodland, a musical ensemble that will perform at the festival. They get the inspiration for their music from listening to what the natural world has to tell them, then translating those messages into poetry and song.

"The music picks up melodies that resonate to us from the earth," Emilio Miller-Lopez says. "We are not saying there are faeries sitting over there in that bush ---"

"Although there are," Kelly Miller-Lopez interjects. "They are in everything."

"People like the freedom to explore another belief system without fear, and in America in our time, especially one that calls to European roots."

"We are not living in a little village where we just believe what the preacher tells us, and if not, get burned at the stake," Emilio Miller-Lopez says.

Many folks who are shy at first become more comfortable once they see the gatherings' wholesome appeal.

The couple contends faeries are ancestral spirits, as well as manifestations of those unborn. They can only be seen and heard by the aware. Those spirits comprise a realm "in between," often referred to as the Twilight, the Miller-Lopez's say. The couple says there's a strong link between this awareness and creativity.

"What we are doing is part of a whole movement of art. All of this is reflecting people are ready to let go of the fear around their own soul," Emilio Miller-Lopez says.

His wife says it's even simpler.

"Everyone can argue about God and who their source is, but we all come from the earth," Kelly Miller-Lopez says.

FAERIEWORLDS 2002
PRESS ARTICLE
Playing in the faery's key-
By Sandy Moss
The Daily Courier

Reach Back to that place where magic and enchantment filled your thoughts, to the bewitching time of childhood when brownies, gnomes, pixies and faeries where as real as mom's oatmeal cookies:

Tinkerbell flew in your dreams and Rumplestiltskin spun the straw of the mundane into the gold of fantasy.

That is where the ethereal tones of Woodland's music takes you. Back, not to a place where childhood daydreams danced, but to ancient Celtic myth where everything on the earth had a consciousness and was vibrant with living spirit.

Woodland's sound is a reflection of it's creators' belief in faeries - the mercurial, ephemeral, bright-winged creatures of Celtic myth. "All indigenous people believe in spirits in nature," said Emilio Miller-Lopez, co-founder, guitarist, vocalist and featured songwriter for Woodland.

"Faery, to us, is not fantasy, he said. "Ancient peoples believed faeries were as real as God or as angels, Seeing Faery was a way to see spirit in everything."

Woodland's co-creator, Kelly Miller-Lopez, vocalist, harpist and songwriter, agrees. "Those roots in our culture are very important. It was an ancient way of seeing things - that everything has soul."

The lilting faery-like music of Woodland includes sounds of the harp, flute and violin - traditional faerie instruments in Celtic tradition. Completing Woodland's troupe are Lily Swan on harp, piano and flute: Angela Woods on violin: John Peckham on fretless bass; and Carlos B. Jones playing kit and percussion.

"It resonates from the heart of the earth itself," Kelly said of Woodland's music. "We try to bring it through - almost like a midwife," Woven through the notes are Emilio's lyrics, which he writes in the bardic poetry style of the Druids, "perceived by them to be divined from nature," he said.

In two short years, the magic of Woodland's music has captured not only the delicate faery tones of Celtic myth, but the imagination of the world's foremost "faery experts;" Brian and Wendy Froud of Devon, England.

The Frouds are famous for their depiction of faeries and other mythic characters in such movies as "The Dark Crystal" and "Labyrinth." for which Brian was the conceptual designer, or Yoda of "Star Wars" fame, which Wendy designed.

Their books, "Faeries," "Lady Cottington's Pressed Faery Book," "Good Faeries/Bad Faeries," and "The Winter Child," have sold millions of copies.

After receiving Woodland's first CD, "Heritage," from Emilio and Kelly, (who told the Froud's of the profound effect their faery books had on them), the Froud's called and the two couples forged a working bond.

Fans of the Frouds had been requesting the addition of entertainment to "experience" more fully the Froud's art, and Woodland's earthy, yet ethereal music was the answer.

"the Frouds paint the inner soul of nature; Woodland sets it to music," Emilio said: two different ways of bringing the faery realm to life. Woodland's second CD, "Into the Twilight," released this past November, featured the art of Brian Froud.

In turn, Emilio, a graphic designer by trade, created much of the multimedia on the Froud's Web site: www.worldoffroud.com

(Froud website created by Fionaurora Productions)

As part of a "faery partnership" with the Frouds, Woodland is preparing to tour its music to Europe.

Through art, music, poetry and myth, both Woodland and the Frouds believe they can reconnect people with the ancient spirituality traditions of Europe, "which has been forgotten," Emilio said. "We feel we are repairing the spiritual fabric of our people."

The faery world "shimmers in every autumn leaf and lingers in every cool blue shadow ... it gives every stone and stream and grove of trees vibrant, animate life," Froud wrote in "Good Faeries/Bad Faeries." "Faeries are the inner nature of our souls ... a land where wisdom is inseparable from whimsy and where leprechauns dance with the angels."

The glimmering music of Woodland and the luminous Froud faeries can whisk us back, Peter Pan-like, to an aeons-old place of magic and myth where the ancestors guide us through ancient and forgotten paths lain thick with faery dust and magic - a place where only our childhood recollections hold sway.