The second weekend in May is filled with opportunities to see and support the arts on the greater Seacoast.

On Friday, May 8, ArtsFest combines an eclectic mix of theater, dance and music performances in one show at the Rochester Opera House. On Saturday, May 9, another creative collaboration makes up the second annual Arts Festival at One Washington Center in Dover. That same day, artists at the Salmon Falls Mill in Rollinsford will open their studios and offer other entertainment to visitors. 

ArtsFest Showcase is an innovative performance that includes hip-hop, reggae, Broadway, African drumming, visual arts, modern dance, comedy skits and more. “It’s so entertaining that everyone’s going to like it,” said artistic director Erin Lovett Sherman. 

The artists featured this year are Mango Groove Steel Band, reggae group Revelation, Arts Rochester Dance Ensemble, Franklin Footlight Theatre Company, visual artist Katy LeMay, and the ArtsFest Dance and Performing Arts Company and Percussion Ensemble. Guest musician Kiernan McMullen also appears at the show as part of his national tour.

The ArtsFest company is a collective of New Hampshire’s performing artists in all genres, said Sherman, a professional dancer. She established the company, based in Laconia, 10 years ago for artist networking, promotion and professional development. It also offers art retreats and performances. 

Sherman said collaboration makes performances more interesting. People who might not go see a play or go to an art gallery might go to a show that combines the performing and visual arts. She compared the ArtsFest Showcase to an old-fashioned vaudeville show.

The shows draw a diverse audience, since many people come to see a particular genre, she said. “They get exposed to different things they would enjoy, but wouldn’t necessarily go see,” she said.

The company encourages people to explore themselves by trying different things, Sherman said. “Art should be a part of everybody’s life,” she said. “It’s so enriching, whether art, dance, music or theater, or whatever speaks to them. It can really change their life.”

The Arts Festival in Dover celebrates a vibrant arts community by featuring visual arts, dance performances, live music and theater. It runs from 10 a.m. until 3 p.m. on Saturday.

Last year, the free event attracted more than 1,000 visitors, but lead organizer Brint Shone said the arts community was still in development last year and he expects the crowd to double this year.

The mills have become a hub for the arts, with more than 40 working artists and studios throughout the building. The Galleries at One Washington Center will coordinate with a month-long group show featuring work by the artists of the Picker Building.

Professional artists and crafters will sell original work. The diverse show includes Gretchen Hatfield, Deloris White, Ann Larkey, Caryn Duncan, Joe Tang, Alix Dworkin, Aaron Rohde and Caroline Parent. It runs through June 6. 

Starting in fall, One Washington Center will also house the Cocheco Arts and Technology Academy, a charter high school where artistic talent and technical skills thrive. The students will perform scenes from their spring production of “Dracula.”

Because the mill building has such a large, unique layout, it isn’t conducive to open studio days like at Salmon Falls, Shone said. It’s also shared by artists and businesses, and a festival allows everyone to participate. New this year is an outdoor specialty foods market with both local farmers and restaurants located in the mills. 

Shone said mill buildings have become perfect art studios, but they aren’t perfect buildings. He is also the property manager and said old mills can be challenging from that perspective, but are seeing a resurgence thanks to new uses by creative people. He said the Dover Arts Collaborative has grown dramatically in the past year.

The event partners include the Children’s Museum, located a short walk across the bridge from the mill property, where Dr. Seuss’s “Cat in the Hat” will be visiting the same day. The festival also offers face painting, balloon sculptures and a reading of “Twaddleton’s Cheese” by children’s author Ryan Higgins. Local children’s artwork will also be displayed throughout the mill.
The spring open studio event in the Mills at Salmon Falls in Rollinsford on Saturday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. invites the public behind the doors where local artists create.

Painters, photographers, woodworkers, printmakers and sculptors who work at the mills include Brian Chu, Brian Coleman, Taintor Davis Child, Cleone Graham, Deborah Hodgdon, Tinka Prichett, Wen Redmond, Tricia Toms, Cappy Whelan and Shiao-Ping Wang.

Built in the 1820s, the Mills were used for textile manufacturing for nearly a century and a half, but the bright, expansive spaces are now filled with more than 100 artists. One of them, Christopher Volpe, said he supports re-purposing these big brick buildings that were made to be used and made to last. “I think it’s great that these old industrial-age factories are now being used to turn out one-of-a-kind works of art,” he said in an e-mail.

Volpe, who paints poetic landscapes in oil, said the studio is an ideal outlet in an exploratory stage of creativity and career. “It’s affordable, and the space just feels really utilitarian, unpretentious, like it’s about getting to work,” he said.

The semi-annual open studio days are part of the appeal, he said, because for some artists, it’s their primary means of reaching the public. For others it’s about showing their work and interacting with people in a completely casual setting, he added.

As a train rolled by the mills last week, painter Stephanie Holt said her studio sometimes feels like an artist’s loft in the city, but the sound of the Salmon Falls River pulls her back to the small town. Being a part of a community of artists helps her get ideas, encouragement and critiques, and share techniques and theories, she said.

Open studio days let people into that community to see how the creative process works, she said. “People who aren’t artists think it’s a magical, mysterious process,” she said. “For people who do it, you just do it.”

Holt spends hours in her studio painting her colorful still-life work and listening to music. Her personality and her history come out in her work, as seen in paintings of the blue prom dress she wore and the iridescent teapots she collects. 

The walls are covered in her bright paintings, except in one corner where her granddaughter has an easel. “Being an artist affects a lot of people’s lives around you,” she said.

In Studio 220, Rachel Zoll Schumacher will offer unique hand-printed organic apparel and accessories and painted home wares. Jeremy Heflin Photography, in Studio 328, is lifting sitting fees for the day for family portraits. In Studio 549, Barbara London will not only have new watercolor paintings and cards, but also her new recording, a collection of acoustic instrumental pieces with flute and drum duets as well as meditative piano tracks.

There are also live performances planned, including belly dancing by Lotus Moon Dance. There will be art stations for children and refreshments at the Front Street Market.