The Festival at Sandpoint is excited to announce Woods Wheatcroft as the 2022 poster artist for the annual concert series July 28, - August 7, 2022 at Memorial Field. Woods was selected by past poster artists as the 2022 poster artist.
Woods William Wheatcroft entered the planet in February 1970 in San Diego, California. A childhood of beach culture, family trips to neighboring Baja and lots of adolescent freedom during simpler times were early influences to a budding creative.
Idaho was added to the map in the mid 70’s as family divorce sparked a need to explore new environments. Woods attended elementary school in McCall in the 2nd, 3rd and 5th grades before graduating high school in San Diego in 1988. He then went on to study social science and photography at UC Berkeley and graduated in 1993.
Travel became a major influence after college as Wheatcroft hustled to photograph and put more stamps in his passport. Upon settling back in Idaho and trying to take the leap to make photography a full time gig, he received incomparable advice from another Idaho photographer, Andy Anderson, who said “Don’t spend more money going back to school. If you want to be a photographer you have to shoot and shoot and shoot.”
Advice heeded.
Early publications with Patagonia, Outside and other outdoor industry mainstays helped Wheatcroft become more confident to pursue his passion.
Fast forward 20 some years…photography is still the staple as are other applications within the medium. Photo collage since the college days is now part of the main menu. Polaroid and instant photography remain a vital creative sidecar to the digital age. “I love what I do and I love the collaborative space of working with friends and all of the dynamic humans I meet along this path.”
In drawing inspiration for this year’s Festival at Sandpoint, Wheatcroft’s love of music and multi decade documentation of the community of Sandpoint will come together in a “ Sgt Peppers-esque” homage and rendition. ….”we hope you will enjoy the show…” To learn more about Wheatcroft and see his work go to www.woodswheatcroft.com
About Poster Artists:
In the Festival’s first years, the poster’s function was to advertise the concert series, but has grown into more than that. It has become a way to showcase Bonner County’s talented array of artists, ranging from high school art teacher, Dan Shook, to quilters Sue Graves, Gerri Harvill and Helen Newton with “A Symphony of Threads”.
It is now the one facet of the Festival in which board members and staff do not have a say. Instead, an artist is chosen by a panel of former Festival artists. The panelists feel strongly that only a local artist can best reflect the beauty of the Festival.
Once unveiled in July, a signed print of the poster goes on sale to the public for just $10.
The original artwork is then bid on through the Festival until the winning bid is announced at the Grand Finale. All proceeds go to the Festival.
About the Festival:
The Festival at Sandpoint was founded in 1982 as a non-profit with the mission to make exceptional musicians and great performances accessible to the Sandpoint community and surrounding region. Along with making great music accessible, the Festival’s Education Mission also exposes up to 1,000 youth to no-cost music education opportunities year round through its Pre-K Outreach Program, Youth Strings Orchestra, Instrument assistance Program, scholarship program and more.
Learn more at https://www.festivalatsandpoint.com
