Randy Baynton works on a still life inside his Troutville studio. He is preparing works to be shown in the Marginal Art Show in Roanoke.

Josh Meltzer | The Roanoke Times

This still life is one of Randy Bayton's paintings that will be on exhibit in the Marginal Art Show. Organizers say the artists' work is cathartic for them.

Josh Meltzer | The Roanoke Times

Denise Valente's dolls are based on the idea that people often do so much to make themselves look better that in the end they actually look worse.

Jeanna Duerscherl | The Roanoke Times

Marginal Arts Festival

Friday

• When: 8 p.m.
• Where: Dumas Center, 108 Henry St., Roanoke
• What: Underground music; Sound Works; visual poetry; collaborative art

Saturday

• When: Noon to 10 p.m.
• Where: Dumas Center
• What: Performance poetry; guerilla theater; performance art; readings; moderated discussion

Sunday

• When: Noon to 6 p.m.
• Where: Dumas Center
• What: Documentary films; narrative films; video art

Monday

• Exhibitions at H.L. Lawson Warehouse, 700 Block of Campbell Avenue S.E. 3 p.m., 6 p.m., 8 p.m.
• Curated exhibitions; window installation; power tool drag racing; photo installation; mail art
• 5 p.m., Respiratory Space, 108 Campbell Ave. S.W.

Feb. 5

• Community School’s Fat Tuesday Celebration fundraiser
• 7 p.m., $10.
• Fitzpatrick Hall at Jefferson Center
• Fat Tuesday Celebration
• Music by Blue Mule; paintings for sale by Community High School graduates; desserts and cash bar

For more information, visit roanokemarginalartsfestival.blogspot.com.

What is "marginal arts?"

From independent films and punk music to power-tool drag racing and mail art, marginal arts run the gamut. The style almost defies definition.

So Brian Counihan decided to have a festival for it.

It started a few years ago, when Counihan, program coordinator for art and humanities at Community High School, was asked if he would allow some of his students' artwork to be sold during the school's annual Fat Tuesday Celebration fundraiser, whose proceeds fund scholarships to the private school.

Counihan, thinking that students would not learn anything positive from auctioning off their works, decided not to allow students to sell artwork and instead created the festival, which will act as a four-day build-up to the fundraiser. More importantly, Counihan sees the festival as a way to demonstrate the importance of avant-garde art in the community.

The festival will be held Friday through Feb. 4 at various locations in Roanoke, including the Dumas Center for Artistic and Cultural Development and Counihan's own studio, the old H.L. Lawson warehouse on Campbell Avenue.

The marginal community

Counihan, who has a degree in painting and printmaking from one of Ireland's most prestigious four-year art institutions and multiple degrees in the arts from Northwestern University, coined the term "marginal art" when he needed a name for his festival.

"Marginal communities and marginal arts fit together," Counihan explained.

"Marginal communities are people like refugees and victims of crimes or violence or people that don't have community. Marginal art deals with people who have felt trauma. Art is cathartic."

This first Marginal Arts Festival will showcase the work of local artists and international collaborations of artists, as well as the work of some Community High School students.

And while not every marginal artist has suffered "trauma," Counihan says their work is still cathartic for them.

Marginal artists, Counihan says, also have one important thing in common: "There's an unwritten law about making money. They just don't do it."

That's one reason the event is free.

Counihan also believes that with help from one another, the art can be better promoted. For example, he envisions some of the visual art often considered marginal on a new album cover for an indie band. He hopes that by bringing all the different artists together, they will create networks and eventually form a community of artists known throughout the region.

But, back to original question: What are marginal arts, exactly?

Acceptably bizarre

"The marginal arts are bizarre and still not really objectionable," said Counihan. He explained that while most of the art is not intended to be hung on a wall and analyzed, most people will look at it.

Take, for example, the yellow, fabric sculpture exhibit, "Endless Suture Project," in the windows of the Community School in downtown Roanoke.

Creator Ralph Eaton -- an artist who grew up in Roanoke, moved to California and is now back in town -- has another display of sculptures called "Gray Matter" that will be showcased at the Dumas Center during the festival.

Eaton defines his art as highly conceptual pieces. The yellow sculptures are made of fake fur and stuffed with old belongings that he said outlived their usefulness to him.

"I think that much of [art] is designed for sales and some of this fringe or marginal stuff tends to not always be consumer friendly," he said.

Then there's the music of the Wading Girl, a folk, Americana Salem-based indie band who will perform Friday night.

Still more is the international collaboration of mail art collected by Jim Leftwich of Roanoke. Leftwich recently donated half his collection to Ohio State University, and John Bennet, the curator of the Avant Writing Collection for the Ohio State University Libraries, will be at the festival Saturday night. He will lead a panel discussing mail art, which is created when one artist adds something to a piece and sends it to another artist who will make another addition.

Also, four Roanoke Valley respiratory therapists have created "Respiratory Space," an exhibit of paintings, dolls and other works of art.

One of the therapists is Denise Valente, whom Counihan asked to take part in the festival. She creates dolls and stuffed animals that she says would be scary if they weren't so ridiculous.

That's marginal art.