Arts in the Heart of Augusta wasn’t the only festival in the CSRA celebrating—and exhibiting—rare and unusual works of art of the weekend.
Georgia Horror Fest convened at the Columbia County Exhibition Center in Grovetown, Sunday, from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Event promoter David Hess, who also organizes the JoeFest and AugustaCon conventions, estimated that this second annual iteration of the spooky-themed pop-culture festival drew between 300 and 500 people.
Many of those opted to come dressed as their favorite movie monsters and slashers, while others tested videogames at the GameTroopers station, or perused libraries of comic books for sale.
Rosemary Hamrick manned a booth for the Art of S. Hamrick, for her mother, Aiken-based multimedia artist Samantha Hamrick, which featured fantasy and sci-fi themed prints. Rosemary herself also displayed her own works, which she sells via an online shop called Etheralinsecta, consisting of insects on display.
“I take real insects, real butterflies,” she said, presenting jars she has crafted with intricate miniature dioramas. “Everything I try to put in, it is real.”
Savannah-based artist Paul Downs had illustrations for sale of fantasy, horror and science fiction subjects, including originals and fan arts, in a variety of styles from watercolor to oil and acrylic. He found Sunday’s turnout favorable, he said, though he was nervous at first that crowds at Arts in the Heart might prove a detriment.
“I wondered how much that was going to take the oxygen out of it,” said Downs, who has featured in other Augusta area conventions, including AugustaCon. “I was at an art market on Wilmington Island outside Savannah yesterday, and that’s a different crowd than a crowd that would come to the Horror Fest.”
Attendees could meet actors like Douglas Tait—who played iconic slasher villain Jason Voorhees in the final scene of “Freddy vs. Jason”—and his wife, indie horror producer and actress Isabel Cueva; or chat with horror novelist Nancy A. Collins, whose bibliography includes her renowned series of books about vampire hunter Sonja Blue and her early-90’s run of DC Comics’ “Swamp Thing.”
Collins, whose career spans over 35 years, recalls how the pop-culture convention scene has changed over the years, with larger events often drawing upwards of 100,000 attendees.
“It’s radically different,” she said, remembering her first time at the world-famous San Diego Comic Con over three decades ago. “First time I ever went, there was 30,000 people, and everyone was saying, ‘Oh, wow!’ Now, if there were 40,000 people, they’d be panicking.”
The next upcoming convention will be the Augusta Anime-Fest at the DoubleTree Hilton on Nov. 2.
Skyler Q. Andrews is a staff reporter covering business for The Augusta Press. Reach him at skyler@theaugustapress.com.
