Kirby named 2012 Festival at Sandpoint poster artist

SANDPOINT - Scott Kirby has been selected to create the original artwork for the 2012 Festival at Sandpoint fine art poster.

Although the Sandpoint artist is known primarily as a world-class pianist, he has been recently acclaimed as a talented visual artist as well, with his sweeping depictions of the Great Plains to the east of his adopted North Idaho home.

Kirby was chosen by a committee made up of the festival's past poster artists, and the announcement was made at the festival's annual Wine Tasting, Dinner & Auction last week.

"It is an honor to be a part of this community and to create this artwork for something as important to the community as the festival is a great honor as well," says Kirby.

A native of Ohio, Kirby began his study of music at the age of 6, and continued formal piano instruction for 17 years. He worked under Robert Howat of Wittenberg University of Ohio, and Sylvia Zaremba at Ohio State University. After obtaining an English degree from Ohio State University, Kirby moved to New Orleans and began his professional music career as a street performer.

In the following four years, he recorded the complete rags of Scott Joplin, and made his debut at all of the major ragtime festivals in the United States, as well as festivals in Belgium, France, Norway, New Zealand and Hungary.

Kirby has served as musical director of the Scott Joplin Ragtime Festival in Sedalia, Mo., and of the Rocky Mountain Ragtime and American Music Festival in Boulder, Colo., as well as director of the San Juan Islands Ragtime Institute. His appearances include a segment on CBS News Sunday Morning with Charles Osgood in 1998, and at the Smithsonian Institute in Washington, D.C. Kirby co-founded a record company (Viridiana Productions, L.L.C.), has made 25 recordings, and has composed more than 150 original works for piano and other instruments. Admired by fellow pianists including George Winston, and hailed by Time Magazine as an "ace pianist," CBS News' Charles Osgood agreed that "...Critics call Scott Kirby one of the best interpreters of ragtime music on the scene today."

Kirby's artistic passion grew to include visual art, and in 2005, while living in France, he completed 75 paintings and 28 piano compositions, including "The Prairie Devotionals." The paintings (belonging to a set entitled "Visions of the Great Plains") and the new musical works set the groundwork for his new multi-media project "Main Street Souvenirs."

Kirby now lives in Sandpoint with his wife, Marie-Dominique, and two daughters, Sara and Leah-Marie, and divides his time between composing, painting, performing and teaching.

The festival will unveil Kirby's original artwork at the much anticipated poster unveiling event on Thursday, July 12, at Dover Bay to kick off the festival's 30th annual summer concert series set for Aug. 2-12 at Memorial Field. The artwork will be displayed on posters and other festival memorabilia during the season, and the original will be auctioned off to benefit The Festival at Sandpoint, a nonprofit arts organization.

Information: Festival at Sandpoint, www.FestivalatSandpoint.com; or Scott Kirby, www.scottkirby.net