Photo by Savannah Schmidt
Two ladies walk their dogs during the Moss Rock Festival at the Hoover Met on Nov. 3, 2024.
The Moss Rock Festival this weekend will celebrate its 20th year of exploring nature, “smart living” concepts and eco-creative art and design.
The event is slated to take place Saturday and Sunday in the parking lot in front of Hoover Metropolitan Stadium (10 a.m.-5 p.m. Saturday and 10 a.m.-4 p.m. Sunday).
The outdoor festival will feature more than 100 artists who use a wide array of mediums, from clay and fiber art to painting, printmaking, jewelry, furniture, photography, woodworking, metalworking, glass and mixed media.
FEATURED ARTIST
This year’s featured artist is Ines Orihuela of Pelham, who was born in Lima, Peru, in 1983. Orihuela began painting and drawing when she was 3 years old and later went on to study theater and perform as a singer at Imagenes School in Lima. Her grandfather was an esteemed painter and teacher in Peru.
Orihuela attended drawing and painting classes at the School of Fine Arts in Lima before moving to Birmingham in 1995 when her father was hired as a professor at the University of Alabama at Birmingham. In 1996, she became a student artist at Irondale’s Studio By The Tracks, a nonprofit art studio that serves a community of adults with autism. That studio has been instrumental in her artistic and personal development, according to her bio on the Moss Rock Festival website.
Photos from Moss Rock Festival website
Ines Orihuela is the featured artist for the 2025 Moss Rock Festival in Hoover, Alabama.
She has a wide range of subject matter. She is especially intrigued by the expressiveness, humor, flair and surrealist nature of wildlife, including pets, farm animals and exotic animals. She also enjoys drawing and painting plants, flowers and landscapes; reconstructing familiar scenes and fantastical evocations of her childhood and exploring self-portraits and imaginative visions of everyday objects. She has a fascination with the dolls of her childhood, reinterpretations of the old masters and collages of sophisticated and whimsical construction.
The Moss Rock Festival also each year includes a nature and “smart living” market that features items for everyday living that include fresh, organic, locally made, sustainable products and consumables in the areas of food, home décor, body and health products and technology.
There’s a Wonderkid Studio where children can take part in interactive art workshops, and there will be Planet Projects on display, which are art projects undertaken by children at various schools.
The Crescent Stage will feature live music and dance performances, and the festival café will feature food trucks by Eugene’s Hot Chicken, Hey Bebe (New Orleans-style food), Rae Rae’s Catering, Son’s Donuts and Son’s Pops. There also will be a sweetery area with treats for those with a sweet tooth.
The festival also has a beer garden open from 12:30 to 3 p.m. both days. Now in its 14th year, the craft tasting event features beer from Alabama breweries and beyond, wine, meads, snacks, beer floats, football viewing on Mr. Mancave’s screen wall, and a commemorative 13-ounce Belgian glass.
Tickets for the Moss Rock Festival cost $12 in advance and $15 at the gate, but children ages 18 and under get in free. Tickets for the beer garden cost $35 in advance or $45 at the gate and include full festival access.
Photo from Mad Hatter Dance Co. website
A dancer from the Mad Hatter Dance Co.
CRESCENT STAGE ENTERTAINMENT LINEUP
Saturday, Nov. 1
11:30 a.m. – Mad Hatter Dance Co.
Noon – Southern DanceWorks
12:30 p.m. – Dala Dance Co.
1 p.m. – Rebecca Egeland
2 p.m. – Tri-City Jazz Trio
3 p.m. – The Starlings
4 p.m. – Havoc
5:15-7 p.m. – The Legendary Pineapple Skinners
Sunday, Nov. 2:
11:45 a.m. – Wyrd Arts Group
12:30 p.m. – RUST
1:45 p.m. – Deader Than Disco
3:15 p.m. – Natyananda
For more information, including a gallery of the artists coming to the festival, or to buy tickets in advance, go to mossrockfestival.com.
