2020 is the seventh year for Mountain Music Festival at ACE Adventure Resort and we are ready to throw one hell of a party! With the entire lineup now released we can feel the stoke for Lettuce, The Wood Brothers, The Infamous Stringdusters, TAUK, Big Something & more to rock the mountaintop. Over 30 bands are coming to the New River Gorge June 4th-6th plus visual artists, vendors, workshops, adventures and more fun than you can have in one weekend. We are super excited to share the official poster art for this year designed by MMFest visual artists Brian Zickafoose. This is the third year Brian has created our poster artwork and he continues to blow us away with each piece of artwork he creates. We asked him a few questions about the MMFest 2020 poster.
What inspired the 2020 MMFest Lineup Poster?
Mountain Music Festival is a really special gathering that draws a magical blend of people together in the name of music and I wanted the art to reflect that uniquely West Virginian experience. Anyone who has spent any time in WV can vouch that you’re bound to encounter an interesting array of folk and other anomalies of nature. Cryptids are not considered mythical beings per se but are more likely to be regarded as common knowledge. Aliens, UFO’s, Mothman – seems like everybody has seen them all at one time or another. Hell, I met Bat Boy once at the Hardee’s in McDowell. Growing up on the farm in Danese, we had a family of Sasquatch living right over the hill. The dad – ole Fuzzy – drove a forest green 1974 AMC Hornet that was pretty swanky! He used to clean his ear out with the key. The working title for this piece was “West Virginia Cryptid Family Jam.”
How was the poster art created? What were the steps for this process?
I come upon ideas for artwork in bizarre places. For this piece, I first envisioned the layout for the composition in the bottom of a wicked bowl of minestrone soup. There it was just swirling around in some beans and spices.
I always start developing images as a thumbnail drawing or small sketch. Then I take a break – I recommend a lot of breaks. Eventually, I pen a rough draft and scan it into Adobe Illustrator, where I redraw the image in the computer as a vector graphic. The festival art needs to look crispy in a number of different environments and so it’s well worth the reward for the amount of effort that goes into the process.
What art will you be showing off at MMFest?
I’m pleased to report that I’ll be dropping that new new. It’s difficult to predict what art I’ll actually be displaying at the event because I’m currently closing in on over a dozen new pieces. I haven’t slept in weeks! You may follow progress pics of my work in my stories on Instagram @Zickafunk – rest assured that I’ll be posting up with the Pigment Sanctuary paint squad on a dazzling new mural during the course of the festivities. Come check us out in the circus tent. Bring doobies!!
What is your favorite thing to do at MMFest?
It’s hard to shake a stick at some late night banter and boogie over a frosty beer with some wooks at the Strange Stage. Cooling off on the beach at the ACE Waterpark comes in a close second.
Anything else you want to add?
Like any good West Virginian I want to add slaw to my chili dog and gravy to my biscuits but don’t add any sauce to my pepperoni roll – that shit’s gross. I hope to see you at the festival – Brian Zickafoose
See you on the Mountain
West Virginia’s best music festival is going down June 4th – 6th at ACE Adventure Resort. Dance with Mothman, Sasquatch, Bat Boy & all your friends on the mountaintop this summer. Early bird tickets will only be available for a little longer so grab your tickets and save off advance pricing. You can even lock in early bird pricing by setting up a payment plan with ACE Adventure Resort at 877-382-5893. See all you beautiful people this June at Mountain Music Festival 2020!
