Do you have a favorite Marblehead Festival of Arts logo? With nearly 60 to choose from, residents will soon have the chance to bid on several at a special auction.
“The family of Dr. Edward Joseph Robinson has donated 34 framed logos from 1983 to 2010,” said MFoA President Cynda Rohmer. “Many are single logos, and a few are framed program book covers. In addition, they have donated seven sculptures by Beverly Benson Seamans.”
Seamans, a longtime Marblehead resident, died in 2012. Her work has been displayed in galleries, parks and cathedrals around the world. Five of her bronze statues are located in town, including the harbor seal at Crocker Park and the drummer boy at Marblehead High School.
Rohmer hopes to raise about $10,000 through the auction.
A first-look party is scheduled for Friday, March 6, from 5 to 7 p.m. at Abbot Hall. Admission is free. RSVP to marbleheadfestival.org/event-details/robinson-auction-first-look/form.
CURRENT PHOTOS / LEIGH BLANDER
Online bidding will open following the event and continue through Sunday, April 5, at 7 p.m. Proceeds will fund a Festival scholarship for a student pursuing a career in the medical field.
All of the logos were displayed in Robinson’s home. Robinson died in 2024, and his house was recently sold.
“Dr. Robinson was an avid fan of the Festival and collected all these logos,” Rohmer said. “Every single one was framed by Arnould Gallery. We also have some old Festival glasses that we’ll be doing a silent auction on at the event. It really was a treasure trove.”
Each year, the Festival invites artists from across the North Shore to create and submit a logo. A panel of judges narrows the field to three finalists, and community members then vote for the winner.
Rohmer, who has been involved with the Festival for a decade, said she could not choose a favorite from the collection.
She told the Current that viewing so many designs from different eras offered valuable perspective.
“It gives me context on what the images were like before things like AI,” she said. “I feel like a lot of these images were really creative, and I love the free-formness of them.”
To learn more about the Festival, which runs every year during the Fourth of July holiday weekend, visit marbleheadfestival.org.
