Arts Olympus launches multicultural art fair on historic Queen Mary

There’s the mime with the French accent, the Peruvian fashion designer and the Swiss sculptor. Their origins vary as much as their crafts but this weekend they, and dozens of other artists from across the globe, have gathered aboard the Queen Mary for something of a local world’s fair.

The goal: launch a project where artists of many cultures travel together in one ship taking their work and their ideas to docks across the world. The Queen Mary — a vessel that’s long been stationary in Long Beach — won’t be that ship, but the multinational nonprofit behind the project, Arts Olympus, is using the historic local site as its launch pad through today.

The event is the brainchild of artist Robert Slaughter. The Long Beach native began organizing get-togethers for artists a decade ago in New York and elsewhere. The meetings of minds, he said, rapidly grew in popularity.

“We were filling up cafes,” Slaughter said Saturday morning on the Queen Mary, as painted-faced performers buzzed by. “So we needed a special venue.”

Events for the weekend include Russian video art, stilts performances, puppet theater, Arabic belly dance and an American straw art exhibit, among others. They’re held in venues across the ship— for no charge but a voluntary donation.

Many of the artists aboard the Queen Mary said the draw for them is as much Slaughter as it is the unique idea. His varied arts background — in dance, music and other fine arts — makes him, they said, an ideal organizer for the eclectic project. For now, many are working practically as volunteers — a credit, they said, to Slaughter’s charisma and passion.

When asked what the project’s goal was, Slaughter, sweaty and energetic, broke down in tears. “Bringing people of all cultures together,” he said.

Slaughter’s many eccentricities are apparent — declining to share his age for fear of being compartmentalized, not owning a cellphone because he says he can feel the vibrations of the radio waves — but the artists on board said the oddities are what helped bring the ambitious project to life.

“I’m absolutely taken by him and this idea,” said sculptor Alfred Soland of Switzerland.

Soland said he was hoping to make it onto the ship’s final roster of traveling artists. His sculptures and jewelry incorporate what he called “ancient wisdom”: symbols and ideas from varied cultures, some extinct.

Ada Splopuco, a Peruvian fashion designer, said she got word of the project, and met Slaughter, through a mutual friend. She said she was quick to agree to display her multi-layered dresses for Slaughter’s launch.

“A ship having an exhibition in every port in the world,” she said. “It makes us all one; it makes us all close.”

Mike Kolodziej, a San Diego resident, attended the event Saturday with his wife and two small children. The family was on other business and happened upon the free event. Entertainment for the day included Irish dancing and a puppet show.

When they first strolled in, Kolodziej said, they caught a group of performers off guard through one of the portholes.

“We walked up and saw a room full of mimes. I don’t think we were supposed to be there, so it was kind of spooky,” he said.

More information can be found at https://www.artsolympus.org

robert.faturechi@latimes.com