Arts Festival

-
The Utah Arts Festival has been going on for many many years. A long time ago a friend at church was one of the directors of the festival and I volunteered to paint children's faces. I returned each summer for a couple of years putting in a few hours here and there. I'm not sure why I stopped volunteering - perhaps because the twins were born. We make it to the festival about every other year nowadays. This was the year so my three girls and I headed off to the Arts Festival between rain storms and as always we saw some amazing art.
I am always amazed at how clever people are with their art, like the recycled metal sculptures. I definitely recognized the cloth on the children's clothing. I also love seeing art which makes me wonder if I could do it too - usually the answer is "no, no I can't" and that is why I love seeing it.
The figures on these Peruvian pieces are so small and have wonderful little details. Each "house" tells a different story.
I fell in LOVE with these journals from Iona Handcrafted books.
They are so earthy and beautifully made. If I had had the money I would have bought one and treasured it instead of writing in it so it is a good thing I didn't have any money because they are made to be written in!

I was a bit sad when we visited the Children's Art Yard as my girls are kind of too big for it now.
I loved that they were selling peanut butter and jelly sandwiches with a cup of milk for the kids!
This booth outside the Children's Art Yard made us all drool a bit. The twins both wanted the bow and arrow set as well as a puppet. My older daughter and I loved the flower headbands, fairy wings and princess crowns.
There were a number of potters at the festival. This set of dishes really caught my eye. I love the bright colors.
There was even a yard dedicated to Urban Art. You could buy personalized tennis shoes or hats as well as these paintings. The art on the cube was being made and remade. It amazes me what a person can do with spray paint!
The festival takes place on the grounds around Library Square and Washington Square. We dashed into the Library to cool off for a bit. I love this Library. It is beautiful but I love the small homeyness of my local branch, plus it's closer so I don't come here very often. My friend, however makes the trek and volunteers here every week and likes to share funny stories about the crazy things people do at this library. And there are some very crazy things!


Funny thing is I don't have any pictures in which you can tell this is a library at all. There is so much more to it - especially for two more days with the Utah Arts Festival going on right outside.

Comments

Sylvia said…
I haven't been to this in years. i remember when it used to be free. I think that the last time we went, we got in free with our Starzz tickets. It was held in the street outside the Delta Center. Michelle Shocked performed. It was fun.
June 27, 2009 at 4:14 PM
Jane Babcock said…
Mild weather helps this year. Some years it has been very very hot. Looks like you had fun.
June 27, 2009 at 5:46 PM
Anneliese said…
I love the pictures. I especially love the pictures you took of the library and its gardens. I never think to bring my camera when I go. I guess that's probably a good thing because I'm sure I'd take pictures of the crazys and be escorted out with the charge of voyeurism.

Did you get rained on? I hope not.
June 27, 2009 at 7:17 PM
Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Gelli Plate Tutorial with Leaves

-
Image
Here's the Gelli Plate Tutorial you asked for! My Gelli plate has been well used and well loved. 1. Place Gelli Plate on a flat, covered working surface, and place small dots of paint onto the plate.  My demo photos are with me using acrylics and paper but it works exactly the same with fabric paint and fabric.  I like using Jacquard Textile paint when I make fabric prints. 2. Use a brayer to spread the paint evenly across the plate. 3.  I used the leaves as a resist for the first print. 4. Place the paper/fabric on top of the printing plate and smooth it out nicely to get an even print. 5.  Carefully lift up the paper/fabric. Found a photo from when I printed the fabric - see same process. This is a first print. 5.  I know that MONOprinting means ONE print but seriously, when you remove the leaves from the plate there are these beautifully textured leaves left on the plate just dying to be printed.  I couldn't ignore t...
Read more

Quilt National

-
Image
My husband and I took a red-eye flight to Columbus, Ohio, and then drove the one hour to Athens, Ohio, to attend the opening of the Quilt National quilt show where my piece, Wild Flowers was being shown. Made a stop at Tim Horton's, a Canadian chain for some delicious breakfast sandwiches and donut holes. We went to the Kennedy Art Museum, on the Ohio University campus. This is the side of the building. Photo of the front of the building from the cleveland.com website. The building was designed in the 1860s by Cleveland architect Levi Scofield, and was originally part of the Athen's Lunatic Asylum. It opened in 1996 as the Kennedy Museum of Art. There were some lovely prints, paintings and exhibits. It didn't take long to tour, which was good for my knees. I was glad to be able to see this Elizabeth Catlett print. I admire her work. I've seen some of her her other prints in person, and was anxious to also see this one. Friday evening, the Quilt National show opened, and...
Read more

Fabric Printing at Home Blog Tour

-
Image
About two months ago I wrote a review about the book Fabric Printing at Home written by my friend, Julie B. Booth . Today I'm going to show you one of the things I learned from her book and then give you an opportunity to win a copy of the book for yourself. I used a hot glue gun to create a design onto a toilet paper roll.  I was impatient and didn't seal the toilet paper roll with white glue or a gel medium before creating my design.   I inserted a short roller handle that one can find at the local hardware store into the toilet paper roll. . .   . . . and used my 3x5" Gelli Plate as a paint palette.  I rolled the paint across a sample piece of fabric. . . . . .first going long ways. . .  . . .and then again short ways. I really like the texture this provides whether I go once or twice across the fabric and I'm gladly adding it to my art "toolbox."  Have you tried something like this before?  What ha...
Read more