Most years, 300,000 plus visitors hit the small town of Mt. Dora to view art by "juried" artists from all over the U.S. This year, however, it rained...
and RAINED...
and RAINED on Saturday... traditionally the largest attendance day...and the crowds were smaller than planned. All the streets of downtown Mt. Dora were lined with tents with artists, vendors of all kinds, and food! And along the sides of the tents...on the other sides of the sidewalks, wonderful shops and shopkeepers were offering shelter from the rain...while they hoped for sales. (Julianne's Coastal Cottage had a RECORD day!!! Of course, with tastings of their tropical wine smoothies, how could they not draw a crowd. I LOVED the pina colada and mango smoothies!!!)
This was my first time attending the art festival. I went with the idea of scouting out the scene to determine if there was a place for my art. I am happy to say, YES....if I want to go to the trouble of transporting everything 2 hours away from my home, finding lodging for 3 days, etc. I spoke with many artists...and learned so much...Not just about the show, but I learned new techniques to try.
Honestly, though, I was a bit disappointed in much of the art...There was little in the way of painted canvas. Those I found were quite interesting. But most of what I saw were photographs which were transferred to canvas and called "PAINTINGS". (I am not talking about giclees of original artwork, but digital photographs.) I love this medium and all that can be done with photoshop, but I would not claim them as paintings... What truly upset me, though, were the prints I have seen on allposters.com and art.com which were framed and called "original" by the displaying artists. There were even photos taken from the National Geographic and Flickr websites which were framed...and claimed as "originals" by the artist. (This I know because I had just been searching these sites for photos to determine the colors and patterns of some tropical creatures...and I recognized them!) Bad form!
Now that I have ranted and gotten that out of my system....here are some of the interesting art forms I found...some of which I am now coveting for my home...
These dogs were so amusing! There was even one that reminded me of Hurley...my Boggle Granddog.
Notice the thin lines running throughout the glass... That's silver!
All of the glass on display were in soft, coastal colors...
BILL SLADE and JON SLADE
Silver-veiled Glass
These artists have work in several permanent museum collections, including:
Ringling Museum of Art; Sarasota, FL
Corning Glass Museum; Corning, NY
Wheaton Museum of American Glass; Millville;
(Always ask before you take photos!!!)
Don't you just love the diversity of these paintings...and the bold colors!!!
My favorite painter, Dawn Kinney Martin, from Atlanta, had some of the most incredible paintings on display...They were all painted with a palette knife and thick acrylic paints. There was so much dimension to her work! I did not dare ask to photograph her work. (You can visit her gallery at www.dawnart.com . It's worth the visit!) She did, however, explain her technique of photographing her subject in black and white and shared some of the photos which inspired her paintings. Dawn explained that the black and white photos gave her a value sketch from which to work and allowed her to capture the energy of her subject with color and a palette knife. I was fascinated! (I would LOVE to attend one of her workshops/classes.)
Here are a couple of photos of my absolute favorite artwork on display...if only I had a few thousand to spare...
Then they are reassembled to create a gorgeous "quilt"...
I met Will Armstrong, one of the artists who creates these beautiful pieces. He explained the process used. It's fascinating... You can see a short slide show of the process on their website...and other examples of their work...by visiting them at:
www.metalquilt.com
Oh drool....and dream...Maybe I'll win the lottery...
Maybe I should learn how to do this.......
Nah! I'll just have to sell a LOT of my own art to raise money to purchase one of these...
Speaking of selling my art...our next Art at Home is scheduled for MARCH 19...Mark your calendars. More info will be posted soon...
Jane
***I am linking with Susan at asoutherndaydreamer.blogspot.com and Outdoor Wednesday. Be sure to stop by for a visit!
14 comments:
Oh Jane, those metal quilts are amazing! I also love the lobster and wine painting — two of my favorite things, especially together, lol.
Sorry you had rain all weekend, I know I stayed in the house, no beaching for me.
I can't wait for Art at Home!!!!!!!!!
Well... if you sell a lot, you could use the proceeds to purchase what speaks to you. The glass pieces are very special.
It may have rained, but I see most people had on shorts...I'm jealous. :o)
This looks like a fun event. The glass work is pretty but I adore that last quilt.
We were out of town in NC this weekend so missed this great event and the rain too. Still got a lot of the wet stuff when we came back on Monday.
What a rip that it rained. Mt. Dora is such a fun place to visit. We usually go there around Christmas time. It is such a magical town.
Joyce M
Wow....lotsa neat stuff. And girl, I am right there with you on the non-integrity of some artists who use other's work and call it their own. I'm a traditionalist who would love to still use my old camera and film. (nothing beat getting your film processed and sitting in the car in the parking lot to see if you got what you wanted!) But alas....to be in the sport, you've got to keep up to beat the competition, therefore; photoshop became a part of my world.
But I still believe that a true artist has to have the "eye" for their work.....and it shows when you don't and have to rely on other people's work to get noticed. sigh....ok, off the soapbox now!!
Go to the workshop...treat yourself! You'll never regret doing it.....only not doing it!!!
And the networking in those seminars is worth more than the content sometimes!!
That rain must have covered the eastern part of the US. What an interesting art show. I am not an artist, but I surely can appreciate all the creativity! Linda (p.s. My tulips probably camge from either the grocery store or Home Depot - :)
That metal quilt is extraordinarily beautiful. Sorry it rained, but it looked like it lots of visitors!
quite interesting event and I like some of the artworks you've shown.
Thanks so much for this excellent report on Mount Dora. I have shared it on my website for art fair artists, ArtFairInsiders.com.
Did you buy any art???
Hi Jane,
Sounds like you had a good day despite the weather. The Silver-veiled Glass is very pretty - love the color! The metal quilts are beautiful! I love Mount Dora and am hoping to go to the Spring Antiques, Collectibles & Crafts Show being held March 26-27, 2011.
Hugs,
Tracy
Weird that people would label art as original if it's not. Go figure. Sounds like a great event!!!
The GLASS! Oh how I would love to have it! I enjoy art shows like this one but I don't go to as many as I would like.
Have a wonderful day!
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