Wednesday, September 20, 2023

Autumn Art Festivals

 I completed two new expressionistic abstracts this past week.   I invite you to decipher what each means to you.  The beauty of abstract is that it speaks to each individual personally.  What you see may not be what others see.  For me, as the painter, the fun is in intuitively laying paint on the canvas, turning it up, down, and sideways, and walking away to really get to know the piece.  The  emotions, forms, symbols and meaning behind the art usually begin to shine through when I am viewing the art from a different perspective.  It is when it reveals itself to me that I am able to title the piece.  Let me know what you see in these pieces of art. Beyond


On any given weekend in September and October you will find small towns and cities filled with fall arts and crafts street festivals and plein air paint outs.  I hope you will take the time to get out and explore your area.  These last few weeks have found me varnishing, framing and preparing for local art festivals. Cummimg GA’s “World Of Art Festival” was a recent one I enjoyed.  There was street food, arts and crafts, dance groups, and Celtic and Mariachi bands. I learned the history of the Brannon-Heard House, where the Art Center is located in Cumming.  The house was built in 1905, and has been the Brannon Hotel, a home to the Heard Family, the town’s school teachers’ dormitory during the week (they went back to the country on the weekends), and even a dentist one used one of the upstairs rooms for his practice, before being used for weddings and other events, before becoming home to the Arts Center in recent years.  The house was considered haunted, although no one has heard from the ghosts for years.  It now houses an art gallery and a gift store filled with artistic treasures. They usually change out the theme for the exhibitions in the gallery every 3-4 weeks.  Various art classes are also held there throughout the week. 


Last weekend was the Roswell Art Festival.  Roswell Fine Arts Alliance had a tent there with art from its membership.  There are so many gifted artists in Roswell, GA , who show regularly at the Gallery in Roswell, as well as at many local venues. The event was held “rain ir shine”, and boy did it rain the whole first day.  That didn’t stop the shoppers.  They donned their umbrellas and ponchos and braved the weather.  The turnout was amazing.  On Sunday the sun was out, and the visitors were steady.  Food trucks fed multitudes of people, while a rock band played music reminiscent of the 60’s. 


The weekend  also held a major event, the Cumming Art Festival at the beautiful Cumming City Center. The Center offers a huge boutique shopping area, numerous restaurants, putt-putt gold, a children’s playground, and grassy concert arena.  Tents lined both sides of the busy streets selling everything from original art, pottery, jewelry and every imaginable craft.  The event was a huge success with many out-of-towners, as well as locals like myself, discovered the City Center’s many charms f oh r the first time. 


Roswell is having a “Sip and Stroll” coming up, hosted by the Roswell Women’s Club this year on Oct. 22nd from 2:00 pm- 6:00 pm.  Ticket holders will get a “passport” to several Canton Street merchants redeemable for free drinks and discounts as they stroll & vote for the best “BOO Y’aLL Scarecrows”  by local artists on display.  Tickets are on sale at the website.  Everyone must  be 21 or older to purchase tickets.  Single ticket = $30,  Couples ticket = $50.  September, where bar and restaurant crawlers will be walking up and down the sidewalks of the historic city of Roswell viewing artwork from local artist with Halloween Entries that are sure to surprise visitors. 


Art is definitely in the air during the months of Autumn everywhere. 


“I would like to recapture that freshness of vision which is characteristic of extreme youth when all the world is new to it.” -Henri Matisse


I hope you have a fun week! 


Diane






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