Yesterday a trio of friends (you'll have to take my word about that since they're all camera phobic) and I went on a road trip in 95 degree heat and humidity to check out this great art festival. It's been voted a Top Ten art festival in the U.S. for several years. I expect they'll keep that rating after what we saw and experienced yesterday. The festival is in the heart of Kentucky horse country on Midway College campus.
The road onto Francisco Farm was lined with these festive renaissance flags--very exciting to see them flapping in the breeze. Also encouraging for the promise of a cooling breeze while we walked around.
Near the entrance to the fair I spotted this sign. The sentiment may be a bit dark, but hard to argue that art in its many forms helps us to feel pleasure whether we're creating it ourselves or just appreciating other artists' works. Apologies to Stella--her last name is Adler, not Adle.
Here's a long view of the festival area. It was set up on Midway College's beautiful campus lawn. We were sheltered from some of the heat by the great old trees. Throughout the campus grounds there were areas set aside where you could take a break and listen to some nice music from a live quartet. Later in the day there was some lovely singing that was not too loud or raucous.
I spotted these two guys enjoying a bit of the music from these straw bale seats. Grownup guy gets extra points for bringing little guy to this type of event.
No surprise that this booth was my favorite of the over 100 that were set up. Debbie Graviss is a local artist who specializes in painting animals, especially pets. She is a volunteer with the Woodford Humane Society and many of her subjects are from the WHS which has a great reputation for its work on behalf of animal welfare and rescue.Here are some closeups of her work, including "Miss Lilly", a graduate of the Woodford County Humane Society:
Look closely. Can you see the dog? When we were sharing photos, KH thought this may be a glass sculpture, like one of Dale Chihuly's fanciful pieces. You can see where she might get that idea!
When it came time to select a memento from the festival I would have been happy with some pottery in earth tones, silver and agate earrings, lovely textiles and paintings. I chose some small botanical colored pencil drawings of bleeding hearts, lily of the valley,blue columbine, and pink lady slippers by artist Sharon Kincheloe. My colored pencils are already sharpened and ready to try to copy them.
Then there was so much beautiful nature photography to choose from, but "Morning Rush" by photographer John W. Snell was an early and easy choice. This photograph was taken in the beautiful Red River Gorge of eastern Kentucky.
This scene is very familiar to me as I grew up in these mountains and first learned to appreciate the beauty of nature there. I'll enjoy looking at this work as a reminder of that time and a wonderful day with friends at the Francisco Farm Art Festival on the hottest day in June.
