Finding Cool Art at Main Street

A couple of weeks ago we went to the Fort Worth Main Street Arts Festival. Actually, I went twice. Blocks and blocks of downtown Fort Worth are shut down for the weekend for "(t)he Southwest's largest, four-day visual arts and entertainment festival, four days of fine art, food, fun and festivities! Rated as the Number 1 Arts Festival in Texas and the 3rd largest Arts Festival in the country as rated by the Harris List and the Art Fair SourceBook."


An amazing variety of works were represented, but of course, a few artists stood out.





2011 Commemorative Poster
by artist Richard Curtner


I was really taken by the serene beauty of Molly Barnes' blown glass vessels. In fact there were a couple I really wanted to take home with me, one in particular that I recalled with longing and regret on Sunday evening.

Ms. Barnes chatted with us for a while, explaining her glass blowing process, in particular the way she creates the ribbons of translucent color with streamers of molten glass.










Chuck Kaiser's mixed media works are both intricate and intriguing and definitely deserving of a closer look. He works with wax in a batik like process, as well as with paints, ink and pieces of text, often on surfaces like newspaper.

This artist was also kind enough to take the time to discuss and explain his work.












As we went past the lovely silver and gemstone jewelry display of Ashka Dymel , I asked Edward if he saw anything that looked familiar. For Valentine's this year, he had given me a pair of labradorite and garnet earrings by this designer, purchased at Uncommon Angles in Montgomery Plaza in Fort Worth.

(I recognized her work immediately, but I'm afraid Edward had to be reminded ... He does have excellent taste though.)







At the end of the day on Sunday, we
discovered this Arlington, Texas artist in the Emerging Artist area. Anne Cubbage carves books. I had never seen anything like it, and I wish you could get a better sense of the depth and detail from the pictures here.

The old books that she uses, as well as the illustrations and the bits of text that are highlighted all connect and have special meaning, sometimes decipherable by the viewer and sometimes just to the artist.



This is obviously just a taste of the art on display this year, but through the link at the top to the Main Street Arts page, you can see a few works by each of the participating artists.

Next year's festival is April 19-22. I'm going to put it on my calendar right now.