Last weekend was the 52nd annual Columbus Arts Festival on the Scioto Riverfront in downtown Columbus. Kenneth and I have never made it out to the festival before, so we checked it out for a few hours on Sunday.
In the Artist Market there were a ton (ok, 270 to be exact) of amazing artists from all over the world, displaying and selling their artwork. We saw gorgeous impressionist style paintings, huge photographs of exotic locations, lovely blue and green pottery, inventive sculptures recycled from trash, shadow puppet-esque works (see photo below, left), modern plant fossils (leaves cast in cement and painted), antique pet photos, blown glass, bird houses and more! Each exhibiting artist had a sign with their name and where they were from. There were lots of local Ohio artists, but also artists from out of state and from other countries.
In addition to the artists selling their work, there were also food vendors and arts and crafts tents for children and adults. Some of the kids art activities included making sculptures out of handmade paper, tie-dye flowers, a recycled bottle cap mural and adventure journals. We also stopped in the Cultural Arts Center where we saw artists at work or giving demos to visitors.
The festival was extremely crowded when Kenneth and I visited on Sunday, so we didn't stay as long as I would have liked. Neither of us are big fans of crowded spaces and we were both a bit sore from our six mile hike in Hocking Hills from the day before.
We did, however, stick around long enough to make a purchase. We bought two prints from Leo Hong Mao, a fine artist from Dayton, Ohio. Mao's expressive oil and acrylic paintings reminded me of two of my favorite artists, Paul Cézanne and Vincent van Gogh. Kenneth and I each chose a print, now we just need to find some wall space in our apartment to hang them!
To find out more information about the Columbus Arts Festival, the activities from this year's event and the exhibiting artists, check out the Festival Guidebook, or follow the Columbus Arts Festival on Facebook or Twitter.
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