Local artists fill Sharon’s green

SHARON – The sun shone throughout the weekend on The Voice of Art’s (TVOA) Fine Art Festival, held both Saturday and Sunday on the Sharon town Green.

TVOA Founding Director Hannah Jung kept an eye on the skies. She said that each past fall iteration of the festival has at least faced a warning of severe weather. Last year, she says, a storm forced at least 20 artists to pack up their stalls and leave.

No such threat existed this weekend with clear skies and temperatures in the mid-70s. The atmosphere was happy and relaxed as fairgoers bustled from tent to tent.

Jung said that Sharon has been by far the easiest venue to work with for the festival, previously run under the name “Litchfield Art Festival” in towns such as Litchfield and North Canaan.

Artists of many disciplines displayed their work, spanning painting, photography, jewelry, knitwear, woodworking and even psychedelic treehouses.

Sally Strasser produces woven items such as bags and pillows under the name Taleo Handmade that at first glance appear to be made from a kind of fine denim. A closer inspection, and an explanation from her husband Rolland who ran the booth this weekend, revealed that the pieces are woven from cotton that Strasser sources herself from traditional textile communities in Laos and Vietnam, which she then weaves together at her workshop in Bradford.

Woodworker Eric Kalwarczyk builds psychedelic birdhouses, inspired by sources as diverse as artist Roger Dean, Catalan architect Antoni Gaudí, and surrealist painting.

There were also artists showcasing their work at a fair for the first time. Jung said that the festival format allows artists to learn from each other how to best market their art. Jewelers and craftsmakers, who are excellent marketers, pass on their wisdom to other types of artists such as painters, who Jung says often aren’t as well versed in marketing.

Jung, who founded the 501(c)(3) arts nonprofit TVOA in 2017, intends the festival and future TVOA efforts to help artists both aspiring and established to sell their work.

She compared the plight of profiting off art to that of other business types. “It’s nonsense,” she said: “When you have a business, you need to be confident that you’re going to make a profit.”

In the case of artists, though? “No one really expects to profit,” she said. “It’s very sad.”

Jung means for the Fine Art Festival to raise awareness and funds so that TVOA can address this issue for the region’s artists, and she has big plans — “not just a brick and mortar gallery,” she said.

Jung envisions a thriving community center complete with an outdoor art park, land to hold future festivals on-site, sculpture and flower gardens, a farm-to-table restaurant, a diversity of workshops in many arts disciplines, and constant community programming.

Northwest Connecticut is primed for such a facility, with abounding natural beauty and deep community interest in the arts — it’s just lacking infrastructure for artists to train, network, and develop their work. With TVOA, Jung hopes to fill this gap and more. She imagines constant growth in the organization’s future.

“That’s my dream.”