Local artists fill Sharon’s green

Local artists fill Sharon’s green

Festival goers check out what’s on offer.

Alec Linden

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.”

Latest News

Club baseball at Fuessenich Park

Travel league baseball came to Torrington Thursday, June 26, when the Berkshire Bears Select Team played the Connecticut Moose 18U squad. The Moose won 6-4 in a back-and-forth game. Two players on the Bears play varsity ball at Housatonic Valley Regional High School: shortstop Anthony Foley and first baseman Wes Allyn. Foley went 1-for-3 at bat with an RBI in the game at Fuessenich Park.

 

  Anthony Foley, rising senior at Housatonic Valley Regional High School, went 1-for-3 at bat for the Bears June 26.Photo by Riley Klein 

 
Siglio Press: Uncommon books at the intersection of art and literature

Uncommon books at the intersection of art and literature.

Richard Kraft

Siglio Press is a small, independent publishing house based in Egremont, Massachusetts, known for producing “uncommon books at the intersection of art and literature.” Founded and run by editor and publisher Lisa Pearson, Siglio has, since 2008, designed books that challenge conventions of both form and content.

A visit to Pearson’s airy studio suggests uncommon work, to be sure. Each of four very large tables were covered with what looked to be thousands of miniature squares of inkjet-printed, kaleidoscopically colored pieces of paper. Another table was covered with dozens of book/illustration-size, abstracted images of deer, made up of colored dots. For the enchanted and the mystified, Pearson kindly explained that these pieces were to be collaged together as artworks by the artist Richard Kraft (a frequent contributor to the Siglio Press and Pearson’s husband). The works would be accompanied by writings by two poets, Elizabeth Zuba and Monica Torre, in an as-yet-to-be-named book, inspired by a found copy of a worn French children’s book from the 1930s called “Robin de Bois” (Robin Hood).

Keep ReadingShow less
Cycling season: A roundup of our region’s rentals and where to ride them

Cyclists head south on the rail trail from Copake Falls.

Alec Linden

After a shaky start, summer has well and truly descended upon the Litchfield, Berkshire and Taconic hills, and there is no better way to get out and enjoy long-awaited good weather than on two wheels. Below, find a brief guide for those who feel the pull of the rail trail, but have yet to purchase their own ten-speed. Temporary rides are available in the tri-corner region, and their purveyors are eager to get residents of all ages, abilities and inclinations out into the open road (or bike path).

For those lucky enough to already possess their own bike, perhaps the routes described will inspire a new way to spend a Sunday afternoon. For more, visit lakevillejournal.com/tag/bike-route to check out two ride-guides from local cyclists that will appeal to enthusiasts of many levels looking for a varied trip through the region’s stunning summer scenery.

Keep ReadingShow less