Saint Louis art enthusiasts braved torrential the rains and somber skies for diverse Labor Day Weekend Art Fair.
Tropical visitor Isaac, like fair guests, converged on Queeny Park’s Greensfelder Recreation Center this past weekend. The biannual fair, sponsored by the Greater St. Louis Art Association, gathers over 100 juried artists to exhibit and sell their works. For 35 years, the local public has been able to take advantage of this vibrant spectacle.
Margaret “Maggie” McCarthy was one of the familiar faces amid the bustling crowd. A watercolor, oil and acrylic painter as well as a co-chair of the event, McCarthy has the double perspective of organizer and participant.
“We try to balance the show,” McCarthy said.
Among those who submit work for consideration, the jury selects “the cream of the crop.” The result is what McCarthy calls “a very diverse show,” featuring displays of photography, drawing, jewelry, woodwork, sculpture and others.
While a majority of the artists live in Missouri or Illinois, there are those few who make the journey from Wisconsin, Texas, or even New York to take part in the event.
McCarthy lives in St. Charles and has been an active artist for 30 years. She has spent time as an instructor and is a veteran of art shows like these (she attends eight to 10 per year). Her own beautiful work consists mostly of landscapes inspired by her extensive travels, which capture the panoramic, majestic and tranquil.
McCarthy, whose husband, Dennis is a photographer and occupied the neighboring booth, says she aspires to “get the feeling of nature.” Her paintings themselves are experiences of it.
Also present was the eccentric, Charla Steele of Nashville, a first-timer at Queeny Park. The art fair’s program listed her under “Mixed Media-3D,” but Steele’s work initially escapes definition.
After a careful process of selecting pages and colors from magazines, Steele shreds them and arranges them into flamboyantly colorful portraits and sculptures. There were numerous female figures wearing sunglasses and bedecked in bright flowers and birds; enlarged reproductions of King, Queen and Jack playing cards; anda near-life-size mounted deer head. These “magazine collages” transform the classic mosaic into an intriguing, 3-D form.
Donald Horstman of Fenton advertised his craft in one of the more modest booths at the fair. Specializing in wire and steel based sculpture, Horstman showcased several dozen animals formed by the intricate bending of metal wire. According to Horstman, the process takes of creating these pieces takes only ten minutes.
Among his artwork, Horstman propped several booklets containing limericks and haikus of his own creation and illustrated with his own woodcuts and metalwork.
Despite thoroughfares between booths labeled Faberge or Picasso Avenue, van Gogh or Rodin Street, it is remarkably simple to get lost in the unceasing spectrum of colors. Getting lost is even desirable, as visitors are treated to a live jazz band, wine tasting and Art Discovery Adventure for children. In addition, the event funds a scholarship for college art students.
Concerning the state of the arts in light of the oft-mentioned state of the economy, McCarthy states that contrary to conclusions otherwise, this year and the last have proven to be some of her best. The crowd alone attested to the fact that the arts will never lack admirers.
“You need [art] to feed your soul,” McCarthy remarked.
Artists and art lovers will rendezvous once more at Queeny Park on April 5-7, 2013.
