At one booth at the Fourth Street Festival of the Arts and Crafts, a crowd of people gathered in the tent to peer into stained glass kaleidoscopes, which were placed on pedestals on the tables. As they turned the stained glass disks at the end of the instruments, the patterns reflected in the mirrors revealed a shifting mosaic of colors.
The booths lining the street Saturday and Sunday featured work from more than 100 artists.
Vendors displayed ceramic dishes glazed in vibrant colors, intricate woodworking, glassware, jewelry, paintings, photographs, mixed-media art and a vast selection of other arts and crafts.
[Look back at the 2015 Fourth Street Festival of the Arts]
Two stages featured spoken-word performances and live music throughout the event.
The annual festival, which is organized by local artists, included an independent jury and artists from all over the country.
The winners of the festival include Michael Weber, who won best in show for painting, Daniel Powers, who won first place in 2D art for his photography and Pat Kroth, who won first place in 3D art for her fiber art.
Artist Kathleen Hunt came from Conway, South Carolina, to showcase her glass kaleidoscopes.
She is one of only about 90 to 100 people in the world to make kaleidoscopes their profession, she said.
“There are hobbyists, but there are not that many of us who do this as a living,” Hunt said.
Hunt said she has been making kaleidoscopes for 32 years and sells them in galleries throughout the world.
About half of her kaleidoscopes are one of a kind, she said.
“I’m considered a master kaleidoscope artist,” Hunt said. “I make about 15 to 20 different kinds of kaleidoscopes — different images, different mirror systems, things like that.”
This was her first time entering the Fourth Street Festival the of Arts and Crafts, and she said she was pleased with how people reacted to her art.
Another booth featured clocks made from antique items like doorknobs and windows. The pieces by artists and married couple Patti and Bob Stern resemble human form. For example, the head of a grandmother clock was given a face, arms and legs.
The Sterns have been in business for 23 years, but they started out making traditional cabinets, Bob Stern said. When the couple was trying to get their work into a competitive art show in Chicago, he was told he needed to come up with a great idea to enter, so they started making their style of clocks.
The materials in their work are upcycled, which means they recycle items and give them more value, he said.
“Every piece is one of a kind that we use, because they are antiques and you can’t duplicate them,” Patti Stern said.
The Sterns are from Cleveland, and they attend about 40 art shows a year throughout the country. This is their first time at the Fourth Street Festival of the Arts and Crafts, they said.
While some artists came from other states, many of them were local.
In one section of the festival, two side-by-side booths displayed the art of married couple and local artists Scott Johnson and Kristin Busch. Both artists said they have attended the festival many times.
Johnson’s booth sold prints depicting vivid images of the night sky, including constellations, galaxies and nebulas. He produces these pictures using astrophotography in his private studio and observatory near Bloomington, where he uses telescopes, digital cameras and long exposure to capture the images.
“I like realizing the beauty of a finished image,” he said. “That’s really important. I enjoy selling the prints, too, to people who really wenjoy them.”
Busch makes ceramics, and her booth displayed bowls, vases, fountains and mugs glazed in rich shades of blue, red and purple.
“I’m sky, and she’s earth,” Johnson said.
Busch said she is inspired by older styles of ceramics, including the shapes of Egyptian pottery and the red glaze of Chinese pottery.
It is a competitive show, and she was excited to have the opportunity to participate in the festival again, she said.
“I like seeing a lot of friends and meeting a lot of new people,” Busch said. “I like interacting with customers, knowing how people like using my work and hearing feedback.”
