FestivALL: Capitol Street Art Fair

This is the last weekend of FestivALL 2008, and I managed to talk The Husband into going to the Capitol Street Art Fair.

We had lunch at the mall and walked over from there.  This is Fife Street, with painted catfish hanging.  Apparently painted catfish are associated with FestivALL in some way but I don't know why.  They are all painted differently, kind of like those cows I used to collect.



There was music



And dancing. That is one tall lady



Capitol Street taken from the Lee Street intersection



There were tents like this lined up in the street with West Virginia artists exhibiting and selling their work inside. There were so many amazing artists!! I wanted to buy something from everyone.



There's me shopping for cat art, which I seem to be collecting. I am a collector of cats and cat art. Standing to the left of me is artist Pamela Gatens - see end of post for photos of what I bought.



Here I am shopping some more, this time with artist Jeanne K. Cochran. Jeanne is one of Husband's coworkers. Until this week I didn't even know she was an artist! I did already know she was an amazing person who I like a great deal. Now I am also a fan of her art. That's her husband Ric (seated) she's talking to, who also works with Husband.  They are both also musicians and Ric writes poetry, including haikus for the back of her note cards.  Ric's Haiku Blog



When we were done at that tent, I wanted to see some more but it was hot and humid and I was covered in sweat. I knew Husband was hoping we were done, so I sent him to get the car and arranged to meet him at his office after I finished going through the tents. I probably should have just gone with him, because I didn't see much more of interest.

The bellydancer was pretty cool - I didn't manage to get a picture of the front of her though.



After I finished on Capitol Street I wanted to go to the antiques on Hale Street. Along the way I passed the drive thru exhibit in the alley behind my office. I should have gone through it but didn't.



Eventually I made it over to Husband's office and cooled off inside before we left. We stopped at the Capitol Market to pick up fresh cucumbers, zucchini and yellow squash.



They had music there too!



We headed home and stopped in Pinch for gas. The storm was coming and it started raining before we made it to the house.



Now for photos of what I purchased. First, from Pamela Gatens.  I bought one matted print and a couple of bookmarks (the bookmarks had different cats on each side)







Next, the art of Jeanne K. The matted print I purchased is "Stonewall Lake". This photo doesn't do it justice.



I also bought two notecard. This one is "Forest Floor" - sorry my photo is blurry.



On the back of each notecard is a haiku written by her husband



This one is "My Day in the Sun"



Finally, artist Ron Refsland. He does a lot of wildliife and cats. So more cat art for me. I love bluejays too.



I recognized his work immediately, because I had purchased one of his watercolor prints at Tamarack last year and it's one of my very favorite paintings.



So that's all for now. There's all kinds of stuff going on at FestivALL today and tomorrow, but we aren't planning to go to any of it, unfortunately. I am so impressed with FestivALL and its organizers - they have done a fabulous job. I'm just sorry this is the first year I've actually made an effort to attend, but it certainly won't be my last. It's a wonderful thing for our city!

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