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| On the way to the Art Fair. |
Once again, it’s time for hundreds of thousands of art lovers to visit the booths of around one thousand artist at the annual Ann Arbor Art Fairs. Ceramics, woodworking, metalworking, glass-blowing, painting, photography, mixed-media, sculpture, fiber arts, and more are represented in the booths that occupy virtually the entire downtown area. As we have been doing for many years, we walked to the art fair this morning, arriving very soon after it opened.
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| Three separate organizations run three separately judged and managed art fairs. In these photos, I have not tried to separate which booths belong to which fair: they’re all good! |
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| In addition to artists’ booths, there’s a section of the fair for demonstrating art techniques. This bus is from the Toledo Museum of Art (around 40 miles from here). The Toledo Museum will be demonstrating glass-blowing, an art form that is especially important there. |
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| A wide variety of commercial enterprises also present their goods and services at the fair. Here’s the Michigan Lottery truck! |
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| We stopped for a sushi lunch at a restaurant surrounded by art fair booths. Quite nice — and cool inside! |
Our Art Fair purchase was this bronze bell from Cameroon. It comes from Ibrahim, a dealer in African tribal art. He is not officially part of the fair, but we look forward to his booth every year, and we have many favorite objects that we have obtained from him. |
Early in the afternoon, I began to have trouble looking at more and more art. I was burned out! So I walked home. In any case, a summer storm is almost a tradition for the first day of the art fair, and today is no exception. A serious weather situation is threatening to bring rain, wind, and maybe even hail. In fact, at around 3 PM, I received an email from the city which stated: Due to the threat of severe weather, Ann Arbor Art Fairs ARE NOW CLOSED until after 5 p.m. today. Seek shelter.
Blog post and all photos © 2023 mae sander
Yikes. I hope you are safe. East Lansing Art Fair invariably has wind, a storm, rain or cold on at least one or part of one day. i don't know why they don't move it. I haven't been to A2 in ages -- too big and I DO get burned out (even at small EL's). I'm glad you were around to find a good piece to take home.
ReplyDeleteHello,
ReplyDeleteI hope you are safe. I enjoyed seeing all the art work, so many beautiful items. Your bell looks like a great purchase. Take care, enjoy your weekend!
It is a wonderful time of year for them, isn't it!
ReplyDeleteI think I overdid it for my art in the forest stuff, but I was really happy to see these beautiful pieces of ART!
Sounds like you had a nice day, expect for the storm. Karen (Back Road Journal)
ReplyDeleteArt fairs are kind of a mixed bag....It's always interesting to see what people are making. It's never as hard as I think it's going to be (and definitely worth parking at the mall and taking the bus into the fair area). And the restaurants/opportunities to find refreshment are never as crowded as I expect them to be.
ReplyDeleteBut, yes. The heat and the hypnotic motion of people walking around you gets exhausting. And every time I've gone, there's always a storm. Every. Single. Time.
The pottery looks gorgeous; the woodcut prints, too. And the sushi looks refreshing and delicious! Thanks for sharing the pictures!