The 38th Annual Tempe Festival of the Arts landed on the re-christened Downtown Tempe, bringing vendors, a wide variety of food and, most importantly, a grand collection of art from national and local artists together onto Mill Avenue, mere steps from the Tempe campus.
The bright sun, scorching heat and a roving band of chanting UA students didn’t dissuade crowds from seeing some great artwork.
At first glance, it looked as if the festival stretched down the main road past the shops and restaurants. But the size was deceptive, as white tents stretched and leaked onto side roads and cross streets, creating new avenues for visitors to find more art.
The side streets hosted a beer and wine garden and food booths, ranging from chicken on a stick to beef jerky, and a sampling of some dangerous ghost pepper salsa.
Live performances featuring blues artists and folklorico dancers took to the festival stages, while the center square showcased more musical acts and fun shows put on performers such as unicyclist Jamey Mossengren.
For art buffs looking to add to their collection, or for those that just appreciate the work, the festival was a great treat. Beautiful paintings of many styles weren’t hard to find — anything ranging from brushstrokes to oil and acrylic were there. Jewelry had a large hold at the event as well, with each booth providing their own unique ideas.
Additionally, more modern items such as kitty propaganda pieces and a booth dedicated to dark humor pop art drew large crowds.The Chalk-A-Lot Street showed artists' talents with the medium to be judged later and invited kids and other visitors to sketch their own pieces nearby.
Fans of sculptures, particularly metal and wood, also had a lot to see at the festival. Doug Bachman and his wife Linda, from Denver, Colorado, run a business called The Laffingstock.
The two craft fun and interactive pieces out of wood, such as moustache-shaking clocks and big hanging cars. As seen by a video on their website, Doug builds the pieces, which Linda paints afterwards. Doug calls their pieces “cartoons out of wood” and enjoys working with the material.
“Once you get setup with a wood shop, it kind of all lends itself to staying in that lane,” he said.
Near The Laffingstock was Yardbirds's booth, a collection of animals made from various pieces of metal found by the artists. The company was founded by Richard Kolb and is based out of Louisville, Kentucky. Wayne Dorn, Kolb’s assistant, said they began their craft by making birds out of garden tools such as rakes and shovels, which inspired the name. Twenty-five years later, they’ve expanded to make anything from frogs out of bike chains, to peacocks and elephants.
“Eventually, we got into just about every other critter you can imagine,” he said.
The pieces are crafted out of manufacture rejects from an assortment of companies — some local, others from Colorado. Dorn said the animals come from whatever comes to mind.
“If we still need to create a new piece, we’ll look for certain pieces we can use," he said. "Sometimes you just see pieces, and even in the long run, you can recognize what type of animal it can be used for.”
The Tempe Festival of the Arts was a great way for talented artists to present their wares to a large crowd, and was quite a bit of fun for those that braved the heat. There was a lot to see and do on Mill Avenue, but there is always the fall festival for those that missed this one.
Reach the reporter at djulienrohman@asu.edu or follow @legendpenguin on Twitter.
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