Scenes from the 65th Annual Winter Park Sidewalk Art Festival
Jim Carchidi
Every picture, painting and sculpture tells a story as artists look to make their mark on Park Avenue. Photos by: Jim Carchidi
Vibrant colors and personalities adorned the downtown area as creators and patrons gathered for the 65th edition of the Winter Park Sidewalk Art Festival, March 15-17. The list of 219 exhibiting artists vied for the attention of an estimated 250,000 visitors, and for the festival’s cash awards totaling $76,500. The Best of Show Purchase Award went to self-taught landscape painter Hernan Rodriguez while the Edyth Bush Charitable Foundation Purchase Award went to Wonda Granville, whose drawings tell the story of her family’s move to Florida during the mid-1940’s. The full list of this year’s winners is available at wpsaf.org.
Winter Park Sidewalk Art Festival is a 501(c)(4) that pools the resources of an all-volunteer board to screen applications, set and fill the event schedule, and select judges for the weekend-long process of deciding which artists will attend the event. The variety of this year’s work included satirical pieces by digital artist Tanya Doskova, the humorous clay sculptures of Kina Crow, and alluring one-of-a-kind images by photographer Paige Whitcomb.
Whitcomb is experienced in the tintype technique of exposing metal sheets treated with light-sensitive lacquer to produce images. “The plates have to be developed right away,” she said. The process often ends with the direct positives she exposes using antique cameras, but she will also digitally scan some plates to produce large-scale prints. “I like the process for its one-off style, so when I do make a print, I only make one to keep that integrity and create something that is unique.”
See the photo gallery for a look at some of the work and a few of the award winners at the 65th Annual Winter Park Sidewalk Art Festival.
Arizona-based digital artist Tanya Doskova arranges the print racks in her exhibit tent before the start of the festival on Saturday, March 16. Her portraits and sociopolitical subject matter, created with the skills she perfected through years of digital animation and computer arts experience, earned an Award of Merit from the festival judges. Gloria McRoberts of Tennessee is a self-taught weaver, a former art teacher, and first-time exhibitor at the festival. Her large-scale fiber pieces earned an Award of Merit.The highly-detailed and textured clay pieces by Pennsylvania-based sculptors Bashar and Roula Jarjour won an Award of Excellence.A stunning piece by glass artist Andrew Libecki catches the morning light.Susan Gott (not pictured) creates kinetic cast glass sculptures that are inspired by the imagery and symbolism of ancient cultures.Foot traffic replaces car traffic as streets are blocked to accommodate the tremendous uptick in guests visiting Park Avenue.Sculptor Thomas Wargin uses subconscious inspirations to engage viewers in his intricately assembled metal pieces. A whimsical sculpture titled “Multiple Personalities” by Kina Crow.Sculptor Steve Olszewski creates serine clay statues that are fired in the Raku technique. His work won the festival’s Edyth Bush Charitable Foundation Purchase Award in 2014.Wonda Granville of Orlando is shown receiving this year’s Edyth Bush Charitable Foundation Purchase Award for her drawing, “Taking the Backroad.”Granville’s art is inspired by the hardships and triumphs of her family’s mid-1940’s relocation to Florida from Pinehust, Georgia.Self-taught landscape painter Hernan Rodriguez is inspired by the scenery of his hometown in Cuba. He received the festival Best of Show award for his photo-realistic beach scenes.Photographer Andrew Mosedale travels the world collecting unique images that he prints on sheets of aluminum.Photographer Paige Whitcomb creates one-of-a-kind double-exposures using tintypes: a direct positive exposed on thin metal plates coated with dark lacquer.Whitcomb frames and exhibits the exposed plates and sometimes digitally scans her work to create larger prints, but only produces one image for each photograph she takes.Nicario Jimenez creates Retablos: highly detailed shadowboxes that depict religious, historical, and everyday scenes.Jimenez’s work contains hundreds of small, highly detailed pieces that he sculpts by hand.“Mothman” is one of the large-scale sculptures by mixed media artist Trent Manning. He often uses reclaimed, salvaged, and repurposed items for his works.A life-sized Monarch butterfly by Thomas Tyers, who painstakingly carves realistic moths and feathers from balsa wood. All the event colors were not exclusive to the artist tents as venders offered everything from smoothies to taco plates.Children’s art activities were offered for aspiring exhibitors and those taking their first steps into the creative realm.The students of Welbourne Nursery and Preschool exhibit their own creative endeavors on shop windows at 515, 517 and 519 S. Park Ave. Children and staff worked to create pieces celebrating the Easter season that will decorate Gary Lambert Salon and neighboring businesses beyond the art festival weekend.
