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2012 MAIN ST. FORT WORTH ARTS FESTIVAL SHOWCASING 225 OF THE NATION’S FINEST ARTISTS
More than 1,400 artists applied to showcase their work at the 27th annual juried art festival
FORT WORTH, TEXAS (March 20, 2012) – Fort Worth’s nationally-ranked annual MAIN ST. Fort Worth Arts Festival (MAIN ST.), set for April 19-22, 2012, is priming the heart of the city for four days of art in the city. The juried fine art festival, framed by the “magnificent mile” of downtown Fort Worth’s red-bricked streets and world-class skyline, is a one-of-a-kind outdoor gallery with its highly acclaimed mix of visual, performing, culinary and interactive arts. According to The Harris List and the Art Fair SourceBook, two authoritative reference works on the American art-show circuit, MAIN ST. is ranked as the #1 arts festival in Texas and the 3rd largest arts festival in the U.S.
“Based on our award-winning reputation, the MAIN ST. Fort Worth Arts Festival attracts the ‘best of the best’ artists from all over the U.S. to exhibit their works in Fort Worth,” said Dr. Marie Holliday, chairman of the Festivals and Events Committee of Downtown Fort Worth Initiatives, Inc., producer of the MAIN ST. Fort Worth Arts Festival.
This year, more than 1,400 artists from across the world applied to showcase their work at MAIN ST., and, after a comprehensive, rigid jury process, only 225 were selected to exhibit. The chosen artists’ work in media ranging from ceramics, graphics and printmaking, metalwork, photography, digital, fiber, jewelry, mixed media, sculpture, drawing and pastels, glass, leather, painting, and wood. More than $4 million worth of art is expected to be sold during the festival, with prices ranging from $50 for quality reproductions to several thousand dollars for signed limited editions or one-of-a-kind treasures.
Some of the finest, most successful artists in the U.S. will be in attendance at this year’s festival, whose work can be seen online in the Festival’s Artists Gallery, and also by downloading the iPhone App from the iTunes Store. The majority of last year’s Award Winners will be back for 2012, including:
- Marian “Mimi” Damrauer (Chicago, Illinois) – Best of Show Winner 2010 and 2011 / Fiber: Award-winning fiber artist Marian “Mimi” Damrauer is best known for her textile collage series of circles, lines and squares that were first influenced by traditional Amish quilts and have evolved into contemporary, graphic fine art pieces for wall decor. Each piece is hand-cut, machine-sewn, and incorporates colorful ethnic hand-dyed fabrics purchased on trips around the world including Scandinavia, India and Africa;
- Marvin Blackmore (Durango, Colorado) – Merit Award 2011 / Ceramics: Known by art collectors around the world for his intricate, refined design and Native American influences, Blackmore is the creator of a two-tone, black-on-black style of pottery that is hand-etched through multiple layers of clay slips creating increasingly intricate, elegant designs;
- Harry Roa (Sarasota, Florida) – Merit Award 2011 / Jewelry: Roa’s designs are handcrafted using recycled precious metals and ethical gems using a technique that is a combination of lost wax process and fabrication;
- E. Douglas Wunder (Kutztown, Pennsylvania) – Merit Award 2011 / Jewelry: Wunder’s jewelry features abstract geometric images made with titanium and other mixed metals such as gold and silver, making each piece unique, well made and pleasing to the eye;
- Ayala Naphtali (Fair Haven, New Jersey) – Merit Award 2011 / Jewelry: Naphtali is committed to the use of materials for their color texture and versatility. Often the material is the inspiration for the piece of jewelry being designed. Coconut shell, dyed and carved, is used to achieve rich color and texture, and forging, fabricating and casting are used to create pieces with dimension and volume;
- Victoria Varga (Cumberland Foreside, Maine) – Merit Award 2011 / Jewelry: Varga’s goal as a jeweler is to create sculpture that enhances the human form while on the body and works independently as small sculpture when off the body. She works with resin and a variety of materials — precious and common — to create unexpected inlays that complement bold sterling silver designs. The result is a very lightweight sculptural jewelry combining modern graphics with luminous backgrounds;
- Theresa Honeywell (Portland, Oregon) – Merit Award 2011 / Mixed Media: Most of Honeywell’s designs and images are based on vintage tattoo designs and made in the similar labor intense way that a tattoo is made, using only a needle to draw with, but instead of ink on skin, the medium is only thread on thread;
- Thomas Diel (Fort Worth, Texas) – Best Emerging Artist 2011 / Mixed Media: With a background in industrial design and furniture making, Diel mixes architectural structure to produce mini furniture edifices with an eye for craft and detail;
- Luis Enrique Gutierrez (Zebulon, North Carolina) – Juror Award 2011 / Ceramics: Gutierrez’ work is based on his Nicoyan Indian heritage. He burnishes his pottery with rubbing stones, no glazes, linking back to indigenous techniques with modern designs;
- Christy Klug (Austin, Texas) – Juror Award 2011 / Jewelry: Klug’s work is an exploration of line. The black lines on white enamel resemble charcoal on paper and the combination of these drawings and fabricated forms bring art and craft together;
- Richard Curtner (Cathedral City, California) – Juror Award 2011 / Mixed Media: Curtner is skilled in numerous mediums of art and specializes in textual collage (word collage) presentations and created the commemorative poster for 2011;
- Michael Brown (Antioch, Illinois) – Juror Award 2011 / Digital: Brown’s hybrid optical art printmaking process can be used to create either animated graphics or three-dimensional imagery;
- J D Hillberry (Westminster, Colorado) – Juror Award 2011 / Drawing/Pastels: Each original drawing is rendered on white 100% acid free paper or watercolor board. A combination of charcoal, graphite, and carbon pencils are used in each piece, which adds texture and depth;
- Rene and James Engebretson (Hudson, Wisconsin) – Juror Award 2011 / Glass: Partners in life and in a collaborative art process, the Engebretsons have been creating nature inspired glass works for more than 20 years;
- Seung Lee (Cathedral City, California) – Juror Award 2011 / Graphics/Printmaking: Lee’s ink paintings on woodcut with collage of pre-painted paper and woodblock print are influenced by the two poles of the ying and yang;
- Carol Hearty (Carmel, New York) – Juror Award 2011 / Leather: Hearty has traveled and studied in Boston, California and throughout Asia, places and influences that infuse her work with imagination. Her leather bags are confoundingly simple, intuitively mathematical, two-dimensional constructs that zip into inspiringly unlikely bags;
- Jeffrey Zachmann (Fergus Falls, Minnesota) – Juror Award 2011 / Metalwork: Zachmann’s work is seen not only as sculptural machines, but also as studies in line, shape, color and motion. His goal is to make sculptures intriguing static pieces, that when set in motion, become captivating;
- Ginny Herzog (Minneapolis, Minnesota) – Juror Award 2011 / Painting: Herzog pieces portions of different architectural elements that are unrelated to each other to construct new, intriguing, familiar, yet unfamiliar architectural forms in mixed media paintings;
- Randy Dana (Mount Vernon, Washington) – Juror Award 2011 / Photography: Dana photographs flowers and fruit incorporating a variety of objects as content and backgrounds. It is his goal as artist and photographer to encourage a closer examination of ordinary things by presenting them in unusual context;
- Marilyn Endres and Eucled Moore (Driftwood, Texas) – Juror Award 2011 / Wood: Endres and Moore design segmented wood turnings, some inlayed with as many as 80,000 European glass beads placed one at a time, using only the natural colors of the woods.
“The hospitality at the MAIN ST. Fort Worth Arts Festival is so welcoming,” said Marian “Mimi” Damrauer, MAIN ST.’s Best of Show Winner in both 2010 and 2011. “The people are friendly and savvy buyers. It’s great to do a show where the customers are educated about the art and are so happy to have you be visiting their town. I completely enjoy getting into the spirit of Texas…. everything is oversized, especially the ‘heart’ put into this fantastic show!”
“The MAIN ST. producers run an extremely professional festival,” she added. “Not only are they always helpful to the artists, but the vibe is fun, which makes MAIN ST. my favorite and a highlight of the year. The city of Fort Worth is really behind the festival, too, and works closely with the show producers to make this event truly one of the best in the country.”
For additional event information, visit MAIN ST. Fort Worth Arts Festival online at www.MainStreetArtsFest.org, “like” its Facebook page at http://www.facebook.com/MainStreetArtsFest, follow it on Twitter at http://twitter.com/MainStreetArts or download the free MAIN ST. iPhone application directly from your Apple device or from the iTunes App Store.
ABOUT MAIN ST. FORT WORTH ARTS FESTIVAL
MAIN ST. Fort Worth Arts Festival celebrates its 27th year in 2012 and is presented by Coors Distributing Company of Fort Worth. Official Sponsors for 2012 are CHASE, Sundance Square, Green Mountain Energy Company, Tarrant Regional Water District and the University of Texas at Arlington. Media Sponsors include KTVT-TV CBS 11, KTXA-TV Channel 21, D Magazine, Fort Worth Star-Telegram, and radio stations KDMX-FM / MIX 102.9, KHKS-FM / 106.1 KISS FM, KTFW-FM / 92.1 HANK FM, and KFWR-FM / 95.9 The Ranch. Supporting Sponsors include XTO Energy, Dallas/Fort Worth Professional Musicians Association, and the Fort Worth Transportation Authority (The T).
The festival is produced by Downtown Fort Worth Initiatives, Inc., a 501 (c) 3 organization formed in 1988 to complement the work of Downtown Fort Worth, Inc. and the Public Improvement District by provide a funding pathway for charitable, educational and public-purpose activities, such as community festivals, residential development and park management. Downtown Fort Worth Initiatives, Inc. also produces the Chesapeake Energy Parade of Lights, which includes lighting ceremonies for the city’s Sundance Square Christmas tree. These events have an economic impact of more than $19 million annually and attract thousands of visitors to downtown Fort Worth each year, creating a sterling celebration of 27 years on Main Street in 2012. For more information, visit www.dfwi.org.
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