Cherry Creek Arts Festival |

Odd, Quirky & Curious Art at the Creek

The 2014 Cherry Creek Arts Festival was part Old Curiosity Shop wonder and slick new organic shapes and colors. The miles of booths brought to mind memorabilia of another time and place. I noticed the trend for recycled-objects-art was waning and there were few fine art photography booths. This show was unusual but lovely with its odd, nostalgic, narrative tone. Contemporary art mixed elegantly with classic, vintage themes, style and colors.

The art work below is exactly why I came away with ‘nostalgia’ in my conscientiousness. See for yourself.

I was enchanted with the sepia intonations in many of the works, and the use of multi-mixed mediums to create a work of art. The brown & black, pen & ink drawn and colored over a collection of old music sheets was typical and original. I was transported to the pages of Grimm’s Fairy Tales and the bewitching art of early children’s book illustrations, prints and re-touched photography. The feeling I took away from the festival was, let me say, a circus poster. Colorful exquisite details in the art, elegantly reminiscent of an eye-popping, vintage color poster that brought a sense of excitement to the moment. I felt like the circus was coming.

List of artists:

Beverly Hayden, Chattanooga, TN; Valerie Bunnell, Northampton, MA; Bradford J. Salamon; Claudia Roulier, Denver, CO; Richard Ryan, Bourbonnais, IL; Brianna Martray, Denver, CO; Cali Hobgood, Urbana, IL.

Thought you’d enjoy some of the photos I took at the festival. The heat was bearable mid-afternoon Saturday, then, a torrential rain hit closing down the entire festival around 4:00 p.m. Because I hadn’t had enough, I ventured back on Sunday. The search for a parking spot was a drag – both days. They issued tons of tickets on Saturday on cars parked on the East side of the streets north of 3rd Avenue. Poor sports.

This was my first visit to CCAF in two years. On my last visit in 2010, I thought there was too much textile art and photography and neither were all that great. For what it’s worth, I liked the vintage and junk art trend. I didn’t see many artists I recognized, which I think was a good indication that artists from across U.S. are still interested in being in the show. I calculated s o l d tickets in one booth where the artist had sold close to $20,000, in original oil paintings and etchings.

More than anything, I’m happy CCAF is still alive after 22 years. I remember the first one with the late performance artist, Denny Dent. That festival had the best street food for the day, and, it was a glorious show. Great job CCN for keeping this event alive and tasteful.

As usual lots of dogs, edible and petible, great fair food and, too many baby carriages for the traffic.