Fine arts highlights festival

July 09, 2008 09:50 am

— Carman Williams
cwilliams@weatherforddemocrat.com
Water lilies had Monet and horses had George Stubbs, but peaches have been mostly ignored in the art world.
The Weatherford Art Association is bringing artistic status to the sweet peach, hosting an art competition, show and sale to coincide with the Parker County Peach Festival.
The Peach Festival Art Show and Sale has become an annual event for the WAA, which is housed in the Firehouse Art Gallery on Palo Pinto Street.
Last year’s art show brought in almost 300 entries, and Vonnie Kohn, WAA vice president of shows, expects 250 to 300 entries this year.
The competition will begin at 8 a.m. Saturday, and the awards ceremony is scheduled for 3 p.m.
Special recognition awards will be given for Best in Show in adult and student entries, and various other prizes will be awarded.
Local merchants also donated coupons and prizes for student entries.
“The level of this artwork is really good,” Kohn wrote in an e-mail. “It promises to be a really exciting show for the Peach Festival crowd.”
Entries were registered July 1 through 4, but Kohn said artists were dropping their work off at the gallery days before the registration began. She expects artists from several surrounding cities as far away as Eastland, Ranger and Dallas.
The art seems to be as diverse as the cities it comes from.
Kohn said artists from many genres are drawn to this year’s show because acclaimed artists Laurin McCracken and Jo Ann Durham will serve as judges.
The show will feature works in oil, watercolor, pastels, pencil, pen-and-ink, mixed media, photography and sculpture.
Art subjects range from Native American to abstract, and everything in between.
The Weatherford Art Association was organized in July 1966. Its purpose is to “promote art appreciation among our members and the general public.”