YELLOW SPRINGS — After last year’s coronavirus-necessitated hiatus, the Art on the Lawn Fine Art Show, or AOL, is returning this year with more than 85 artists and artisans from around the state and beyond. Show participants will be selling original fine arts and fine crafts from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Saturday, August 14, at Mills Lawn Elementary in Yellow Springs.
The outdoor festival is sponsored by the Village Artisans Gallery, a cooperative art gallery in Yellow Springs. Art on the Lawn is in its thirty-seventh year, with a single hiccup due to the coronavirus pandemic.
“We’re beyond excited and very, very prepared,” said Melanie Morrett, Village Artisans’ media coordinator. “We’ve been working on it for months, and things are going strong, and maybe this will be the best one yet.”
The Village Artisans gallery stayed open throughout 2020 with a buildup of extra funds, however this year’s Art on the Lawn will help recuperate some of those costs, Morrett said.
Both new and returning artists will present their ceramics, drawings, fiber art, garden art, glass, jewelry, leatherwork, mixed media, paper craft, paintings, photography and more, the organization said. Food vendors and live music complement the outstanding juried artwork.
Returning Yellow Springs artists include Nicole Swani, painter Julie Phipps, and photographer Steve Lord. Returning Village Artisans members include Pam Geisel, Jennifer Berman, Tara Anderson, Talitha Greene, and Theresa Mayer.
Karl Yost and Aaron Zarenmsky are photographers living in Yellow Springs who are both new, first time exhibitors in the show this year.
Village Artisans is still looking for a few artists and artisans to participate in the show, Morrett said.
Linda Alexander Radak of the Alexander Studio is a self-taught scratchboard artist and the festival’s featured artist this year. Radak is “a multi-faceted artist” from Mogadore, Ohio, who won the 2019 Art on the Lawn Best of Show award, Village Artisans said.
“Scratchboard is done by subtraction,” Radak said. “I use a wooden board covered in a fine clay compound which is then covered in ink. Using a sharp instrument, Exacto knives, tattoo needles or other sharp objects, I carve through the layer of ink into the clay subbase.”
She sometimes adds color to her drawings, with as many as seven layers of colored ink before continuing to carve her drawings into the clay base. Once her work is complete, she coats her finished creations with a protective UV-resistant finish. Radak will have originals as well as prints available for sale at AOL.
While Radak is primarily a scratchboard artist, she also paints with acrylic and oil, sculpts in clay and paper clay, with a focus on animals, both pets and wildlife.
“Something about capturing their personality drives my work,” she said. ]Radak has shown her work in various venues over the years including Artapalooza, Akron Arts Expo, Berea Arts Fest, Twisted Wilderfest, Delaware Artfest and others.
For more information call 937-767-1209, email [email protected], or visit www.villageartisans.blogspot.com or www.facebook.com/villageartisans.
Village Artisans asks that dogs and other pets please remain away from the fair, as typical August temperatures and crowds with children make the fair an unsafe place for pets.
