The crowds swooped in and bought paintings of Iowa cornfields. They also bought flower sculptures made from scrap metal and silverware turned into wind chimes.
Hundreds of customers bought those artful creations and many more during the Beaux Arts Spring Fair on Saturday and Sunday, May 13-14, at the Mississippi Valley Fairgrounds in Davenport.
The Quad Cities annual arts fair brought together more than 70 vendors to show and sell paintings, photographs, glass art, jewelry, homemade tables and other original creations.
This year’s event marked an important milestone for the arts fair as it celebrated its 70th anniversary. Seventy years ago, a group of art enthusiasts in a Sunday sketch club had an idea to raise money in support of the Davenport Municipal Art Gallery (now the Figge Art Museum), which resulted in the Beaux Arts Fund Committee. This non-profit group of volunteers launched a costume ball as a fundraiser that eventually became the Beaux Arts Fair.
“It’s a beautiful place. I’m just here looking for a western painting for home,” said Myron Mason, who was looking over the artwork during the first day of the show.
During his search for western art, Mr. Mason looked over the nature photographs on display at the Daron Krueger Photography booth. Not too far away from the photos, sisters Kay Wood and Lois Smith were keeping busy selling their “heritage farm art” – flowers, cats and many other items created from old farm equipment.
A sign in front of their display stated: “My sister and I have farmed together since the mid (1970s). We learned how to repair our equipment, both in the field and in the feedlot. For the past few years, with our stick welder and plasma cutter, we are turning outdated equipment into heritage farm art.”
One of those works of art included a metal flower with these signs on it: “Needs no pruning” and “Will ‘grow’ in sun or shade.”
“We have a mixture of everything. People come in here and they need something for the garden or something for the office,” said Ms. Wood.
The sisters added that they have a lot of fun creating works of art from farm equipment, but don’t always know what artwork the public is looking for. “If we could guess what people want, we would be millionaires,” said Ms. Smith.
A few booths away from the farm art, Pat Halverson, of Eldridge, was selling her paintings of sunflowers, wildlife scenes and many nature scenes that include waterfalls. “Most people stop in and look at the water scenes. They say ‘Oh, you paint water.’ … A lot of people have been looking,” she added.
The “looking” crowd also was eyeing the one-of-a-kind handmade tables and benches made by artist and woodcrafter Nathan Bleiler of Fort Atkinson, Wisconsin.
During part of Saturday morning, he was showing colorful tabletops made from epoxy. Part of his demonstration included him shining a flashlight beam on the table to show how the colors pop once the light hits them.
“My grandfather and I make them. … Everybody comes in, looks at the tables and wants to know how they are made,” Mr. Bleiler added.
The Mother’s Day weekend show was also a juried fine arts show with awards to the artists. According to the Beaux Arts Facebook page, here are the award winners:
- Best of Show winner – Zanetta Hoehle.
Best of Category winners were:
- Glass – Art Ciccotti.
- Clay – Val Neumann.
- Fiber – Susan Moenck and Sally Ellis.
- Mixed Medium – Shelley Matthiesen.
- Drawing/Printmaking – Jay Wennersten.
- Photography – Steven and Bobbi Cole.
- Painting – Barbara Weets.
- Wood – Michael Tygert.
- Jewelry – Zanetta Hoehle.
- Sculpture – Wayne and Karen Ruff.
The Fall Beaux Arts Fair has been scheduled for Saturday and Sunday, Aug. 19-20, at the Figge Art Museum’s outdoor Bechtel Plaza. The new date will coincide with the Alternating Currents Festival in downtown Davenport. Visit www.beauxartsfair.com for more information.
