VOELZ CHANDLER: Mastering the art of navigating crowds

Mary Voelz Chandler

Published July 5, 2008 at 12:15 a.m.

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Photo by Preston Gannaway / The Rocky

Dancers with Wise Fool New Mexico head to the performance area Friday at the Cherry Creek Arts Festival.

Sensible shoes rule, since you're likely to be stepped on or run over by a stroller. I tried sandals once; never again.

Daniel Bartlett of Red Iye Dimensions sculpts melons into objects at once floral and lacy.

Marge Margulies, a graduate of Philadelphia College of Art who just moved to Guerneville, Calif., (booth 78) makes nesting platters and bowls in organic shapes and striking colors.

Photo by Photos By Mary Chandler / The Rocky

A sculpture by Jimmy Descant, of Salida, who creates works of art from old machine parts.

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The Cherry Creek Arts Festival has become as married to the Fourth of July in Denver as brats and beer.

But at this three-day festival, you're more likely to come across pizza slices and orange/ mango rum cocktails than basic picnic food.

The festival itself is a banquet, where 238 artists from all over bring out work they hope someone will love - and buy.

Here's my take on how to best navigate an event that attracts nearly 400,000 visitors.

* Go early, or go late. You're on sizzling asphalt - I saw oozing tar in some places - with trees that are lovely but somewhat useless at providing shade. When someone hands you a cardboard fan, take it. You'll use it.

* Sensible shoes rule, since you're likely to be stepped on or run over by a stroller. I tried sandals once; never again.

* Be careful hopping into or out of a booth to inspect a work. You're in the company of tens of thousands of people looking at the displays on either side of the street, not where they are going. And speaking of art, here are things that caught my eye: There are huge variations in quality in categories such as painting, drawing, sculpture and photography. So think craft. The most interesting work I encountered Friday morning would definitely fit in that tradition.

* The festival classifies fiber artist Maggy Pavlou, of Santa Fe, booth E7, as an emerging artist - i.e. someone new to the festival circuit. She began making clothes from felted wool less than two years ago. I always feel sorry for anyone pitching substantial garments outdoors on a 90-degree day in July. But as Pavlou says, "People know it's a future buy."

* Marge Margulies, a graduate of Philadelphia College of Art who just moved to Guerneville, Calif., (booth 78) makes nesting platters and bowls in organic shapes and striking colors. (below.) At booth 45 you'll find sleek ceramic vessels by Justin Teilhet, of Yellow Springs, Ohio, in soft neutrals and deep red.

* Isaac Arms, of Bozeman, Mont., in booth 149 makes curvy chairs of steel plates powdercoated in bright colors. Are these comfortable? "They're not La-Z-Boy recliners," said Janet Arms, the artist's wife. "You're not going to fall asleep in it, but they are comfortable." They were on knee-high platforms, and too tall to sample safely.

* Basic ingenuity also is on view. Daniel Bartlett of Red Iye Dimensions sculpts melons into objects at once floral and lacy.(left) The results are for decorative purposes only, he said. "They're perishable."

* Don't be timid about asking questions about how work is made or the price.

* Prices are all over the map. Consider artist Jimmy Descant's sculptures, booth 140, made of old machine parts. They range from $80 to $25,000.

Just don't say your kid could do better. That's really bad form.

Cherry Creek Arts Festival

* Admission is free to this annual arts extravaganza. A fireworks show is scheduled for 9:30 tonight.

The winners

Theodore Gall, a sculptor from Ojai, Calif., took best of show Friday at the 2008 Cherry Creek Arts Festival. Jurors also gave prizes in several other categories, including their personal favorites. Total prize money awarded was $4,500.

Other awards from the festival, which goes through Sunday:

* Second place went to painter Ginny Herzog, from Minneapolis.

* Taman Vanscoy, from Long Beach, Calif., took third place for work in the drawing category.

* The five merit awards went to: Hetty and Norman Metzger, in fiber, from Homosassa, Fla.; Kelly Marshall, also in fiber, from Minneapolis; Sarah Karnes, from Durango, in drawing; Owen Mortensen, mixed media, from Logan, Utah; and Chia Haruta, in graphics and printmaking, from Hanover, Mich.

* Jurors' awards went to George Raab, in graphics and printmaking, from Millbrook, Ont. (juror Jennifer Garner); Leah Evans, fiber, from Madison, Wisc. (juror Vallorie Henderson), and Vesna Yankovich, metal, from Vancouver, B.C. (juror Collin Parson).

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