SEBASTIAN — A sunny day, just enough breeze, plenty of food, good music, one of the best riverside venues around, all combining to showcase the abundant talents of artists from near and far: All in all a pretty near perfect start to the Jan. 17-18 Sebastian Riverfront Fine Art and Music Festival.
Leaving no doubt about the annual event’s popularity, northbound lanes of US 1 were backed up for over a mile as festival goers packed the parking lots, side roads and any other space they could grab.
Food vendors and music occupied the field along the river, and the tents of well over 100 artists and craftsmen lined Indian River Drive and stretched along Sebastian Boulevard from Indian River Drive to US 1.
The level of creativity and artistic ability displayed here each year continues to amaze, always a reminder that art is as endlessly varied as the eye of its creator, and that there is no subject so humble, no medium so improbable, that it cannot be turned into art.
Thousands of festival-goers strolled from tent to tent, admiring the displays, pointing, inspecting, chatting up the artists, happily discovering that one thing they never knew they had to own.
Displays of delicate jewelry beckoned. A giant silvery beetle drew attention to the tent of a metalsmith. Artists in oil, acrylic, watercolor, pastels offered paintings for every taste, from soft watery landscapes to bold, colorful pieces reminiscent of Gauguin.
Even simple seafood took a starring role, as in Lori Pitten Jenkins’ way-larger-than-life “Prawns on Prongs.” There were etchings, wood carvings, and animals formed from marble and soapstone.
Magical moons, fairies and flower creatures watched quietly from their tent. There were displays of blown glass, stained glass and mosaic works; and multi-layered pieces by Pat Falk, a “painter” in colored, molten glass. Potters displayed broadly divergent styles. Flowing, silken tunics caught the breeze at a fiber artist’s tent.
Terri Finethy showed her earthbound suncatcher mobiles, all from repurposed materials – glowing pieces of colored glass, forks, beads, belt buckles, bound by wire into airy shapes. Admirers gathered to see original works by the famous Highwaymen.
The juried show was judged Saturday, and prizes were awarded for Best-in-Show, first, second and third places. Proceeds support scholarships and grants in county schools.
The list of winners was not immediately available.
