When organizers at the Cherry Creek Arts Festival asked Mary Frances Robinson if she wanted to take part in a special 15th-anniversary artists showcase, the San Antonio painter jumped at the opportunity.
“I do shows all over, and Cherry Creek is the best show in the United States. People in Denver know about art, they love art, and they don’t hesitate to buy,” said Robinson, who has taken part in the festival eight times previously.
She will be one of 29 artists featured along Anniversary Avenue, one of the new attractions at this year’s installment of the festival, which opens Saturday and continues through Monday in much of Cherry Creek North.
“In honor of the 15th anniversary, we wanted to celebrate the journey and the history of the event, and that was one way to do that,” said Terry Adams, the festival’s executive director.
The festival drew 365,000 people in 2004, and he anticipates a slight increase this year because of the 15th-anniversary festivities and the fortuitous timing of the festival on the three-day Fourth of July weekend.
Anniversary Avenue will be the focal point of a new opening-night celebration, which will take place from 6:30 to 10 tonight as a preview to Saturday’s official festival opening.
The street party – one of the few aspects of the festival that has an admission charge – will include live entertainment, desserts and refreshments as well as an advance chance to view and purchase works by the anniversary artists.
Robinson and the other exhibitors spotlighted in the special anniversary area along Clayton Street between Second and Third avenues were either selected as best-of-show artists in past years or had a work highlighted on the festival’s annual poster.
“I do primitives,” Robinson said. “In other words, I’m a self-taught artist. And I do work reflectin’ of the old South, and that includes a black wash pot and the families working on the farm and the quilts.”
For this year’s festival, the folk artist plans to display paintings in an array of sizes, including a group of newly created ones, with prices ranging from $240 to $3,000.
She will be one of a total of 234 artists from across the United States and Canada who will take part in this year’s festival, including 17 from Colorado and 68 who are participating for the first time.
Their work traverses 13 categories of media – ceramics, digital art, drawing, fiber art, glass works, jewelry, metal works, mixed media, painting, photography, printmaking, sculpture and wood works.
This year, the festival received about 2,100 artist applications, and a five-member expert jury spent three 12-hour days winnowing the list to the final lineup of participants based on artistic excellence.
Besides Anniversary Avenue and the opening-night celebration, the other significant addition to the festival this year will be Architects of Air, a kind of giant, inflatable sculpture that British designer Alan Parkinson calls a luminaria.
Architects of Air structures have attracted more than 1 million visitors on five continents. This particular one, which is titled “Amozozo,” is 150 feet long and 75 feet wide with more than 60 triangular domes that refract natural light throughout the vinyl structure.
“We’re constantly look for cutting-edge, creative, interactive experiences for our guests – something they can only get here,” Adams said.
As usual, live entertainment will be running virtuously continuously on three festival stages, everything from Irish dance to country-rock to ventriloquism to reggae.
A special attraction will be Diavolo, a Los Angeles-based company of dancers, gymnasts and actors. The ensemble’s founder, Jacques Heim, choreographed Cirque du Soleil’s latest show in Las Vegas.
The group was a hit at last year’s Aspen Dance Festival, and it is scheduled to appear in February at the Newman Center for the Performing Arts. At the festival, it will perform mini-versions of its theater programs.
Cherry Creek Arts Festival
The 15th-annual festival in Cherry Creek North gets started this evening. Here are the details:
15TH ANNIVERSARY CELEBRATION|Festival opening street party; Cherry Creek North, Clayton Street between East Second and Third avenues; 6:30-10 tonight |$25 in advance, $35 at the door|Advance tickets only available at cherryarts.org
OUTDOOR ART SHOW|Cherry Creek North, Second and Third avenues from Steele to Columbine streets; 10 a.m.-8 p.m. Saturday and Sunday; 10 a.m.-6 p.m. Monday; entertainment only, 8-10 p.m. Saturday and Sunday |Free |303-355-3787 or cherryarts.org
ARCHITECTS OF AIR|Walk-through installation|Bromwell Elementary, 2500 E. Fourth Ave.; 11 a.m.-6 p.m. Saturday-Monday. |$3 per person or $10 for a family of up to five |303-355-3787 or cherryarts.org
