Arts
Fest: Focus on Function
Rick
Egan/The Salt Lake TribuneBilly Webster, 10,
maneuvers his Lunastix Saturday afternoon at the
Utah Arts Festival in downtown Salt Lake City.
Creative toys were among the crafts available to
festival goers.
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BY JOHN KEAHEY
THE SALT LAKE TRIBUNE
Functional art --
shaped, carved, spun and sewn from nature's own
materials -- is highlighting this year's Utah Arts
Festival.
Artists and crafters
from throughout the United States survived a
late-morning cooling rain shower Saturday and found
eager buyers from among the thousands who crowded their
tiny display tents. Organizers reported strong
attendance Saturday at the festival, which ends today.
Among the more unique presenters
during the four-day event were clothing makers who
create light, colorful shirts and dresses from natural
hemp fibers and crafters making decorative tiles and
wooden kitchen pieces -- all by hand.
One craftsman who praises the
diversity and creativity at this year's festival is Kent
Haugaard of Tumacacori, Ariz.
"Well-organized festivals such as this one highlight
diversity, and the jury that selects which artists can
be here guarantees that approach," he said. "This
[emphasis on diversity] is not only good for the more
creative among us, but for the public as well."
In other words, such a system
keeps out the junk.
Haugaard and
his family hand-shape wooden vessels to hold food, as
well as wooden utensils such as spatulas and large
soup-serving spoons, and distinctive cutting boards for
bread.
The end product is
referred to by the generic term "treenware."
Haugaard goes beyond just turning
out a beautifully carved cherry-wood or black
walnut-wood spatulas. He also inlays much of his work
with streaks and patches of turquoise stone that
smoothly fit into the wood's natural knots and cracks --
so smoothly that they seem to be part of the wood
itself.
This approach of using
art to create everyday items extends as well to wall
tiles -- not the kind to hang on the wall and admire
like a painting, but to be part of the wall itself.
Paul Zelenka, a Summit Park
resident who left his computer-programming job six years
ago to make his tiles full time, is trying to bring this
medieval-European craft to life in Utah.
"Utah does not naturally have a
tradition in handmade tile," he said. Early Utah
pioneers fired their own bricks as building materials,
but had no time in their day-to-day survival for fancier
tiles.
"Many people in the
eastern United States do what I do -- back where
European craftsmen settled during the early history of
this country."
His designs focus
on medieval-European and Celtic concepts. In fact, one
of the largest shows out of the three he typically
attends in a year is the Celtic-oriented Irish-Scottish
festival in Estes Park, Colo.
And
while he sells individual tiles whose designs could be
incorporated into traditional tile walls, he makes most
of his living from selling hand-made tiles to
contractors and homeowners.
"This
is pleasure and business, all in one," Zelenka said.
But there is another side to the
Utah Arts Festival this weekend that does not have to
pass the scrutiny of artist-choosing jurors.
Take for example the "Derek Dyer
Art Sideshow" set up along the Main Street sidewalk just
a few dozen feet from the festival's front door.
Dyer has a series of experimental
paintings and color photographs on display, and he lures
potential customers by offering copious amounts of free
orange-flavored drink served from a large cooler.
"We are trying to make Main
Street more crowded -- not just on festival weekend but
every weekend, every day," he said of his art-display
efforts.
Dyer's "day job" is as a
graphic artist. By night, he is a "projection" artist,
creating and projecting images for bands and theater
groups.
The city has made it
easier for street artists such as Dyer to show their
wares. Such individuals can present their wares along
downtown sidewalks up to 12 times a year without paying
for a $50 permit.
"It's a good
ordinance," Dyer said. "It gives a struggling artist
enough time to find out if the public is receptive to
his art before shelling out 50 bucks."
john.keahey@sltrib.com
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