Julie Merrill, artist. Photo by Joel Sandvos
Presented by the Weaverville Business Association, Art in Autumn returns to downtown Weaverville for its 19th year Saturday, September 19, from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. This fine art and craft festival features more than 111 juried artists in booths lining Main Street, showcasing work in a wide range of mediums. Live music begins at 10:30 a.m., and Weaverville’s shops, galleries, breweries and restaurants will be open throughout the day for this family-friendly event.
Jewelry artist and metalsmith Audrey Laine Sawyer has participated in Art in Autumn since 2016. “The work I’ll be bringing to this show marks a fresh evolution in my jewelry, with sterling silver cast elements bringing new dimension to reimagined forms and further explorations in combining metal with wood and gemstones,” she says. “These new pieces are inspired by woodland and desert landscapes as well as architectural elements like breeze blocks. For my brass lovers, I will also have a small selection of brass and mixed metal pieces in new styles.”
Amanda McLenon, artist. Photo by Joel Sandvos
Sawyer and the other participating artists will compete for awards, with the Best in Show winner taking a prize of $1,000. Second and third place awards as well as honorable mentions will also be named and will come with cash prizes. The judge for this year’s festival is Sarah Wells Rolland, co-founder of The Village Potters Clay Center and executive director of The Village Potters Foundation, who brings nearly 40 years of experience in ceramic arts to the role.
Erica Stankwytch Bailey will also present her jewelry during the festival. “I find that metalsmithing and jewelry-making is a perfect combination of being creative and highly technical,” she says. “I make mostly one-of-a-kind jewelry using sterling silver and semi-precious gemstones. I am deeply inspired by understanding the building blocks of the materials I work with, metal and mineral, and find a lot of my visual inspiration in the complex crystalline patterns, shapes and habits they exhibit. “
Other mediums represented at the festival include ceramics, wood, fiber, painting, glass, metal and photography.
During the festival, Main Street will be closed to traffic between Georgia Avenue and Brown Street. Free parking will be available at the Weaverville Primary School and at designated church parking lots.
“Art in Autumn is such a great show to connect with the local community of artists and their supporters,” says Sawyer. “So many artists work in such solitary spaces, and events like this are so important to show the humanness of the craft world, to draw the line between the work and the person who used their hands and their spirit to bring it to life.”
Learn more at VisitWeaverville.com or contact info@visitweaverville.com.
