The season for outdoor art festivals fires up this weekend with the Winter Park Autumn Arts Festival, 9 a.m.-5 p.m. Saturday and Sunday in Central Park and along Park Avenue. This festival was started as a show for Florida artists and has often had better and more consistent quality of work than its more famous springtime counterpart. For some reason, the show was long isolated on the edge of town in a muddy field. But recently, the city decided it merited placement in the heart of town. Hope to see you there.
Be a creator
This weekend, if you’d like to try your hand at making art rather than just looking, you may want to register for a handmade tile workshop presented by the City of Orlando’s own pottery studio (649 W. Livingston Street, beside the arena), taught by Philadelphia clay artist Angelica Pozo. If you’re not sure you’re capable of artistic creation, you may want to attend Pozo’s reception (7 p.m.) and slide presentation in the rotunda of Orlando City Hall tonight at 7. The workshop is 9 a.m.-3 p.m. Saturday and Sunday. Cost is $125. Call 407-246-3595.
Meet a creator
Saturday, 7-10 p.m., after you attend the Winter Park Autumn Art Festival or the tile-making workshop, you will still have time to change clothes and drive to DeLand for “Arts in Autumn” at the home of Chris and Amy Howe, where you can meet a living legend, photographer Clyde Butcher. This reception is a fund-raiser for the DeLand Museum of Art; tickets are $75. Butcher’s exhibit “Elegant Ecosystem” is showing at the museum through Nov. 19. He is well-known for his large-format black-and-white photos of the Everglades and is in many museum collections — he’s Florida’s Ansel Adams. Call to reserve, 386-734-4371.
Dine with a creator
The Maitland Art Center is gearing up for its third annual “Dining with an Artist” fundraising event. You and a very limited number of guests can dine with the artist of your choice (if you reserve early enough) at his/her home, or in some cases the home of a center supporter. By all accounts, these gourmet dinners are invariably delish, and the conversations are even better. The dishy evenings start Oct. 21 and run through Nov. 19; call the center at 407-539-2181 for a complete listing of this year’s artists and hosts or go to www.maitlandartcenter.org/programs and reserve immediately!
Party with creators
Thursday is Third Thursday in downtown Orlando. The CityArts Factory at the corner of Orange Avenue and Pine Street is centrally located and a good place to start; ask about other venues while there. There are 26 pieces of new art by local Hispanic artists in the Orange County Commission Chambers, 201 S. Rosalind Avenue. Urban Think! Bookstore (635 E. Central Blvd.) is hosting a “naked” Arty Party, 6-9 p.m., along with a Marilyn in Art book signing by local artist Holly Picano. UT!B has an artist’s reception/party every Friday, 5-9 p.m.; tonight features durkART and Dave Dodson.
Gallery bites the dust
A couple of weeks ago, I wrote about Orlando’s plethora of art happenings, but our apparent paucity of art purchasers. Several gallery owners told me they sell lots of art — to out-of-towners. We have very few full-time, professional, fine-art galleries for a city our size, and now we have one fewer: The excellent Russell Alexander Fine Art gallery in the Winter Park Village has closed. They were second only to the very successful and over-the-top-spectacular Millenia Gallery (which is located in a tourist-rich area . . . hmm . . .). Russell Alexander said they were doing well but closed when they had “an offer [from] another retailer” for their space. Please do your part to keep fine-art galleries here and buy at least one piece of art each year from a local artist and/or gallery!
