Ann Arbor Art Fair entertainment schedules
The Ann Arbor Art Fair is about more than visual art. A variety of live entertainment takes place around the event. Here's a complete schedule:
More after the jump…The Ann Arbor Art Fair is about more than visual art. A variety of live entertainment takes place around the event. Here's a complete schedule:
More after the jump…event preview
Booths and people will fill the streets of Ann Arbor again Wednesday-Saturday.
AnnArbor.com file photo
Booths upon booths of artists selling their work, music and other performances, businesses doing sidewalk sales, and an array of activities for adults and their kids will take over downtown. The enormous 4-day art fair returns for its 52nd time Wednesday through Saturday. Fairgoers from near and far will pack the town from 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday; and 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Saturday.
Buying, or at least looking at, art is arguably the biggest reason so many people go. The fair usually draws around an estimated 500,000 people. Four individual fairs collaborate on the massive event to feature artists from all over the world who work in “2D and 3D-mixed media, drawing, painting, photography, printmaking, ceramics, fiber, glass, jewelry and works in metal, stone, and wood,” according to the fair’s official description of its range.
There are also plenty of things to do for free during the fair. On top of selling art, a number of artists will be presenting free “Art Demos” of how they make their art. People of all ages can make their own art at hands-on “Art Activity Zones” located throughout the fair. Or you can exchange ideas with representatives from non-profits and social causes while standing in the middle of a usually busy Liberty Street.
More after the jump…Melanie Maxwell | AnnArbor.com file photo
Rich Kinsey - Semper Cop
Love it or hate it, the circus that is the Ann Arbor Art Fair is coming to town in less than two weeks.
Running from July 20-23 the Ann Arbor Art Fair will bring an estimated 500,000 people into the downtown area according to the Ann Arbor Area Convention and Visitor’s Bureau. That is a lot of business, a lot of revenue, a lot of people and a lot of organized chaos around town.
Most locals have a strong opinion about the Art Fair. For merchants, restaurateurs, and artisans it means opportunity.
For locals that work in the downtown area in other fields it means getting knocked out of “your” daily parking spot and having to change comfortable traffic routes in and around the downtown area. It means having to leave for work early, as if for a snow emergency, in order to find somewhere to park.
More after the jump…martin bandyke column
Just as it should be, the focus will be on the visuals during the Ann Arbor Art Fair, which takes over the town from July 20-23. But I’d like to highlight some of the cool musical entertainment you will be able to hear while you’re checking out all that fabulous art.
Consisting of the Ann Arbor Street Art Fair (The Original), Ann Arbor Summer Art Fair, State Street Area Art Fair, and the South University Art Fair, the extravaganza will also feature everything from high school bands to nationally recognized recording artists.
More after the jump…Crowds at last year's Ann Arbor Art Fair.
AnnArbor.com file photo
Visitors started traveling around the fair’s massive footprint in the new A2 Art Trolley last year. The trolley travels around the edge of the fair’s periphery and all-day tickets are only a buck.
In addition to AATA “Art Fair Park and Ride Shuttles” at Briarwood Mall and Pioneer High School, where people park and travel to and from the fair, a new “Trinity Westside Art Fair Park and Ride Shuttle” added at Maple Village (155 N. Maple Road at the intersection of Jackson Road) will make it easier for people living on that side of town to park and ride to the fair.
More after the jump…The Townie Street Party—the annual locally focused event that precedes the Ann Arbor Art Fairs—has announced some details of this year's bash, including a slightly different home.
Taking place 5-9:30 p.m. Monday, July 18, this year's party will be located on East Washington Street between Thayer and Fletcher. The party has moved around somewhat since its creation a few years ago, but it's always been somewhere in the vicinity of Ingalls Mall.
More after the jump…Young artists have two chances this week to submit their work for consideration to be displayed as part of this year's Townie Street Party, the annual lead-in to the Ann Arbor Art Fairs.
The Ann Arbor Street Art Fair — the sponsor of the Townie Party, and one of the four fairs that concurrently make up the Ann Arbor Art Fairs — welcomes artists from Washtenaw County in third through eighth grades to submit their work to be juried for the 2011 Kids Art Fair, to be held as part of the Townie Party July 18, 5-9:30 p.m.
Editorial
If someone were to announce that a new business was coming to Ann Arbor and would generate an estimated $70 million in economic activity here, that would be considered great news.
Such an enterprise did open in Ann Arbor a week-and-a-half ago, as it does every year. Collectively, it’s called the Ann Arbor Art Fairs, and its impact on the community is immense.
More after the jump…column
Disrobing in the basement of Antelope Antiques with a steady crowd of art fair patrons peeking around a corner, previously uber-confident Derian Kuneman was hit by a sudden wave of self-consciousness.
It wasn't just that the petite 20-year-old with straight auburn hair was completely nude in front of any civilian on East Liberty Street who needed a break from the heat. And it wasn't that she was about to do the same in front of hundreds outside Hill Auditorium, or that pictures of her in the buff would soon be immortalized on postcards.
More after the jump…Ann Arbor Art Fairs
Salem residents Carla Pariseau, left, and son John Pariseau watch the kinetic sculptures of Andrew Carson at the State Street Art Fair Saturday.
Angela J. Cesere | For AnnArbor.com
Kati Russell has been selling her art at the Ann Arbor Art Fairs for a decade and says sales were particularly slow this year, likely due to the unpredictable weather.
"This is the first year it's been slow," said Russell, a painter and resident of Akron, Ohio. "(My sales this year) are probably 5 percent of my normal sales."
More after the jump…Share your experience at the Ann Arbor Art Fairs with our readers! Click here for details on how to interact.
Photo by Bradley Cross, 60, of Ann Arbor, taken Friday during one of the storms that blew through the Ann Arbor Art Fairs.
From @SarainAnnArbor: Oh sure, now its beautiful after we walked around the mall and are pooped out! Art Fair, I'll see you next year :(
From @shatteredhaven: Stoped raining & it's sunny & humid at Ann Arbor Art Fair.
From @clarewrobz: Hittin up this ann arbor art fair. I'm gonna find the NPR tent and rule the news quiz they've been blabbin about on my radio...
From @whatyatalknbout: thinks the Ann Arbor Art Fair is overrated. I just want to be able walk down Main street again!
More after the jump…Today is the final day of the Ann Arbor Art Fairs this year, and the weather forecasts sound a lot like yesterday: periods of rain and heat.
More after the jump…The Ann Arbor Street Art Fair — centered in the Ingalls Mall area, and one of four that make up the Ann Arbor Art Fairs — has announced 10 winners of its awards of excellence and originality.
Winning booth numbers, artists, and media are:
A107, Leon Niehues, Fiber, Baskets
A119, Christy Klug, Jewelry
A144, Nick Wroblewski, Printmaking
A147, Betsy Giberson, Fiber
A150, Scott Hartley, Painting
A232, Robert Farrell, Metalsmithing
A307, Dennis Nahabetian, Metalsmithing
A324, Justin Teilhet, Clay
A325, Heinrich Toh, Printmaking
A335, Cheryl Gail Toh, Mixed Media
Julie Fremuth (Booth A131, Mixed Media) was named as the 2011 Featured Artist. Her original art work will be featured on the Street Art Fair merchandise next year for the celebration of the Art Fair’s 52nd Anniversary.
I'll admit that I have a soft spot for well-crafted, wooden toys, so Russell Fullone's booth on State Street — part of the Summer Art Fair — made me stop and stare a couple of times.
Fullone makes old model fire engines, trucks (sometimes carrying small barrels or crayons), cars, golf carts, and more — and those more obviously appealing to an adult audience have a small clock built-in.
More after the jump…Art fair patrons trying to beat the heat were fighting a losing battle at the Ann Arbor Art Fairs on Friday. A trio of musicians at Nickels Arcade instead just put the heat to a beat.
Normally, the only people asking for money on the street in downtown Ann Arbor are the homeless. Not so during the Ann Arbor Art Fairs and, as the following video shows, it's not always easy to tell the difference.
More after the jump…Ann Arbor Art Fairs
While the eyes of the public largely focus on the artists' booths at the Ann Arbor Art Fairs, another key component of the week lies in the sidewalk sales set up in front of local stores.
More after the jump…