BY BARBARA ARNSTEIN
This year the annual Springville Art Crawl will take place on June 1, from 3-8pm. Stores and other businesses in the historic downtown shopping area in Springville will once again become one big temporary showplace for art, including various types of paintings and photography, and the surrounding streets will become one big temporary marketplace for arts and crafts, including jewelry and decorative items. As always, visitors will be enjoying not only the artwork, chosen by art experts, that will be displayed on walls, and browsing amidst the many arts and crafts vendors’ tables, but also various other forms of entertainment, including interactive areas, food trucks, and much more. The Art Crawl truly offers a lot of fun for the whole family.
The Community Parade, scheduled to begin at 4:30 p.m., features a number of floats, marching bands from local schools, decorated cars and more. The parade route extends from Main Street and Franklin Street to North Buffalo and Franklin Street.
This year, a $250 prize will be awarded for the best float with the theme of “Art Pirates”. This years’ live musical performances will be performed by a variety of groups, in spots throughout the streets, and aerialist Lily LeStrange will once again wow the crowds with her graceful moves. In addition, there will be some new types of entertainment, including themed experience rooms, mini-exhibits, and interactive installations. Visitors will also be enjoying the Fiber Arts Zone, the Literary Arts Zone, the AKG Art Truck, the Chalk Art, the Drum Circle and other interactive areas. The vendors’ tables are at the intersection of Main and Mechanic Street, and on Franklin Street.
The four judges for the submissions this year included Emily Ebba Reynolds, and Nando Alvarez-Perez, co-founders and directors of the Buffalo Institute for Contemporary Art. Nando is an artist, photographer and educator, and Emily is a curator and community organizer. The other two judges are Gerald Mead, an award-winning artist whose work is in permanent collections, and has been in international exhibits, and Tracy DelValle, an artist and educator who owns “Paint Flights”, a studio that offers painting classes. At the After-Party for the artists, a Juror Prize of $250, an Executive Prize of $150 and smaller prizes, in several categories will be awarded. The photo of mine that was accepted for this year’s Art Crawl features red and pink flowers, and green leaves, and it is entitled “Perfect Petals”. Thanks to the way light cast shadows on the petals, it looks very much like a painting. For more information about the Art Crawl, go to springvilleartcrawl.com.
photos by Barbara Arnstein