Pictures from the Des Moines Art Fest

You might be surprised to hear it, but we have a really good Art Fest here in Des Moines. And it's not just my midwestern bias talking here - it's consistently rated in the top art shows in the U.S. In terms of sales, it was ranked 7th out of 300 shows, so artists probably like to come here too. Sure they do - with all of the companies headquartered here, some of them are bound to buy some big pieces for the corporate offices. I think my brother-in-law has pieces at Principal and at Pella Windows.

Us little people like to browse around too, though. I sadly couldn't afford most of the stuff I wanted, but we did buy a blockprint from Kreg Yinst. It was between Yellow Submarine and A Day in the Life but ultimately the sub won out because he made less of those. I *really* wanted the one you'll see in the pictures below - it was a compilation made of every song from Sgt. Pepper in a frame that he made himself. Alas, it was $750, and I do not have a spare $750 sitting around at the moment. Or ever. So I contented myself with this little guy and will dream about the day I can walk into art festivals and point at things I like without even asking the price and then have my assistant pay and ship it back to my house while I continue walking around the festival unencumbered by bags. Or something.

Here were some other pieces I enjoyed. I don't pretend to be an art critic; I can only tell you what I liked. And I'm very sorry that I didn't get this first artist's information.

Suzy Scarborough's stuff was gorgeous, gorgeous, gorgeous... and HUGE. She's from South Carolina.

This is Tick Tock by Eric Ober from Houston.

I didn't see until after the fact that I wasn't supposed to take pictures of Rick Abrams' work, but it was so colorful and whimsical and quirky that I couldn't bring myself to delete the picture. And believe me, I couldn't replicate this if I tried. My pictures don't do it justice... and if you check out his website, his range is pretty impressive. You would think a guy who does such pop art-y stuff is limited in what he can do, but he's all over the place.

Can you tell I'm drawn to bright colors and things with a sense of humor? And sadly, I didn't get this artist's information either. I am a terrible person.

The one below is by Dennis Heimback of Middleton, Wisconsin.

I loved Tiffany Ownbey's work. It kind of made me think of stuff you would find in the background of a Marilyn Manson video. It's quietly creepy.

Viviana Bonanomi from San Francisco (below) was doing some really interesting things with crocheting long strips of paper.

The metal guy is by Chris Seeman from Cincinnati, who also had some very sophisticated pieces in his booth.

Keith Grace - Being a writer, I'm a total sucker for when artists use newsprint and typography.

The next two are both by Kina Crow, who had some hilarious stuff. The one below says something to the effect of, "even though we're far apart, i still smell it when you fart."

"She knew he was a bad boy... but she loved him anyway."

Joe DeCamillis had a lot of 3-D mixed media where he repurposed books into statements about traveling across America. I want to know how he got the edges of his books to stack so smoothly together... he had coated them with something. Plaster? But they retained some of the texture that a stack of pages has.

And here's the big Sgt. Pepper piece I wanted to buy from Kreg. Again, my photography sucks. But you get the idea. Awesomeness.

So that's my Art Fest Experience. Hopefully I'm rich by this time next year so I can experience that point-and-purchase thing I was talking about next year. Also, I'll need a bigger house for all of these things I'm going to buy. Because right now, those sculptures are totally going to overpower my yard. On the plus side, they will probably let more sun through than our tree does. Things to think about...