Art Festival By The Numbers
51
The number of years the Winter Park Sidewalk Art Festival has been held in the city’s downtown.
225
The number of artists from across the country who were invited to the festival this year.
350,000
The number of visitors expected to attend this year’s three-day festival.
$67,500
The total amount of prize money that will be given to artists for various awards.
$10,000
The amount of money the Best of Show winner will receive.
3
The number of judges for this year. They are George Kinghorn, the curator and director of the University of Maine Museum of Art; Chawky Frenn, a professor of art at George Mason University, in Fairfax, Va.; and Susan Knowles, an independent curator and art historian who serves on the board of governors at Arrowmont School of Arts and Crafts in Gatlinburg.
19, 20, 21
The three days in March for the festival, which runs 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Friday and Saturday, and 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Sunday.
Fest Facts
• Beer and wine: In addition to the regular beverage and food vendors, festival organizers hope to add booths this year to sell beer and wine. Alice Moulton, executive secretary of the festival, said it wouldn’t be the first time beer and wine have been sold at the art show to raise money.
• Music: Jazz radio station 103.1 WLOQ will host a concert in Central Park on March 19 at 6:30 p.m.
• Parking: Free parking is available along many surrounding streets. You can also park in private lots and garages.
• Disabled parking: The parking lot at the corner of Canton and Park avenues has disabled-parking spaces. City police officers will be stationed at Canton and Park and at New England Avenue and Morse Boulevard for assistance.
• Leave them home: No pets or sound systems are permitted.
• On the Web: wpsaf.org
• The bottom line: “We wanted to create an environment where patrons could see and buy art,” says Carole Moreland, a past president and long-time board member of the festival. “The goal is to make the art public.”
Hometown Artists
Of the 225 artists participating in the Winter Park Sidewalk Art Festival, three are from Winter Park: Edson Campos, Bernie Martin and Jeff League. Artists are chosen by a committee appointed by the festival’s administration.
Edson Campos
Edson Campos found joy in drawing at an early age. As a teenager growing up in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, Campos began his career as an artist drawing illustrations for textbooks at age 16. Completely self-taught, Campos continued to draw and paint after moving to the United States in 1978 and settling in Winter Park in 1987. His work has been showcased in galleries across the world, most recently in Moscow and Paris.
Last year Campos was invited to participate in the prestigious French Salon, an art exhibition held by the Academie des Artistes Francais at the Grand Palais in Paris. The Salon is an annual art competition that began in the 1700s and has showcased artwork from artists such as Rodin, Delacroix, Renoir and Coubert. Campos took home the bronze medal for an original piece he submitted titled “Opera.” The piece is a 68-inch-by-92-inch oil painting that Campos said he painted as an homage to the artist Delacroix.
Campos is no newcomer to the Winter Park festival. He has participated in the event multiple times since he moved to Winter Park more than 25 years ago. “It’s an honor to be a part of an arts festival in my own hometown,” Campos says. “This is a great place for any artist, local or not, to have their work seen by the public.”
Campos describes his artistic style as a romantic update of something from the past. “It’s important to keep the memory of something alive,” he says. Campos has re-created some of his favorite artists’ works but adds his own touch. His painting, “Auto-retrato,” is his own self-portrait based on Spanish artist Diego Velazquez’s “Las Meninas.”
Bernie Martin
Bernie Martin has a passion for capturing people in their natural state. He has painted people from across the world, including Thailand, South Africa and Europe. Martin is known particularly for his paintings of dancers. “Capturing the human figure in motion or in life, as in the dance, allows me to portray this action with color, rhythm and fluidity of form,” he says.
Martin, who is originally from Niagara Falls, N.Y., paints watercolor, pastel and oil pieces. “There’s nothing like the feeling of holding a fully loaded paintbrush of color,” Martin says. His biggest influences are the artists he has painted with, such as Charles Reid, Scott Burlik and Andre Lucero. “Seeing the art itself is amazing,” he says. “The dramatic watercolors or paintings of people are moving.”
Martin has participated in the Winter Park Sidewalk Art Festival eight times. “What I love about this festival is how upbeat it is,” Martin says. “There’s always such a wide variety of artists. Plus I am able to see my friends I haven’t seen in ages.” Aside from his painting career, Martin is also a lawyer, civil engineer and land surveyor.
Jeff League
Jeff League always knew he wanted to be to an artist. “It just took me a while to really find my voice,” League says. Originally from Gainesville, League studied music before trying black and white photography, and finally, visual art. League says he found his path in visual art, creating images that he calls “mixed media painting.”
League works with an encaustic medium, — beeswax and tree resin — and then adds photography or paints other images on top. “I saw a demonstration by local artist Audrey Phillips that really inspired me,” League says. “It showed me that you could transfer imagery to the encaustic.”
League’s work has been showcased in galleries throughout Central Florida, such as the Museum of Florida Art, the Orlando Museum of Art and, most recently, in Lombard Contemporary Art exhibit at the Hyatt Regency Grand Cypress Hotel. Some of his photography has also been selected by the Polaroid Corp. and placed into its permanent collection. League also works for the Millenia Gallery in Orlando.
This will be League’s third appearance in the Winter Park Sidewalk Art Festival. “The camaraderie among the artists in this particular festival is fun,” he says. “And showing my art in front of thousands of people is great.”
Graphic artist takes different approach to poster
The annual Winter Park Sidewalk Arts Festival poster maybe one of the most anticipated pieces of artwork released by the festival each year. Ken Bowser, a graphic artist and resident of Winter Park for 25 years, is the first artist to create a poster without a paintbrush in hand. Bowser creates his art via computer. “My idea was to approach it as ‘poster art’ rather than a reproduction of a fine art piece with show information printed across the bottom,” Bowser says. “Poster art needs to evoke memories or feelings of an event, and in that respect finds a home in any environment.”
Bowser studied illustration at the Ringling College of Art and Design in Sarasota and began his art career working with watercolor paintings and ink drawings. His illustrations have been in a number of publications, including Better Homes & Gardens, The Chicago Tribune and in his own illustration books.
Bowser chose to illustrate the unique atmosphere that Park Avenue brings to Winter Park in this year’s poster. “With the poster, I started with four or five plein air sessions on Park Avenue to capture the energy of the environment,” Bowser says. “I love everything from the restaurants and the schools to the lakes and parks and small-town atmosphere.”
Bowser has never participated in the festival. “One-hundred percent of my work comes from New York, so I guess it's nice to do something that's seen here,” he says. “The vast majority of my work is not seen locally. Most of my friends and neighbors don't even know what I do.”
The posters are for sale for $15. The proceeds go toward the next year’s festival.
Poster sales have been a part of the festival since the 1970s. But the first poster ever created was for the inaugural festival in 1960 by longtime resident Walter Neals. His daughter-in-law, Donna Neals, owns the original prints. “Art was a passion that ran in the family,” she said. Walter Neals opened an advertising firm in Central Florida - Neals, Koether and Hicks - but did local printing work as a hobby. Donna Neals said her father-in-law showed his artwork in the festival for many years.
