Sidewalks Will Come Alive During 10th Annual San Carlos Fine Arts and Crafts Festival

The streets of downtown San Carlos provide the perfect setting for an open-air art gallery during the 10th Annual San Carlos Fine Arts Sidewalk Festival. The free event, which runs Saturday and Sunday, May 5 and 6, from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. each day, will line the 600 and 700 blocks of Laurel Street in downtown San Carlos.

Sponsored by the San Carlos Chamber of Commerce with support by Allied Waste, this event showcases original works of more than 60 artists from across the country displaying for sale their watercolors, handcrafted jewelry, photographs, sculptures, collages and much more.

Among the artists presenting at this year’s show is Lorna Ritter of Napa who will be displaying her whimsical “wearable art” collection of hand-painted women’s garments and accessories. Lorna’s extensive creations include dresses, vests, pillows, and handbags each sporting Lorna’s amusingly designed animals, martini glasses, flowers or geometric shapes. The process to create her pieces includes cutting natural cotton fabric, hand drawing an image and painting the piece using textile paints. Once completed, the image is heat set, outline stitched and assembled. “A lot of work goes into everything I do, which is what makes each piece so unique,” she says.

James Moore from San Rafael will be showing his sculptures created from welded metal. His work takes two distinct directions: one toward a classical approach with a focus on realism, and the other toward abstract impressionism and minimalism. In both forms, Moore creates sculptures of human figures ranging in height from desktop to life size, freestanding displays. “Both styles of work have in common a positive view of the human condition,” says James. “The message I work to convey is that life is about possibilities.”

From Ossining, New York, Jeff Nelson and Hans Schwyter have been creating original marquetry for more than 25 years. Marquetry is the art of inlaying different woods and other natural materials to create a picture. Jeff and Hans’ work has been inspired by their extensive travel throughout the country; their inspiration is translated into stunning inlaid border mirrors and console tables in a variety of themes including Native American, floral, autumn leaves and wildlife.

“This year’s event complements some great new stores in the area,” said Sheryl Pomerenk, CEO of the San Carlos Chamber of Commerce. “Storybook Lane, which carries children’s’ books; Prairie, offering young mom’s clothes and gifts; Bracha, a store that has sophisticated, popular Asian influence clothes; and GoodSage, providing home gift and decorator items, to name a few."

Additional artists participating in the San Carlos Fine Arts and Crafts Festival include Denis Minamora of Sacramento displaying his intricately detailed mixed media images, Delia Bradford of Carmel with her beautiful oil and acrylic paintings of California landscape, and Edwin Haas of Stockton displaying his exquisite watercolor paintings.

The 10th Annual San Carlos Fine Arts and Crafts Festival is sponsored by the San Carlos Chamber of Commerce with support by Allied Waste. For more information, contact the San Carlos Chamber of Commerce at (650) 593-1068 or Pacific Fine Arts at (209) 296-1195 or pacificfinearts.com.