First Patton Creek Art Festival labeled success by organizers
The head of the Central Alabama Artist Guild is calling the new venue for the group’s spring art show a success after a sunny Saturday.
Close to 40 artists set up booths on a temporarily closed street in the Patton Creek shopping center for the Patton Creek Art Festival from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday. The artwork included paintings, jewelry, woodwork, pottery, stained glass, music boxes, decorated golf balls and more.
It was the first time the guild’s show has been in Hoover since 2017. The past two years’ shows were at the Vestavia Hills Civic Center, but organizers wanted to move again due to all the construction happening in the Vestavia Hills civic complex and the relocation of the Vestavia community center to the former Gold’s Gym space, said Jinger Glasgow, chairwoman for the spring show.
Walter Moore, president of the Central Alabama Artist Guild, said he felt good with the results of this year’s show.
“Overall, I think people were very happy,” Moore said. “It was a good show.”
The crowd turnout was steady until about 4:30, he said. He ranked the show among the top 10 percent of shows in which he has participated in the past year or two.
Moore said he appreciated all the help and publicity from the city of Hoover, officials managing the Patton Creek shopping center and other companies that helped with the show. There were several food trucks present as well.
Moore said if everything stayed the same, he’d like to return to Patton Creek in the future.
Jan Blahnik, an oil painter from the Highland Lakes community in Shelby County, didn’t have a booth at Patton Creek Saturday but said she formerly was a part of the Central Alabama Artist Guild and came because she had several friends in the show.
She said she’s glad to see the city of Hoover embrace the arts, make use of a mostly vacant part of the Patton Creek shopping center and bring the community together.
“Local artists look for opportunities to share their talent, and Birmingham is blessed with some very fine talent,” Blahnik said. “An outdoor show is unpredictable, but when the sun shines, there’s nothing better.”
Oil painter Danny McDaniel won best of show Saturday. Awards also were given out in the art and crafts categories:
Art:
- Norma Gober — painting
- Troy Criswell — painting
- Winnie Cooper — painting
Crafts:
- Cara Adams — glass
- Peggy Wood — pottery
- Theresa Heffner — stained glass
Honorable Mention:
- Mara Jambor — tile painting
- Cassandra Faulkner — jewelry