Sunday, July 31, 2011

Bellevue Arts Fair

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First of all, I love this mosaic maker from Big Huge Labs! This weekend is our city’s annual Arts fair. This is it’s 65th year and I’ve gone to this most of my life and it’s grown into one of the largest Arts fairs in the country. Some of the artists count on this fair for half or more of their yearly sales.

The main fair is run by the Bellevue Art Museum and is a juried competition that takes place earlier in the year. For those who either don’t want to go through that process or aren’t selected, two other fairs have sprung up but we view them as one big fair. The thing I love is that it promotes art, creativity, and engages the community. I love that streets are closed to traffic and you have to walk. It allows you to really take in everything around you.

There’s a kids fair which our son loved when he was younger where kids can get down and dirty ( literally!) in all kinds of projects and lately they’ve closed off one street so the kids can emulate this professional chalk artist:

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Every kind of art imaginable is on display from huge metal and glass installation pieces to woodwork, jewelry, cards , altered art you name it. This year, they wrapped all the lamp posts throughout the venue in colorful hand knitted sleeves. Not sure why but just something quirky and fun.

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The main part of the fair takes over the parking garage of the mall.

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with row after row of vendors where cars would normally be. So much talent and inspiration on display! If you’re ever in the Seattle area the last weekend in July, (it’s the same weekend every year) then this is a must see!

There were performance artists roaming throughout the fair…not really sure what the message was but sometimes that’s the point of art.

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5 comments:

Anonymous said...

I love that mosaic maker! A high school classmate of mine used it quite often last year when she was planning her wedding. I eventually asked her how she made them, just in case it was a website instead of a program on her Mac. I've only used it once but it's still pretty cool!

So, I'm not sure if I knew that you're practically my neighbor. I live in the Seattle area as well, a suburb south of the city. Not sure I've heard of the Bellevue Arts Fair, though. Looks great, though! And yay for promoting the arts and creativity!

Christine said...

Looks like a creative and inspiring event. I love attending fairs like these--they always get me thinking!! Thanks for sharing it...

Michele {The Scrap Shoppe} said...

Wow!! This looks like a lot of fun, Carol! I wish we had something like that around here. Even my toddler would love to write all over the street with some chalk! :)

Gwen @ Gwenny Penny said...

This looks like such a fantastic arts fair, Carol. I wish there was something like this near me.

Holly Lefevre said...

This looks fantastic! So many craft fairs have turned into gathering places and selling of cheap junk - this one looks amazing like it has embraced what a fair is supposed to be. I went to the renegade craft fair and it was amazing.