Over the weekend, tables and vendors scattered the landscape of Snow Hinton Park, manned by artisans hoping to share a piece of their passion, and a taste of their stories. The artists gathered, spanning a wide variety of mediums, ranging from glassblowing and weaving to spoken word and musical performances. 

The festival’s website describes it as “celebrating creativity, culture, and community in Tuscaloosa.” The website listed over 270 artists and performers in attendance, each presenting their own traditions and stories through the art that they created.

Proceeds from the Kentuck Art Festival come from daily admission passes and benefits its year-round programming and future festivals, allowing those in the community to learn from artists and share what they create.

Robert Taylor, a coppersmith, was one such artisan. He works in a variety of styles but said some of his pieces draw upon the Arts and Crafts movement of the early 20th century. 

“The Industrial Revolution took away a lot of hand work, so the Arts and Crafts movement was an effort to put it back in,” Taylor said. 

He said precise craftsmanship was what was most compelling to him. 

”It’s all really fine hammering and fine detail,” Taylor said.“That’s what I really appreciate and strive to make.” 

He now teaches his craft at a folk school and stressed the importance of carrying on tradition.

“I’m passing it on because other people passed it on to me,” he said. 

Kendra Bennett, a papercut artist, found her medium by researching into her family’s culture. 

“My grandparents were from Germany. They moved to Foley, Alabama in 1915,” Bennett said. “Silhouette art is a popular German artwork. I started dabbling in it. 25 years later, here’s where it led me.”

She depicts many different subjects in her art but said she has taken inspiration from architecture, the Alabama coast and the land she lives on.

Folk art was an important label for many of the artists in attendance. The category itself is broad, leading artists to have unique interpretations of how their work fits in. Jeffrey Balaschak, a maker, said that folk art represents a region familiar to others.

Some of his work features American pop icons like Campbell Soup Cans and the Moon Pie logo on ornate clocks and lamps. This style draws on its viewers’ cultural background by its use of classic symbols from early American television and commercial culture.

“That art always fascinated me,” Balaschak said. “It’s something we all can relate to.”