The Kentuck Festival of the Arts, a cultural staple in the Tuscaloosa community, brings artists and community members from all walks of life together under the common interests of art and citywide involvement. This weekend marked the 42nd annual festival and brought more than 270 artists and expert crafts people together to showcase their hand crafted pieces ranging from paintings to jewelry, handmade clothing and more.
Interactive presentations took place throughout the park, including glass blowing, jewelry making, basket weaving, quilt making, knitting, iron casting and instrumental instruction. There were also special demonstrations for children, which included fabric dying and a tutorial on making bird houses.
Steve Shepard, a drawing expert present at the festival, works with two-dimensional drawings in prismacolor and black ink, experimenting on different surfaces. Shepard’s most recent experimentation has been drawing on large, hand-stretched canvases.
“I’ve been coming to the festival for around 20 years,” Shepard said. “I come for the atmosphere more than anything else. The sales come and go, but the atmosphere never changes. It’s an environment here.”
Shepard is from the Gulf Coast area of Mississippi, and draws his inspiration mostly from the natural world.
“My content all leads back to my concern for saving the natural world,” Shepard said. “I go out and look around me, then later go and draw my imagined look of what goes on there.”
Deborah Martin and her husband have been coming to the festival from Carrollton, Ga. for 10 years. The Martins were once flute makers and when they saw a musical performance that combined didgeridoos with flutes, they decided to start hand crafting their own didgeridoos.
Deborah paints and decorates the finished products, while her husband does most of the crafting.
“We keep coming back because it’s close to home,” Martin said. “My favorite part is getting the chance to see old friends.”
Kristen Snow, a graduate student studying library science, was attending and taking part in Kentuck Festival for the first time this year. Snow makes some of her own clothing by spinning the yarn and then weaving it into custom creations.
Snow said although she hadn’t had much time to explore the festival, she enjoyed getting to speak with patrons because they all had positive reactions to what she was doing.
“I got involved with it in middle school when a friend taught me,” Snow said. “It’s really relaxing, and it’s nice to be able to wear something I made and customize my things to make them exactly the way I want them. No one else does that.”
Ann Tyler Corwin, a sophomore majoring in psychology, grew up in Tuscaloosa and estimated that she’s been going to the festival since she was 5 years old.
“There’s one place I always go and revisit them,” Corwin said. “I purchased a ring from them, and they always remember me. I like being able to keep up with certain people who come here.”
Corwin said her favorite purchase she made during this year’s festival was hand-spun yarn.
“I saw people spinning it, and it inspired me to start back knitting,” Corwin said. “I plan to knit myself an infinity scarf.”
Because The Kentuck Festival is listed as one of the top 10 art fairs and festivals by American Style Magazine, it is an event that the Tuscaloosa community takes great pride in.
“Friends of mine that have moved away have been posting on Facebook about how sad they are that they can’t be here this year,” Corwin said. “It’s a great event, and it’s important to people who have grown up in Tuscaloosa.”
