With practiced strokes, Linda Schrenk, 48, recreates Spiderman’s mask on 10-year-old Brandan Sickles. Schrenk began face painting after she lost her job as an art teacher when the economy soured, and has been transforming faces with her craft for nine years now.
Kendall Thurston, 63-year-old owner of Phoenix Woodworks, chips away wood shavings to reveal the partially complete face of a gnome. The gnome, which he estimated takes 30 hours to complete, is for his son and serves as a woodworking demonstration.
Lee (left) and Andrew Han, five and three years old respectively, interact with the metal sculptures of Mystic Makings. The dragon, skeleton and butterfly are the masterpieces of Mike Adams, who does metal work for the Florida Museum of Natural History.
Two wooden fish dangle framed by the sculpture they are part of, Reefer Madness. It’s the handiwork of Mike Weiss, who creates wood sculptures and donates his profits to support elephant conservation efforts in Africa.
Lamps lining Tioga Town Center boast banners announcing the Winter Fine Arts Fair as artists celebrated the end of the second day of the fair with an artists’ party. Awards and prize money were given out, accompanied by wine and catering from Sabor.
Mark and Barbara Armbrecht clean up the stage after their Saturday evening performance. Together they are they form the band Middleground and have spent five years as such, but 40 years as partners-in-crime.
For three afternoons, Tioga Town Center bustled with crowds of people, the smell of frying funnel cakes and the crooning vocals of local bands. An estimated 10,000 people showed up to the town center for the Winter Fine Arts Fair this weekend.
Parents, families and four-legged friends attended the event. Draped under white-canvas tents, 124 artists showcased everything from traditional acrylic paintings to origami jewelry and everything in between.
Artist awards, a towering sand sculpture and a kids’ zone complete with a bounce house rounded out the night. The majority of event advertising was done through social media.
“I wanted to get people out here,” said Karen Koegel, director of the fair. “I wanted Tioga’s art fair…to be really seen by this community because I really thought there was some phenomenal artists here. And we got that. There’s been a lot of great sales. It’s been a great day.”
WUFT News News and Public Media for North Central Florida from the University of Florida in Gainesville
