Art On the Lawn -- This Saturday!

The Village Artisans, a cooperative of Miami Valley artists, is pleased to announce their 29th annual fine arts and crafts festival, Art on the Lawn, to be held on the Mills Lawn green, 200 South Walnut Street, in Yellow Springs on Saturday, August 11, from 10:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.

This year's show presents scores of new and returning artists with a wide range of specialties, including yard, metal and glass sculpture, ceramics, jewelry, painting, drawing, photography, woodworking, hand-made furniture, stained glass, fused glass, painting on glass, fiber art, batik, face painting and even unique baby clothes.

Our featured artist for this year is jewelry designer Mary Kleismit.  Mary is now in her 80s and has been creating elegant jewelry for the past forty years.  She and her husband, Richard, have scoured the country for decades, collecting precious and semi- precious stones, puchasing rare pieces at international shows, as well as digging for the crystals that they use in their jewelry. 

Born in Yellow Springs, Mary grew up helping her father farm their 150 acres. She met her husband when she was attending school half a century ago, and they have been working together ever since, Richard specializing in rosaries, silver work, wire wrapping, and Mary in bead work, and tabbing - stone cutting and rounding and polishing for free- form pendant creation. Their display this year will include earrings, bracelets, necklecases in precious and semi precious stones, also large and small minerals and rough rocks. Mary says her purpose is to "help people appreciate what there is on earth and who put it there for us. I've always wanted people to love what God put here. So often, people don't realize what lies around them." 

An extra l attraction for Art on the Lawn, back for his 4th year, is Mozart Dane.  He’s a Great Dane and a Great Artist: “The dog who paints with his paws for a good cause.”  All his sales benefit Harlequin Haven Great Dane Rescue. "I have dedicated my life to this cause," states Mozart Dane on the Harlequin Haven website, " and in doing so I create art by painting with my paws.  Painting helps me to overcome my pain of my early days in a puppy mill and also helps with bringing awareness to these issues."

Whether it’s noshing from old-time food carts, listening to street musicians, having your face painted by a professional artist, taking a chance at the 50/50 raffle, or having the opportunity to see and purchase beautiful, hand-made art, Art on the Lawn is the perfect way to have fun in Yellow Springs on August 11. For more information, call Village Artisans at (937) 767-1209 or visit www.shopvillageartisans.com.