Art in the Park, another success!
Last updated 3/25/2012 at Noon
This year the weather could not have been better for Art in
the Park. Some years it has been cool to cold, some years windy, and some years
cool damp weather. This year there was a cool breeze and a lot of sunlight. The
only thing that vendors complained about was the damp grass and mosquitoes. If
they did not have mosquito spray, they just went out and bought some and let
the day begin. As the sun did its job, the grass dried.
Spaces were made available for 165 booths and there were
only a couple of spaces not used. There were vendors that had been to the event
for years and there were a few new vendors. By noon all of the parking adjacent
to the Lutcher Theater was filled and parking spilled onto all the streets
around the area; the lot at the Stark Art Museum was also filled.
Vendors ran the gamut from simple handcrafters to
established professional artists. One artist was Roy Alba, an Orange native now
living in Oklahoma City. Roy is a returning artist and has been at Art in the
Park several times. One of Roy’s paintings is of the HMS Masterful, one of the
seagoing tugs built by Levingston Shipyard for the Royal Navy during WWII. On
Alba’s website, AlbaPaints.com, he has several paintings of Orange in the older
days. His painting “5th and Main 1949” shows the Bengal theatre and
Green’s Department Store. The painting “9th and Green” shows the old
Link mansion and the Presbyterian Church next to it. He has several paintings
of the old train depot, and one titled “USS Orlek”, the last destroyer of its
class built during the war years at Consolidated Shipyard.
Award winning artist Ann Houfpauir returned with her western
art, landscape, wildlife and floral art. Houfpauir’s western art is taken from
everyday life; several of her pictures have been entered in competition. In
2010 she placed second in a nationwide competition, this year she painted a
group of Longhorn cattle with a black and white Longhorn in the middle. It was
a very unusual pattern for the cattle and beautifully done by Houfpauir. She
also had egrets, other swamp scenes, and her florals. Hofpauir’s work is available
online at: artworkbyann.com
Orange native Sylvia Dickey Smith, the author of the Sidra Smart
detective series set in local Orange locations was at her booth taking orders
for her newest in the Sidra Smart series “Growing Up Dead”. She was also
autographing copies of her other books for customers. The newest book is
currently available in the Kindle edition and will soon be published in the
print edition. Smith’s books are available for ordering at:
sylviadickeysmith.com.
Sue and Dan Ryder of Island Times have been regulars for
several years. They have the line of Island Time Furniture, Adirondack style
beach chairs. Sue Ryder’s current project is painted wine glasses and wine
bottles. The bottles are both clear and colored bottles with a variety of
painted designs. The bottles may be custom painted to the customer’s special
order or from a variety of designs from the Ryder’s catalog. The paint is a
special paint that is set in an oven after painting. This makes it a very permanent
paint that will even hold up to vigorous dishwashing. Ryder’s art may be
ordered from: islandtimefurniture.com.
Jimmy Matthews retired from Temple Inland after 40 years and
went into his hobby of metal casting nearly fulltime. Matthews is currently
casting only aluminum, but is up grading his furnace to be able to cast bronze.
Matthews started with the casting of pet memorial plaques and has since gone
into trailer hitch covers, home address plaques for both the home mailbox and
to be mounted on the home. One item prominently displayed was a mock-up of Matthews’s
tombstone. It was cast of aluminum, with birth and death dates filled in.
Several of Matthew’s friends had comments to make to him about that.
Food vendors this year lined the streets from Front the Main
and over to Seventh Streets. Boy Scout Troop 1 of Orange sold cold soft drinks
and the other vendors sold all the usual “fair foods.”
This year’s music covered venues from bagpipes by the Lone
Star Pipe Band, to the great Ezra Charles. There was also strolling music by
the Sweet Adelines and the Pipe Band.
Art in the Park
continues to get bigger and better each year. Attendance is always free as is
parking. The next event sponsored by the
Orange Convention and Visitors Bureau will be the Orange Spring Music Fest,
scheduled for May 19,
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