News : Rain-interrupted fest offers insight into the inspirations behind the art

This was one of the art works on display at the rain-delayed Art Fest Saturday at Celebration Park.

As Dave Morrow sat up his booth at the soon-to-be rained out arts fest, he talked about the three stained glass windows he had planned to offer to for sale.

Make that two.

The third one, a flag with just one star but an eagle in the center of the lower stripes, found a different purpose.

“Uncle Louie Kaiser is celebrating his 90th birthday today,” said Morrow. After the artists gave up on Saturday’s event and packed up their work for a later day, Morrow went to Keystone to the birthday party for the WWII veteran, where he presented him that gift.

Many of the artists involved in the Vinton Guild of Fine Arts share their work with friends and family, as well as their communities.

Sarah Kreutner does a variety of work, including painting, memory books and sketches. She recently completed a sketch of her grandparents and gave it to them on their anniversary.

Morrow’s booth included a gift from his wife, Ann, Pat, who surprised him by making a stained glass window for him.

The Vinton Guild of Fine Arts is in just its second year, and continually adding new artists to its ranks.

Several people involved in the corn project are new to the group. One of them is Kandie Wolf Tesar of Manchester. Tesar used to work at the Pizza Ranch in Manchester, for owner Brad Davis, who also owns the Vinton establishment. Tesar painted a party room for the Manchester restaurant a few years ago. This year, when Davis decided to sponsor one of the ears of corn, he asked Tesar to paint it.

Originally thinking that the corn may end up in front of the store, Davis and Tesar discussed a western theme.

“He told me to do whatever would be easiest for me, says Tesar. “So I thought western-ish scene with a wagon. Which immediately made me think old west – cowboys, horses, cows, wagons, etc.. I didn't have an actual plan until Brian Parr delivered the corn to my house. After looking at it, and thinking about it, I decided the husks were at good enough angles that I could make them into mountains (I always think of Colorado, Wyoming, Montana when I think cowboys – states which which have mountains). So that automatically made the kernels into the sky. I'm much better at sunsets than blue skies, so that made that decision. So the top of the corn was going to be mountain peaks and sky, so that meant the bottom had to be flatlands leading up to the mountains. That way I could put the cowboys, horses, cattle, and wagon down there, tying it into the Pizza Ranch. Surprisingly, I just kind of just went with it. Normally I will measure, draw everything to scale, and then start painting. I didn't sketch anything out ahead of time, but I was happy with the end result.”

After a few hours of weathering increasingly heavy downpours, the artists gave up on Saturday’s event and will discuss rescheduling options in the near future. The event as well as the silent auction for the corn statues, will take place later.

See more photos HERE.