The weekend of October 6-7 will see the second coming of the Artist Runway at the Fall Festival. Th e event is a showcase for the original hand fabricated garments and accessories by the artists and craftspeople who participate.
“When we started it came out of excitement with the combination of original fashion and repurposing so evident in the artisanal clothing,” explains Karin Roy, artist coordinator for C3 Events, producers of the festival. “Because of my background in fashion, I naturally wanted to put it on a runway, and Cameron and Tiffany Clark jumped right onboard. Then we realized that by using the music stages, we could show not only clothing and accessories, but also two and three dimensional art to the audience who is there for the music, but might not otherwise walk the arts and crafts section, an introduction of sorts.”
The fiber artists on this year’s runway, sponsored by North Soles Foot Wear, will run the gamut from the edgier knitwear of Flood Clothing and Shabby Knapsacks who repurpose sweaters and jersey into warm, unique garments to Blossom Merz’s hand woven wraps and ruanas, drawing some of their inspiration from the deep simplicity of monk’s garments seamlessly complementing a variety of attitudes, and everything in between.
Accessories are such a strong part of anyone’s presentation, and the Fall Festival willl have an array of jewelry, scarves, belts, hats and gloves that not only are great personal purchases, but also are perfectly positioned for holiday gifts. The eclectic mix of jewelry fabrication spans fine jewelry, ceramic, resin, wood and metals beginning with whimsical and ending with exquisite.
The jewelers include three previous festival award winners, Stuart Breidenstein, Sabine Collings and Francois Schneyder along with 20 other jewelers from throughout the West Coast.
“The soul of our festivals is bringing the vital spirit of art and artisans to the streets of Downtown Bend,” says Cameron Clark, owner of C3 Events.
“The Bank of the Cascades Bend Fall Festival is our favorite, celebrating the pristine nature of fall, harvest and coming together around warmth, comfort and friendship.”
The arts piece is a real integral part of the concept. The inclusion of over 30 percent new artist/craftspeople, from throughout the West, insures that you will see plenty of the new. Past festival winners include Jason Waldron and Francois Schneyder, who qualifies both as a sculpture and a jeweler, and this year’s Best of Jury, T.J. Anderson, an intuitive wood former of ethereal and practical work. “This represents less then 15 percent of the fine artists in 2D and 3D; you will be tempted by in the Studio Sale Fine Artist quarter of The Artist Promenade,” said Roy.
Art Consultant Billye Turner, observed, “‘You can either buy clothes or art’ said Gertrude Stein, but Stein didn’t know Summerfest where clothes are art, and you’ll cheer Karin Roy’s fashion runway with hip clothes by designers in the Artist Promenade. Some of the fashion models even carry framed art on the runway, enough to make both you and Stein happy!”