This year's Palmer Park Art Fair was held on two glorious Spring days, May 2nd and 3rd. With a beautiful setting surrounding Lake Frances and temperatures in the mid 70's with abundant sunshine, the Gods were definitely smiling on helping this festival get back to where it once was in the late 70's. This was the second year of its comeback and the promoters seem to be doing everything right.
I spoke to several artists and they were mostly positive about their sales and location. I was there early on Sunday, so they told me they were happy with Saturday's sales but weren't sure how Sunday would shake out yet. The turn-out was favorable with many urbanites and their children and/or dogs out for a day of relaxing and shopping for art.
I was introduced to some new artists and also some that I recognized from AFI and art fairs that I attended last year. I didn't see much, if any, buy/sell and overall I thought the art represented was of excellent quality.
Palmer Park was named for U.S. Senator Thomas Witherell Palmer who donated 140 acres (initially - later donating even more) in 1893 for a city park on the condition that the virgin forest be preserved. The park includes a historic log cabin, public golf course, hiking and biking trails and a large man-made pond known as Lake Frances.
There was also live music, food trucks and a real sense of community coming together to preserve something special about Detroit.
My hope is that The Palmer Park Art Fair will continue to thrive, attract more artists every year and someday become the huge event I remember it being back in 1979.
Lisa Galperin - Collage Artist
Scott Pakulski - Photography
Annette Poitau - Abstract Oil Painting
Kate Morgan - Image Design
Robert Hasenfratz - Photography
Judy Sledge - ArtRages - Felter/Owner
Comments
Yes, thanks, Virginia...I did mention Detroit in the review but it's always a good idea to put the city and state at the beginning of the blog so everyone knows the location...great advice.
Please, Please, Pretty Please When writing about a show please put the town and state it is in,. I am sure that I am not alone in not knowing where all these shows are located especially for the newer artists., Thanks Ya'll
Thanks for your input, everyone...sorry you didn't have a better week-end, Scott. Was anyone else from AFI there who'd like to comment? I wish you could've been here too, Connie, it was a gorgeous day in the neighborhood.
Yes Connie Greektown was my first art show! Palmer Park was my best show in a long time. You can tell by how bare my booth is. Everything came together beautifully.
Well, I just got barely over $400
Great that you caught Scott. He's made so many contributions to this site. I know Judy from way back, believe I was running the first art fair she was in, Greektown in downtown Detroit. Wish I could have attended with you Tina. Looks like some very good work in the show. So pleased it isn't all low end crafts -- but pretty nice as befits that nice neighborhood. 3 cheers for Detroit!