This weekend, Salem sees the return of the Westminster Art Festival hosted by Westminster Presbyterian Church.
The festival is free and being held Friday through Sunday at the church at 3737 Liberty Road S., to highlight local artists.
It gives the community the chance to experience art up close in the church, viewing local galleries, hearing from the artists themselves and viewing demonstrations. It originally started as a craft show for people of the church, but then evolved into the fine arts festival.
“This is our 33rd year. It would be 35 except we were down for two years due to the pandemic,” said Sheila Powell, chair for the event. “It’s wonderful. We have a committee of about nine or 10 people. We meet monthly all through the year doing our planning, and we probably have about 60 people within the church and some outside the church volunteers…Everyone is so happy to have it back.”
There are about 60 artists at this year’s event, she said. Many have been involved with the previous festivals but there are also new artists. It will feature a variety of different styles of art: paintings, carvings, weaving, drawing, fabric dying, stained glass, and more.
Friday and Saturday will have open art galleries and artist demonstrations from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. On Saturday morning, there will be a smaller, reservation-only, featured artist showcase. Kristin Kuhns will showcase her work titled “An Artist’s Vocabulary: Grow-UP and be a Child.”
Sunday will also have an open gallery from 9 a.m. to noon, Powell said.
People are able to purchase the art, which Powell said makes for great holiday gifts.
Proceeds from the festival also provide scholarships to support church youth and other programs.
For more information, visit facebook.com/westminsterfestivaloffineart.
Contact reporter Jordyn Brown at [email protected].
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Jordyn Brown is an Oregon journalist who formerly worked for the Eugene Register-Guard.
