SARASOTA — Howard Alan Events will present the Lakewood Ranch Art Festival on Saturday and Sunday, Oct. 24-25, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., at University Town Center, 140 University Town Center Drive, Sarasota.
According to the event organizer, this show will feature a stunning array of original, hand-crafted artwork, including paintings, pottery, jewelry, photography, and much more. The event also includes a craft marketplace, featuring unique hand-made soaps, clothing, and home decor. This is a rare opportunity to meet the artists in person and gain insight into the inspiration behind their one-of-a-kind creations.
Don and Cristina Williams, raku artists from St. Petersburg, will be taking part in the festival.
This couple collaborates on each piece, perfecting their skills in the ancient Japanese art of shino glaze, a process that has not changed in centuries yet yields a different effect with each finished piece. They welcome the opportunity to meet and speak with art enthusiasts and potential investors they meet at each festival.
“I was born to do art,” Don said in an email. “I love it, live it and love to share with others. I have been doing pottery almost 30 years now. My wife Cristina is very talented as well and we do a lot of collaborative pieces like our penguins and cats.”
The couple frequently participates in Howard Alan Events shows throughout Florida, sharing their work and their love for raku pottery.
Also taking part in the festival is Terry Andrews of Ocala. The award-winning glass sculptor uses copper and fused glass to create his unique and oftentimes whimsical sculptures. His work can be seen in private collections around the world and grace the permanent collections of the Carter Center in Atlanta, Georgia, as well as the Carrolton Museum of Contemporary Art in Carrolton, Georgia.
Andrews participates in juried fine art festivals across the country. A Florida native, he is also an accomplished musician. Originally from the Tampa area, he pursued a career in music until 1994. Always having an interest in glass, Andrews dabbled with the medium, first with blown glass and lamp work, heavy flat and carved glass sculpture.
His work has now evolved to include copper and fused glass sculptures. The fusing work is done in a kiln.
Sculptor Ancizar Marin is scheduled to participate in the festival. Born in Colombia, Marin first received formal art training in the 1980s at the Bellas Artes Institute in Manizales, Colombia. He continued to study sculpture at the Luccio Petraglia School of Art in Bogota, where he honed his sculptural proficiency in bronze and steel. He now works in South Florida, where his work has been featured in design magazines, gallery shows, and prestigious art fairs, and private commissions continue to proliferate.
“Since my time in high school, sculpture has been an obsession and a fascination for me,” Marin says in an artist statement posted on his official website. “The idea of molding three-dimensional forms, with contour, details and colors provides me endless creativity. I have been privileged to have worked with masters such as Fernando Botero. Being an artist sculptor has never been easy. However, I cannot describe the amount of joy, happiness and peace that I feel when I am sculpting especially when working on a new idea.”
About Howard Alan Events
Howard Alan Events, a Florida-based company, produces juried art and craft shows. For more than 35 years, it has overseen art festivals in cities such as Alexandria, Virginia, and Aspen, Colorado, as well as in Florida cities including Dunedin and Fort Lauderdale. For additional information, visit www.artfestival.com or call 561-746-6615.