Clad in tank tops, hats and billowing skirts, visitors bore the heat this past weekend to parade through the downtown streets at the 27th annual Los Altos Arts & Wine Festival.
Nancy Dunaway, festival organizer and president of the Los Altos Village Association, said she was pleased with the entire package.
“I thought it went really well. Our new artist vendor Pacific Fine Arts had a great selection of fine art, and we got a lot of compliments about the layout of the festival. The heat on Saturday was a bit of a deterrent, but everybody seemed to have smiles on their faces,” she said.
Dunaway attributed the weekend success to the approximately 300 volunteers who manned booths, set up tables and cleaned up.
Police Chief Bob Lacey said although no specific crowd estimates were available, reports from police and vendors agreed that attendance seemed lighter than last year. From his perspective, the festival went smoothly.
“It was very quiet,” Lacey said. “We’re glad it went as well as it did.”
The festival served up an eclectic mix of local and regional artists and original works. On Main Street, painter Lynn Jaye’s swirling California landscapes contrasted with Russ Wagner’s sophisticated night portraits of tango dancers and lounging couples. Gallery owner and photographer Emanuel Volakis exhibited lush black-and-white photography of European landmarks. The Napa-based artist described his sepia-toned works as “neo-gothic with romantic sensibilities.”
Nancy Gano’s exhibit “Resurrections” won instant crowd appeal and curiosity. Distinct ivory faces topped graceful wood slabs with metal angel wings attached to each side – an artful cross of sorts. The subtle difference in each individual face, Gano said, and each person’s unique response to it, was what made her art interesting and amusing.
“It’s interesting how people observe your art. They can overlay feelings onto it beyond what you intended, which perhaps says more about them than they think,” the San Jose-based artist said.
Fortune Sitole’s scrap-metal and acrylic paintings of shantytowns in South Africa juxtaposed poverty and scenes of everyday life against a backdrop of vast, glittery evening and dawn skies. For wealthy art patrons, his popular paintings also hold resonance, Sitole said.
“Shanties exist throughout the world and my art actually tells a story of the universality of poverty,” he said.
Other collections included nature photographic reprints from hummingbirds to arctic wolves. Crowd favorites included sculpture and original jewelry exhibits.
As patrons tasted the gyros, teriyaki chicken and wine, children ogled puppies and got their faces painted.
The main and community plaza stages resounded with blues and acoustic rock sessions.
To reclaim lost items, call the Los Altos Village Assocation, 949-5282.
