The city’s annual arts festival, Art’s Alive, is an incredible opportunity for local artists to showcase their work. It’s also an opportunity for art lovers to peruse a diverse market of paintings, prints, sculptures, jewelry and pretty much anything artistic under the sun. In addition to the wares, there’s also food, wine and beer, live music and, when the weather’s nice, scenic strolls through Northside Park.
The 17th two-day festival happened last weekend, so BL and I spent our Saturday walking around the park, taking pictures (him) and wishing we had put on sunscreen before leaving the house (me). Still, it was a great time and no amount of harsh UV rays could keep us from inspecting each tent like a couple of big wig art dealers.
It was supposed to rain all day on Saturday, but as you can see here, there wasn’t a cloud in sight – just lots and lots of people, especially during the morning hours.There were several food options throughout the park, like this Rosenfeld’s food truck. The beer-and-wine booth wasn’t too far from here, because art is meant to be enjoyed with a glass of rosé in one hand and Summer Shandy in the other.In a sea of beachy landscape paintings and sea stone jewelry, these driftwood sculptures by Larry Ringgold really stood out. Ringgold showed me a picture of a driftwood deer he’d carved, standing in someone’s yard with a live deer biting its nose. Apparently they’re deer magnets!This is Aaron Paskins, who won Best of Show at his first Art’s Alive last year, with a sculpture called “Mia, Sacred Queen.” Paskins hails from Dover, DE and comes from four generations of landscape and portrait painters.Aaron himself mostly works in the sculpting medium, creating the interesting, unique likenesses of humans and animals alike.Another tent specialized in garden ornaments, so visitors could bring the beauty of the art festival to their own front yard.Lots of excited, tail-wagging dogs were in attendance at the festival, including Nelly, a shy Portugeuse water dog.Tootsie, a face-and-body painting clown, manned a picnic table and painted designs on kids like Trevor McCarthy, pictured here with Tootsie and his mother and younger brother.Musical acts like Island Fusion provided tropical steel drum sounds as spectators ate and took shade.All in all, not a bad day. The sun stayed out, the crowd remained steady and art was enjoyed by all. I’m already excited for next year, and now I know to bring sunscreen and enough cash to take home a souvenir.
Kristin is a writer and photographer in Ocean City, Maryland, and is the content manager for OceanCity.com and other State Ventures, LLC sites. She loves getting reader-submitted stories and photos, so send her an email anytime. She also works part-time at the Art League of Ocean City and the Ocean City Film Festival and lives just off the peninsula with her dog and fiancé. Her photos can be found on Instagram @oc_kristin.
