Harrisonburg is a hub for the arts.  The beauty that surrounds this area would probably be a good indication why.  As a photographer I get to meet so many people, from all different walks of life.  As a part of the art community, I get to meet all kinds of people with all types of mediums.

Art Lotto gives us artists a chance to mingle and work with other artists in all different mediums.  It’s a great way to connect with others in the community and have some fun creating a piece.  Not to mention Art Lotto opens to the public on First Friday’s in  downtown Harrisonburg in August.  This year it was quite the event.  I’m pretty sure we had the most happening block.  There was a band, face painting, coloring, sidewalk chalk, Old Hill Cider, and galleries of beautifully crafted artworks to adore.  Now that’s an opening.

This year I created a mobile using different emotion head shots of Jason Alexander.  I didn’t really know what I was going to do with those head shots that I took back in March while visiting, til about 2 weeks before the deadline.  I went back and forth on about 5 different ideas and finally just had to do it.  That’s the beauty of Art Lotto.  You can create whatever you want.  There are very little restrictions (except size).

Ruthie Hogan, created a portrait of me using a mix of mediums.  I was so excited when I found out who was creating my portrait.  She did quite the muppet job the year before, so I couldn’t wait to see what she did with me.  She created a mini muppet and an adorable little camera to go with.  I LOVE IT!

Iphone photos:

There were so many impressive pieces this year I can hardly mention all of them but a few stuck out to me.  50 shades of Jay.  This was a stained glass piece done by Zac Nafiziger and used a plethora of glass hues.  The name and the final piece are quite fitting.  Jess Herr made her portrait of Valerie Smith into a ceramic vase.  She even went so far as to make her own glaze.  My art savvy studio mate, Brandy Somers, created her portrait of Avery Fary out of seed beads in wax.  There was a competition between Zac and Brandy to see who used the most glass.  I believe their final conclusion was well over 2,000 beads Brandy carefully placed, so she won.

Sharon Skates, fellow Broadwayian made a yummy portrait of Laura Thompson by sketching her portrait on a cake. Yep, she’s that talented.  I would love to picture these pieces for you but I didn’t take pictures and this way, you’ll just have to go see it.

One of my favorites was Hannah Sion’s piece that was interactive.  She took wooden blocks and pasted photography portraits on them, similar to an rubik’s cube.  It’s hard to explain but I love anything I can touch.  Downside to art shows are most people don’t want you touching their works.  Thank you Hannah for entertaining us feeliacs.

I’ve attached some iPhone pics so you can see all the fun you missed.  Bet you’ll make sure you make it to the opening next year, won’tcha.  If you haven’t seen it yet, get out to Larkin Arts ASAP and see it.  I don’t know that there are many places in the burg you can see that many artist in one area and it’s only up till the end of August.