By Gerri Miller
Staff Writer
The weather was perfect and the crowd was large for the Wetumpka Village Artists’ first Art Walk of the season in downtown Wetumpka on Friday afternoon.
“We’ve had a number of good sales,” said group founder and artist Don Sawyer. “This is just a precursor for developing a thriving art community in Wetumpka.”
The Art Walk is a collaboration among handpicked artists who come together to create a unique art show and sale in the heart of downtown Wetumpka. This was the first show of the season and the event will be held every first Friday from 4 p.m. to 8 p.m. through November. On Friday there was a large crowd talking to the artists displaying their work while Kevin and Jordyn Boyer played live music.
This is the second season for the show and Sawyer said it has already more than doubled in size. Last year the shows averaged eight artists and now there are 18 ranging from sculptors, woodworkers and mixed media artists to painters, wood carvers and photographers.
Sawyer said there is a big difference in viewing art in a gallery and coming to an outdoor show. “Here you get to meet the artist, to speak to him and find out what motivated him in creating his art,” he said.
“I want these artists to be a part of the fabric of Wetumpka,” he said. “Wetumpka is an amazing place already and is going to really shine in May when the HGTV show airs,” he said. He predicts that the art show will again double in size next year.
Sawyer said he saw so much potential in Wetumpka that he opened his own art gallery downtown nearly four months ago. He said it started out as a place to store his paintings and has now turned into a studio. He also has more than 70 of his paintings on display at River Perk Coffee House near his studio.
Sawyer is a self-taught artist whose “Hollywood Fish” and other paintings have become well-known and sought after throughout the world. Sawyer is a full-time artist; a colorist who expresses himself more in color than in form. He does not mix paint but uses pure color.
He uses a stiff brush and a heavy body acrylic paint, usually on a board of wood because of its texture and durability. He takes everyday subjects and creates his own version of those subjects.
