Who and What to look for

Of especial note are some of our hungriest local painters.  On the day these photos were taken (June 2 (2007)) we were fortunate to find three of the Rogue Valley's finest in this regard, and not half-bad as artist's either: Curtis Otto, James Peace and Kurt Mottram.  These are the guys to watch and listen to if you ever want to understand what art, painting, and economic hardship are really about—and also perhaps those whose work you ought to buy, collect and hoard if you want your children and grandchildren to bless you for your discriminating eye and wise investment strategy. Siriusly!

I, John Granacki, was also sharing my work on this particular Saturday, primarily there to photographically capture the essence of this art & craft venue for presentation on this very webpage, but since I was planning to be there anyhow, I figured I might as well bring some of my paintings too! After all, I too am "some kind of artist," though obviously I recognize myself as being unworthy of inclusion in the same paragraph as those featured above.  Still, I'm pretty sure that the vast majority of my work would make your heirs proud, and it's priced very reasonably! Click here to enter my personal online gallery of Art you can live with.

Del Hearn, a regionally acclaimed illustrative type, was also there, more-or-less among us in a space among the crafter booths. Art scholars and other cultural highbrows may scoff at his near-photographic realism.  Call me old-fashioned but I kind of like his stuff; I think of it as the visual equivalent of poetry that rhymes.  Anyhow, this sort of work has landed him more than a few paying gigs and he seems to be doing well, but then again, so does Thomas Kinkade. Que sera sera. My thought is that if your tastes happen to parallel those of the critics and scholars, that's fine and dandy, but first and foremost you should BUY WHAT YOU LIKE because you're the one who has to live with it.  Again, here's that link: Art you can live with.

Anyhow, sometime in the pre-breakfast hours, every Saturday from May through October, the crafters begin setting up their booths, typically with canopies, in the closed-off section of Fifth Street abuting the Growers' Market, between 'E' and 'F' streets.  The artists set their work up along the east sidewalk, against the wall in the cool morning shadows.

Another prominent presence on the Art Wall, who hadn't yet joined us when these photos were taken, is R. Samuel Santi whose artwork can also be seen at the Harper Howell Gallery.