Grants Pass ~ Saturday Artisan ^& Crafter Market
Saturday Mornings through October, on 5th Street, between E & F

Now in its second year, the Saturday Artisans' and Crafters' Market is proving a phenomenal success, not only in terms of connecting local artists and craftspersons with collectors to admire (and perhaps even to acquire!) their works and wares, but also in connecting the more creative members of our community with one another, inspiring and challenging them to new artistic heights.  It is through this interchange of energy and ideas that an Art Community is born and a Regional Arts Movement is propeled to the global cultural forefront. Can it happen in Grants Pass?  Sure it can!  Besides being in the heart of the planet's most beautiful bioregion (climate notwithstanding) we have the same approximate size and population base as 16th century Florence, Italy.  Similarly, Josephine County's size and population density likewise parallels that of the lands ruled by the Florentine d'Medicis.  Indeed, everything seems ripe for a Rogue Renaissance!   So, one might ask, where are OUR Michelangelos, Botticellis, Raphaels, and Donatellos?  Come to the Artisan & Crafter Market this Saturday and meet them yourself!

Growers' Market ^

John Granacki's Paintings

Otto's Art ^

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Rock the Art Wall!

Peace ^

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Who and What to look for

Of especial note are our local painters, those properly regarded as the "serious" artists of Grants Pass.  On the day these photos were taken (June 2) we were fortunate to find three of our absolute best and brightest: Curtis Otto, John Granacki, and Peace!  Kurt Mottram—a notable and potentially rising talent worth watching—was also there with prints from his series of musician portraits, along with a few of his recent oil paintings.  Also present amidst the crafter booths, perhaps appropriately, was Del Hearn, not exactly a "fine artist" per se, but a regionally acclaimed illustrative type—a refined primitive—one who essentially draws with oil paint (art scholars and museum curators may scoff, but I kind of like his stuff!)  The crafters set up booths (typically with canopies) in the closed-off section of fifth street abuting the Growers' Market and on F Street between 5th and 4th.  The artists usually set up their art & easels along the sidewalk on the east side of Fifth Street, up against the wall in the cool morning shadows.
 

©2007 www.johngranacki.com