Summerlin Festival of the Arts marks its 28th year

Summerlin Festival of Arts returned to The Lawn at Downtown Summerlin this weekend for its 28th year.

The festival, which began Friday and continues Saturday and Sunday, hosted over 100 artists, with some returning to the festival and some showcasing for the first time.

“We received more applications than ever this year, so we know the festival has a great reputation within the regional arts community as a top-notch event for both artists and shoppers,” said Danielle Bisterfeldt, senior vice president of marketing and consumer experience for Summerlin, in a press release.

Artists showcased traditional watercolor paintings, wood carvings, collages and sculptures.

The festival is also partnering with the First Friday Foundation, the nonprofit organization that holds the well-known monthly art and food festival in the Arts District, to have local artists do live paintings at the festival.

Andrea Knox was one of the artists, recreating a landscape from Bryce Canyon that she captured in a photo.

Damien Jones was an artist that is new to the festival. Jones makes large sculptural pieces, some with water features.

One piece has multiple plates stacked on glass marbles that act as ball bearings. Water flows from the top plate to the bottom and the plates can be rotated to any position the viewer wants.

Jones’ favorite piece is a large hourglass-shaped sculpture with a ball of Brazilian quartz in the center.

The textured, white sculpture took him a month to create, from designing it on a computer, making a form out of foam, putting a clay slab over the form and firing it in a kiln.

Homemade spoons

In another tent across from Jones was a tent full of wood spoons. Austin Anderson hand carves spoons out of wood from pecan, peach, apricot, pistachio and mesquite trees.

Along with his father and brother, they run the Fremont, Utah-based Spoonwright, a shop that sells handmade spoons. Anderson estimated that his family has traveled to Las Vegas five to six times for this festival.

“When I first started off, they were pretty funky looking. I wouldn’t say they look very good,” Anderson said.

“Over time, the more you carve, they kind of get more symmetrical, and you got to kind of relearn to make them funky again, because people like the look of that,” Anderson joked.

Another returning artist was Izaac Zevalking from Recycled Propaganda, an art and apparel shop. This was Zevalking’s seventh year at the festival.

One of Zevalking’s newer pieces is a collage of pieces from election mailers Zevalking has received in the past four years. Pieces that make up the collage have phrases like “Vote Yes to Question 1.”

“This piece is about the sense of being overwhelmed during election season.” Zevalking explained, noting the amount of mailers he’s gotten recently.

Another piece comments on the power that money holds in politics. “Lobbying: Money kills morals,” reads the text on a pack of cigarettes.

“This one is about making the connection between lobbying and stuff that’s historically bad for you like smoking,” Zevalking said.

Watercolor paintings

Robert Fleming has been showcasing his traditional watercolor paintings at the festival since it was founded. Fleming’s paintings are based on the desert landscape in the Southwest and feature bighorn sheep, goats, roadrunner birds and hummingbirds.

His wife, Nancy Ryan, showcased in a nearby tent. Ryan uses acrylic, also drawing inspiration from the Southwest. Her paintings are bold and full of color.

Among the returning artists was Billye Singer, who returned to the festival for the fourth time. She sells functional pottery.

Singer sells serving plates with fish motifs, one-of-a-kind mugs and playful salt and pepper shakers.

Singer says she never used to enjoy making traditional salt and pepper shakers, so she added character to them. One set is a pair of cowboys with thick mustaches.

Singer said she never knows with complete certainty how pieces will look after taking glazed pieces out from a fiery kiln.

“This is the only artwork I can think of where, when you’re done, you throw it in a fire,” Singer said. What is usually known as destructive becomes transformative in pottery, she said.

Singer says the festival helps build clientele and sees some clients come back each year.

The festival is open from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Saturday and Sunday. Parking is free and available in the nearby shopping center, the press release said. The closest parking garage to The Lawn is Downtown Summerlin’s North Parking Garage.

The Lawn at Downtown Summerlin is on Festival Plaza Drive, near the 215 Beltway and Summerlin Centre Drive.

Contact Annie Vong at avong@reviewjournal.com. Follow @annievwrites on X.