Prestigious art fair returns to WB in 10th annual event

The highly-anticipated 10th annual Orchard Lake Fine Art Show will grace the streets of West Bloomfield Township beginning Friday, July 27 and running through Sunday, July 29.

The show, which will be held on Powers and Daly roads and is sponsored by HotWorks.org, will open on Friday with a ribbon-cutting ceremony at 5 p.m. and close up shop at 9 p.m. that day. On Saturday, July 28, hours are 10 a.m. to 9 p.m., and on Sunday the event will go from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.

The show is juried by art professionals who have an educational background in the field. Judges include Anne Kuffler, director and owner of Ariana Gallery in Royal Oak, and Joseph T. Marks, curator of collections and exhibitions for The Alfred Berkowitz Gallery at the University of Michigan-Dearborn.

Patrons can stroll the booths where 50 accepted artists of all disciplines will display their unique takes on sculpture, painting, clay, glass, fiber, jewelry, photography, wood, and more.

Many of the artists participating do not enter other Michigan events.

“This show is based on the visual arts and everyone in it is top notch,” said Patty Narozny, the show’s director. “Everything is hand-made by the artist. Nothing is ‘by-sell’ (imported) like we are seeing (elsewhere). There’s a big difference between our show and other juried shows.”

The show is held annually for artistry and community enrichment. It has been voted among the top 100 art shows in the country each of the last five years by Sunshine Artist Magazine, and is the winner of four awards from the 2011 Michigan Festival and Events Fun Awards program.

“I travel all around the country recruiting for this show and am very selective of who we put in it,” Narozny said.

The $5 admission cost helps to support the Institute for the Arts & Education, Inc., a non-profit 501(c)3 organization with the mission of enhancing artistry and community enrichment among all age groups.

There is plenty of free parking off Orchard Lake Road, south of Maple, behind Beaumont Medical Center, West Bloomfield Corporate Plaza, and Barnes & Noble.

Pets are allowed on a short leash.

The Institute for the Arts & Education will hold artist demonstrations throughout the weekend.

There will be live entertainment including performances by Michelet Innocent, a French composer; Charlene Berry, who will be playing and teaching the solo hammered dulcimer; Vladimir Gordokin, a tsymbaly player; Jeffrey Michael, a pianist and composer; and Bob Gereste, a noted pianist.

The 6th annual Youth Art Competition, sponsored by The Chadwick Group, P.C., is for kids in kindergarten through the eighth-grade or 5- to 12-years-old to have the opportunity to display their art created during the 2011-2012 school year.

All entries will be publicly displayed throughout the weekend in The Chadwick Group’s Youth Art Competition tent. There will be $250 cash awards, with four total prizes to be judged by participating artists.

New this year is artist Jerry Berta’s activity for kids in which they create their own 3-D car design. Art awards or scholarships totaling at least $3,000 will be given away to seventh- through 12th-grade students chosen.

Berta will then take these designs and produce “Art it Up” to enter at ArtPrize, an art contest in Grand Rapids where more than $400,000 in prize money is awarded.

For more information, visit www.hotworks.org and click on the Orchard Lake Fine Art Show poster/link.