FAITH draws steady stream of visitors

The Fine Arts in the Hills (FAITH) art show and sale drew lots of people to Hill City to admire numerous artists under the white tent last weekend. Both artists and Hill City Arts Council board members agreed it was a spectacular weekend. The Friday reception drew over 370 people and numbers showed a steady stream of patrons on Saturday as well.

Brianna McFarland, who was one of several new artists to FAITH, said the show had been good to her. 

“There were more people than I expected,” said McFarland, who had sold one large piece and was almost out of all her small prints. McFarland attends eight to 10 shows a year and this was her first show of the season. She said she would definitely come back. 

McFarland does alcohol ink painting and Yupo paper mounted on a wood panel and coated with acrylic resin. Her pieces are unique blends of her strengths, abstract flowing landscapes with tightly rendered animals. McFarland got back into art seriously five years ago as a stay at home mom with children.

“It evolved into this,” she said with a broad sweep of her work behind her.

Two area teachers  also made their way to FAITH this year. Acrylic artist Brookelynn lives in Hill City and teaches at Stevens High School. This was her very first time displaying and selling her art.

“It’s been a lot of fun,” she said about the FAITH show. She enjoyed chatting with people and answering their questions as she continued to produce more art. 

Brookelynn has worked in acrylics for 15 years and also does watercolor and oil. And while she’s always been interested in being in an art show this was the first time she felt she had enough work to do so.

“It’s time,” she said when she saw she could still sign up for FAITH.

Hill City art teacher Jessica Kautz was running one of the children’s art events as well as displaying her own pieces. Young and old children alike learned how to do botanical gelatin printing. The process uses a mixture of gelatin and glycerin as a base to which a layer of paint is added. Then a layer of leaves or grass is introduced with a paper pressed down to gain an impression. 

Kautz fell in love with printmaking after taking a class in college she didn’t want to take.

“It was the best class,” she says now in hindsight. 

She found that printmaking was expensive and began using the gelatin method for her early pieces. Last year she was finally able to get a printing press for her home. Looking at her work one can see the progression of her style, as well as her whimsy, as many of her animal pieces wear glasses, an homage to her former profession as an optician.

This year’s Viewers Choice Award went to Karen and Stuart Hurd from Idaho.

Stuart Hurd, who is a self-taught metal sculptor, has been working in the field since the mid-1970s. Karen is also self-taught in the art of leather making  and works with hides. Their designs are Western-themed one of a kind pieces.