Description
Lanesboro Arts is proud to present the 40th annual Art in the Park fine art festival on Saturday, June 20, 2020, in Lanesboro’s Sylvan Park with 90-plus fine art & craft booths and live music. Renowned for quality, variety and value, Art in the Park is a family-friendly art fair that attracts thousands of regional patrons to Sylvan Park each year.
The focal point of Art in the Park is of course the art! Fine art and fine craft artist booths encircle Sylvan Park underneath canopies of shade, featuring a wide variety of artist-made work by over 90 artists from the tri-state region. There will be paintings, photography, fine jewelry, textile rugs & quilts, hand thrown ceramics, stained glass, original paintings, blown & fused glass sculptures, artworks utilizing reclaimed wood, stoneware clay pottery, metalwork, woven baskets, homemade embroidery, and more.
Kicking off the day at 10 a.m. is PK Mayo & the Benderheads, a blues trio from Minneapolis that has drawn comparisons to the work of Duane Allman, Lowell George, Roy Buchanan, Ry Cooder and Sonny Landreth from publications like Vintage Guitar Magazine and Blues Matters UK. Led by frontman Paul Mayasich, whose natural musical talent on guitar, especially slide, both in concert and recordings, has garnered worldwide praise from his colleagues and critics. With a 30+ year career that includes time spent in the bands of Big John Dickerson and Big Walter Smith, Mayo’s rich vocals have received as much attention as his guitar tone and melodic riffs.
Taking the gazebo stage at 12:30 p.m. is Kiss the Tiger, a five-piece rock ‘n’ roll outfit from Minneapolis that has refined hard-edged blues-rock into a multifaceted blend of retro styles, including gospel, folk, and classic rock. The band is led by captivating front-woman Meghan Kriedler, whose sometimes taunting, sometimes dreamy vocals, and incredibly stylish stage presence, captures that mix of premeditation and recklessness that’s the essence of rock ’n’ roll. Drawing on influences from Tom Petty, The Rolling Stones, Patti Smith, and Iggy Pop, Kiss the Tiger “does rock revivalism exceptionally well” (Michael Madden, City Pages).
Hailed as a “self-styled poetess, folk goddess and country waif” by the BBC, Pieta Brown, the final musical act of the day at 3:00 p.m., first came to international prominence with the release of her self-titled debut in 2002. The daughter of beloved Midwestern folksinger Greg Brown, Pieta has since been recognized by NPR for her “moody, ethereal” songwriting, praised by the New York Times for her “sweet, smoky voice” and has continued to gain wide-spread critical attention for both her singing and songwriting with each release. Pieta’s album Freeway, released in fall of 2019 on Ani DiFranco’s Righteous Babe Records, is her most experimental collection to date, but it’s also her most confident and direct, an honest accounting of bittersweet endings and hopeful beginnings, of painful loss and traces of liberation in the aftermath, all captured here with a raw spontaneity and fierce self-assurance.
Attendees will enjoy delicious and locally prepared foods, as well as craft beer from regional breweries. Check back for more details! Carlson Roasting of Houston will be set up serving fair trade organic coffee, as well as selling bags of their custom roasted coffee beans.
In honor of Father’s Day Weekend and to promote artistic creativity, Lanesboro Arts will host an art activity booth for kids and families of all ages with all supplies provided. A henna artist and face painter will have their own booth set-up. Arts Education Activities will also be offered by regional nonprofits. Sylvan Park contains a brand-new playground as well, and ponds on the north side of the park are known for good fishing.