By DAVID DUPONT
BG Independent News
A veteran exhibitor and a first-timer took the top prizes Saturday during Art Walk in downtown Bowling Green.
Randy Bennett, a full-time painter for the past 13 years since retiring from Kroger, was selected for the top prize by jurors Syed Fatmi and Kamrun Min.
People’s Choice winner Kala Nardecchia has been working in stain glass for a year. This was her first time participating in an art fair.
Bennett is a fixture at Art Walk. As he has in over a decade, he set up his easel inside Grounds for Thought and painted throughout the afternoon.
Nardecchia, who was displaying her work in the art space behind Coyote Beads, said she always loved art, but never pursued it. Then she came across videos about making stained glass on social media. She was attracted to the aesthetic and “sounds that it made, the cracks, the pops.”
She took a course with the Stained Glass Guild in Toledo. She went from being fascinated with the form to being obsessed with it.
She takes the traditional genre and twists it to fit her muse.
“I make a lot of funky, weird pieces,” she said. “The piece that I entered into the show is a cat driving a ship that is being taken down by a Kraken. OK, it’s just weird. And I make things for my own joy and hope that the world loves it too.”
Other award winners were:
- Jules Reith, second place, Juried Award
- Klee Miller, digital art, third place Juried Award
- Jean Gidich, second place, People’ Choice
- Andrew Warman third place, People’s Choice
The 33rd Art Walk took place in BG with about two dozen artists with their work on display outside and inside downtown shops.
The Wood County District Public Library hosted a display featuring a single piece by each of the participating artists.
Musician Elena Hayes added a bit of music busking in the green space behind the Clay Pot. She just walked from her home in the downtown was happy to play her part.
Hayes said she loves BG’s thriving art, music, and theater scene. It’s all capped off, she said, by the Black Swamp Arts Festival. “That’s like Christmas.”
Mario Marchionni likes the fact that artists are working during the event. He and Trey Miles, both of Bowling Green, were seated at a table in Grounds across from Brynn Busalacchi who was painting Marchionni’s portrait.
She likes the pressure of painting in public and having to complete the work.
This is part of the attraction of Art Walk for Marchionni. “You’re able to see the artist’s passion.”
