From MARY HINKELMAN,
Managing Director, Downtown BG
This is our 25th annual Art Walk and with the help of the Bowling Green Arts Council, we have paired up local artists with our downtown business so they can display and sell their works of art. It’s fun way to acquaint people with our beautiful downtown and great day to get out for families and groups of friends to get out and enjoy the arts and our shops and restaurants.
The event happens April 29th, galleries are open 10 – 4 pm. No admission.
We will have 32 artists this year and they have works in many mediums; fine art including drawings, paintings, sculptures and print making and decorative art in fibers, jewelry. We will also have performing artists at Grumpy Dave’s; starting at 11 am with Julies Dance Studio.
We will have a total of 6 awards 1st, 2nd and 3rd place for the Juried Awards and 1st 2nd and 3rd place for our Peoples Choice Awards. Prizes were sponsored by BGSU School of Art, Bowling Green Arts Council, Art Supply Depo as well as some individual donations from members of the Bowling Green Arts Council.
Our Downtown Office is in the Four Corners Center at 130 S. Main Street, also know as the historic Wood County Bank. During Art Walk the Gallery area will feature the Quilt Show, Project Silver Shoe and a couple of very exciting raffles.
Quilt Show Exhibit and demonstrations organized the Black Swamp Quilters and the Busy Thimble Quilt Shop. Last year this was very well attended and we are looking forward to this being another successful exhibit. Black Swamp Quilters donated a quilt to the Downtown Foundation and this quilt will be raffled at Art Walk.
Art walk will also feature a raffle for a Baker O’Brien Art Glass Pony. As most people know Ms. O’Brien is the sole apprentice of the legendary glassmaster Dominick Labino. Ms. O’Brien was so generous to help with the acquisition of the piece. We also wanted to thank Banfax Pest Control for helping fund the acquisition. The pony is on display at Waddington Jewelers at 139 S. Main St. Raffle tickets are $5 each.
Raffle tickets for the quilt and the Baker O’Brien Art Glass piece can be purchased at our office, online on our website, or the day of the event at the Four Corners Center.
With this being our 25th Annual Art Walk we put together a project for the casual artist. The piece was to include a Silver Shoe and Flowers. Each of these pieces will be a part of a Silent Auction. The winners of this project will be selected by who gets the highest bid on their shoe. Don Rose Auctioneers in Downtown Bowling Green was kind enough to sponsor the prizes and winners will receive various amounts of Downtown Dollars as prizes.
After Party begins at 4:30 pm also at the Four Corners Center. Artist’s Awards will be presented, Silver Shoe winners will be announced and the raffle drawings will be held. There will be music and food and all are invited.
Funds raised from this event will benefit the Downtown Foundation Flower Fund for the Downtown. We have 39 hanging baskets and almost 50 oversized commercial planters that will be planted so at peak season they are just overflowing with Blooms. We are proud of our downtown and we receive many complements on the flowers and how clean and inviting our Main Street is. Our official day of planting is May 17th and a huge thank you goes out to Wolfe’s Blooms and Berries for working with the downtown. They started planning our plantings October and at last look they flowers are coming along very well.
The entire community gets involved in this event. Art teachers from all of our local schools have gotten involved with window displays, Project Silver Shoe and a huge display the day of Art Walk at 137 S. Main.
Still looking for some volunteers for the day of Art Walk and if anyone would like to volunteer at anytime you can call or office or complete the request for volunteers on our website.
Additional information can be found on our website at downtownbgohio.org or by calling our office at 419-354-4332.
