Palo Alto’s University Avenue transformed into a bustling open-air gallery on Aug. 22-23 as the 43rd Palo Alto Festival of the Arts brought together more than 250 artists, vendors, musicians, and community organizations.
The festival, which ran from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., closed University Avenue to car traffic and featured artwork ranging from statues and paintings to clothing. Food vendors, musicians, booths from local institutions and sponsors including San Jose Airport and Stanford Medicine, also participated.
The CEO of the Palo Alto Chamber of Commerce, Charlie Weidanz, said the reason the festival has continued is due to community engagement.
“The community loves it,” Weidanz said. “They love to come and see the different artists. They love to listen to the music … and we hope that they’ll shop the local businesses and support the local people while they’re here.”
Weidanz said what brings people back is the connection between the artists and the customers.
“They [the community] love coming back because the artists are here year after year,” Weidanz said. “They like to come back and visit and see the people that they might have purchased something from a year ago.”
Local artist and co-owner of Shell Bell Designs, Timothy Kahl, who was at the festival and has been attending it for 8 years, said that what brings him back is the curation of the fair.
“We live in the fine art world,” Kahl said. “For us [artists] to go to a local craft show, [it’s] not good. But when we come to … [an] art festival, where the focus is on art, … we do really well.”
Kahl said that he doesn’t care whether the customer purchases his jewelry, and what he appreciates is the interaction with the clientele.
“Whether they choose to take the work with them or not doesn’t really matter to me,” Kahl said. “The interaction is how we [artists] learn, and we get better.”
Natalie Knittel, a crew member at the hospitality booth for artists, said the returning artists are also an important part of the festival for her.
“I love being able to see all the artists every year and getting to say hi to them,” Knittel said. “I love being able to hear about what they’re doing and their success with their show. They come in at the end … to turn in their commission checks, so I get to talk to them about how it [selling] went.”
Dina Jacobson, a local resident who has been coming to the festival for five years, said that she appreciates the authenticity of the art displayed at the festival.
“This festival has original art,” Jacobson said. “A lot of the street festivals have kind of gone downhill, and all of the art here is [made by] the people selling it. … I really respect that.”
The festival also provides an opportunity for artists to learn from one another. Anh-Thu Luu, a chalk artist and graphic designer, said she initially learned the basics of chalk art through art classes.
“I just [learned] naturally by just doing it [drawing] here. I already knew how to draw with chalk through art classes from school,” Luu said. “A lot of the artists here who’d done it [the festival] more than me would come over and give us tips.”
Bob Nehring, the artist for Rusty Noodle Studio, who has attended the festival for 10 years, creates metallic statues out of old metal.
“It’s all found objects, … so I use my old wire brushes and files and a lot of my old welding wire, but mostly all found,” Nehring said. “[The objects] could be from scrapyards, flea markets or rubbish sales.”
Nehring said the materials themselves often determine what he creates.
“Usually it’s the material[s] [that inspire me]. I found these big rings, which are actually old springs, and I thought ‘Oh, I can make a cage out of it,’” Nehring said. “I do it as I go along, and usually I won’t decide exactly what’s happening [in the sculpture] till the end.”
The festival also attracted visitors who had not planned to attend. Aanika Tangirala said she encountered the festival while downtown for lunch.
“I loved the overall vibe it brings to downtown Palo Alto,” Tangirala said. “I didn’t even know this was happening, … but I really like how diverse all the art is. It is nice to stop by and talk to one of the artists. It’d be nice if it was here more often.”
According to Weidanz, the Chamber of Commerce is pursuing new paths of advertisement to increase engagement amongst younger age groups.
“It’s a family-oriented crowd, and we aren’t getting a younger age group,” Weidanz said. “We have one person who does our social media. He’s out on social media trying to find new avenues, not just the standards of Facebook and Instagram, but other ways too, so that’s a process that we have to continue to go through.”
