The events in this post actually took place on Saturday, August 21st

I went to the Slotin Folk Art Fest today. It was SOOO COOOOOL.

I wanted to buy so many things. And I limited myself to considering fairly reasonably priced things (under $100) and things that would actually go well with my other stuff. And I STILL had a hard time deciding what to buy.

Memorable booths included this woman named Donna Collins who was a heavy glitter user. Which, sounds kinda icky, but is actually REALLY COOL. Her bunny pictures were like distillations of how it feels on Easter Morning. (Which reminds me of my least favorite line of Mr. & Mrs. Smith, when Brad Pitt is explaining to Angelina Jolie how he felt the first time he saw her: "Like Christmas morning." And it's just awful. AWFUL. I can't believe they left it in the movie.) And in this case, much like that of the movie, my words cannot express the actual feeling at all. But this glitter things were awesome. Painted on glass, with glitter in the background, all 3D and stuff. If I had a kid, some of this stuff would DEFINITELY make its way into his/her room.

And there were these little boxes with windows that you could actually wind up and crank and stuff. Some were music boxes and some were little dioramas with figures that moved inside. Pretty fun, but with a creepy vibe. (That booth actually was part of a gallery near me in Decatur, GA, called The Alcove, which I should probably visit.) But their stuff was a little to offbeat for my pedestrian household.

What I almost got was a wall-hanging metal piece of a flock of birds in flight, kind of disorganized like they were startled. Apparently struck out with a hammer and nails from the top of an oil drum. Really fun, but I wasn't sure it would be something I'd always like. More of an impulse. And while the gallery is apparently in Atlanta, when I asked about a web site they said it was mostly wholesale, and when I search them out online, you need a password to get anywhere. So that's that.

What I did end up getting was a couple of books that have been cut up and had stuff added to them (in this case, a beetle and a butterfly) and turned into wall hangings themselves. They were done by Butch Anthony who apparently has a Museum of Wonder, and is represented by the folks at Jeanine Taylor Folk Art.

Pictures:







The end!