Arts & Entertainment
Meet the Fenton Art Walk Artists
The participants in Friday's event have varied backgrounds and work in a variety of mediums.
The is Friday!
From 4:30-8 p.m., 30 merchants and more than 50 artists will participate in the inaugural event, and officials are hoping hundreds of residents will join the fun.
Visitors will be able to come to a booth in downtown Fenton and receive an artist passport, which will include instructions along with artist and merchant information. People can then visit participating businesses to observe the art, meet the artists and explore what each store has to offer.
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Here is a look at participating artists.
Name: Art AzzaroAge: 67
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Residence: Waterford
Type of art: Photography
Describe your art: Mostly nature
How did you get started as an artist? Photography has always been a part of my life. For roughly fifty years, I have captured family, friends, nature and life while behind a camera.
What’s your next project? Not sure at this time.
Where can people find your art? I don't have a website at this time, but I can be contacted at picturesyouenjoy@aol.com to see other artwork.
Name: Brenda HasseAge: 52
Residence: Fenton
Type of art: Author
Describe your art: Young adult novel and children's picture books.
How did you get started as an artist? I read a lot! Through reading I improved my vocabulary, learned publishing standards and learned to identify what makes a book a good book.
What’s your next project? The Freelancer (another young-adult novel)
Where can people find your art? Fenton's Open Book or online.
Name: April A. Meyette RussellAge: 34
Residence: Linden
Type of art: Conceptual
Describe your art: My work is conceptual with a blend of realism and abstract. My drawings are mainly realistic, whereas my paintings tend to be more abstract. It is highly textured, emotive, atmospheric, and portrays numerous messages that are left to the viewer to decipher.
How did you get started as an artist? For as long as I can remember I have been drawing and painting. I can’t pinpoint a time that my interest in art first started. Art chose me.
What’s your next project? My next project will most likely be a blending of my drawing and painting. A way of bringing the two together into one piece.
Where can people find your art? www.aprilameyetterussell.blogspot.com
Name: Sally J. BrightResidence: Fenton Township
Type of art: Sculpture
Describe your art: Large-scale handwoven sculptures for the wall of rattan, palm, metals, plastics, paper and other materials.
How did you get started as an artist? Have always been one.
What’s your next project? Art Prize
Where can people find your art? http://SallyJBright.com
Name: Greg ZafiroffResidence: Swartz Creek
Type of art: Acrylic paint
How did you get started as an artist?: Through boredom mostly and a desire to create.
Describe your art: All my works are unique and original works of art, each with their own individualist style.
What is your next project?: A sculpture/painting using the inside of tree bark.
Where can your art be found?: My work will be at for the Art Walk. I have paintings at the Courtland Center and in the old Robert David Allen building next to the Secretary of State building on Saginaw Street in downtown Flint.
Name: Gilbert Leo McCannAge: 60
Residence: Flint
Type of art: Metal Sculpture
Description of art: A variety of different techniques and metals have been used to create my sculptures. Some pieces are whimsical, some are abstract, a few look at the problems of society. All of my creations move from the heart, to the head, to the hands. They are a reflection of the world as I perceive it.
My beginnings: Art has always been a piece of my life. I have created art since I was young. I have just grown and changed as an artist through time.
Next project: I have been playing with the idea of faces. I would like to create a piece that shows the complexity of human emotions as shown through facial expression.
Name: Peggy MattsonAge: 62
Residence: Swartz Creek
Type of art: I am a graphite pencil and watercolor artist.
How did you get started as an artist? My career began when I was a young child dabbling/experimenting with pencils.
Where can your art be found? My studio is in my home and patrons can view my work on my website, which has my picture, www.artbyidget.com. Many of my works are at Avalon Hospice on Linden Road in Flint. I will be participating in the Davison Art in the Park July 23 and 24; Grand Blanc Art Fair Aug. 6 and 7; and Art in the Park—Fine Art Festival in Swartz Creek Aug. 27.
What's your next project: This is the art show season for me so I am not developing new work currently.
Age: The Fenton Film Series has been in existence for one year.
Where: Movies are shown at the .
Type of art: Film
Describe your art: Documentaries, foreign films, classic films and independent dramas and comedies.
How did it get started? With help from the Fenton Downtown Development Authority, several area businesses came together to provide movies in downtown Fenton by sponsoring the Fenton Film Series.
What’s the next showing? The award-winning documentary Jesus Camp will be shown at the Fenton Community & Cultural Center at 7 p.m. July 13. Doors open at 6 p.m. so come early to hear piano music by Ed Anderson. The movie, the music and food are all presented free of charge.
Where can people find your art? Movie are shown the second Wednesday of every month at the Fenton Community & Cultural Center and always start at 7 p.m. Live music from various local musicians always precedes the movie. More information can be found on Facebook.
Name: Angela AlanizAge: 34
Residence: Fenton
Type of art: Drawings, paintings, photography
Describe your art: Detailed, realistic, serene
How did you get started as an artist? I've been drawing as long as I can remember, but developed my skills in high school art classes.
What’s your next project? I am currently working on a watercolor painting of a beach I've visited in the Dominican Republic.
Where can people find your art? For now, by contacting me directly via email or Facebook, but I am researching avenues to market my work on the Web.
Also be sure to read our feature on former Fenton resident Susan Guy in
Here is a complete list of participating artists and their craft.
Deuce Amigos—Acoustic Rock
Mary McHale—Designer Gemstone Jewelry
Karen McHale Cherveny—Pottery
Brenda Hasse—Author of the award-winning book Wilkinshire, 2011 Winner of Midwest Book Award for Young Adult Fiction
Sally J Bright—Sculpture
Mike Kassel—Ukulele
Brook Statton—Copper Yard Art
Beth Maurer—Watercolor and Acrylics
Susan M Krueger—Oil Paintings, Colored-Pencil Drawings
Greg Zafiroff—Acrylic Paintings
Wil Brendel—Comic Book Art
Penny Messer—Photographer
Elizabeth Dickens—Oil Painting
Susan Bolt—Pottery and Prints
Angela Alaniz—Sketches, Paintings and Photos
Peggy Mattson—Watercolors and Pencil Work
No Doubt—Jazz Musicians
Lynda Colton—Acrylic Paintings
Tony Karrick—Oil and Acrylic Paintings
Kim Krug—Fine Jewelry
Todd Katic—Graphite and Ink Drawings, Watercolors
Sergio Korth—Traditional Paintings and Drawings
Amanda Shaw—Jewelry
Flint Institute of Arts
The Chair Affair
Gilbert McCann—Metal Arts
Todd Biskner—Black-and-White Line Art
Joan Horcha—Watercolors, Mixed Media
Marylou Ackerman—Watercolors
Bill Rodgers—Watercolors, Mixed Media
Lael's Creative Corner—Illustrations
Art Azzaro—Photography
Linda Dyball—Mixed Media, Acrylic, Watercolor, Batik
Allie Fortino and Rachel Salazar—Photography, Watercolor, Acrylic and Ceramic Dinnerware
Donald Bomeli—Travel Photographer
(Represented by Wesley Guy)—Equine Watercolors, Oils
Leone Burwell—Acrylic Paintings
Dawn Leonard—Whimsical Clay Creations
Bob Lamb—Landscape Paintings
Erin LaVanway—Photography
Cate Smith—Sculpture Art
Fenton Film Series—Cinematic Arts
April A. Meyette Russell—Textured, Conceptual Drawing and Paintings
Grace Hungerford—Watercolors
Fred Hall—Metal Wall Sculptures
Ronda LaFave—Fused Glass
Martin Schatko—Landscape Paintings
Debbie LaVanway—Ball Art
Rachel Herstein—Photography
Claire Rettenmund and Paul Baker—Porcelain and Paper Jewelry
Kimberly Meyer—Photography
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