Parrish Arts Council art market renamed East2West
By CARL MARIO NUDI
In the six years the Parrish Arts Council was founded it has seen a lot of growth, especially over the past several years.
“In the last three years it has really taken off with more artists,” said Nancy White, who became president of the board in the beginning of August.
With the growth came more member involvement in organizing and producing several annual events.
The East2West Art Market on Oct. 6 and 7 at the Bradenton Area Convention Center, 1 Haben Blvd., in Palmetto, will be a new event for the Parrish Arts Council.
White said when the council first started, the membership was 90 percent business people and 10 percent artists on the board.
“That changed about three years ago,” she said. “Now the board is completely artists.”
The founders wanted to attract more people to Parrish businesses, she said, and thought that highlighting art would help.
“A lot of Parrish visitors are looking for local art to remind them of their trip,” said council secretary, Karri Krumlauf, who only joined this year and was recently elected to the board.
With the East2West Art Market, local and out-of-town visitors will have the opportunity to purchase art created throughout Manatee County, from the eastside of the county where Parrish is located to the western shores of Anna Maria Island, and even some artists from outside the area will be represented.
There will be about 60 artists selling original paintings, prints, sketches, jewelry, photography, pottery, woodworking, and more, from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., Oct. 6, and from noon to 5 p.m., Oct. 7.
The juried show is free to the public.
Along with the artists’ booths, there will be demonstration, hands-on activities and gift raffles.
The Parrish Arts Council, or PAC, has had three outdoor art market and music events in the past, but because the venue was not suitable for some of the artists they did not hold one last year.
When Judith Tilton, director of cultural affairs for the Bradenton Area Convention and Visitor’s Bureau, heard about PAC’s decision to discontinue holding an art market, she suggested holding it at the county convention center.
White and her board took Tilton up on her offer and quickly put together the East2West Art Market program.
“The name (East2West) came about from a member’s suggestion to include artists from the east and west of the county,” White said, “since we were holding the event in the central corridor of Bradenton and Palmetto.”
This worked out perfectly for PAC because several officers attended a July 24 meeting Tilton organized of groups in the visual arts community in Manatee County.
“It was an opportunity for those groups to get to know each other,” Tilton said.
And White and Krumlauf said they did just that at the gathering.
“The networking has helped everyone,” Krumlauf said.
And with PAC members joining some of the other organizations, such as the Artists Guild of Anna Maria Island, it has given them opportunities to show their artwork in other galleries and share information about other shows, she said.
Since the visual arts community meeting in July, White said PAC was now reaching out to other groups.
This outreach activity has sparked new vitality to the Parrish artist community.
“When the Parrish Arts Council was first started it was mostly to raise money for events,” White said.
“It started off giving back to schools and the community,” Krumlauf said. “We’re still giving back to the community and schools, but also focusing on the great art that has taken place in Parrish.”
The PAC’s membership has expanded and has 62 members from Kissimmee and Dunedin to Anna Maria Island and Lakewood Ranch, White said.
“The change from business- to artist-(oriented) happened when we got our first artist on the board in 2015,” she said. “That was Jerri Phillips and she started getting other artists involved.”
The business people welcomed the change and enjoyed working with the new members, White said.
With the renewed enthusiasm of the members, the PAC has held several different types of events.
“PAC just had a huge photo contest and Johnson PhotoImaging was the judge and offered great prizes,” White said.
The opening reception was held at the Parrish YMCA, then the show was moved to the Rocky Bluff Library, 6750 U.S. Highway 301 N., in Ellenton, until the end of October.
“We were able to draw from the outside the Parrish area,” Krumlauf said.
“People now want to be part of the Parrish art scene,” White added.
She also said PAC’s annual Arts and Social event held for the past three years has been very successful.
Held in August, the community was invited to meet member artists and see the work they are creating.
The council also sponsored a Paint Around event where a group of artists each start a painting of the same subject, then after a specific set time have to move to the painting to their right. This continues until all the artists have worked on each of the others’ paintings.
“Each year we raised money with the artwork by selling raffles tickets to give back to a local school,” White said. “Williams Elementary and Palmetto Elementary art departments have been the recipients the last two years.”
Another project PAC was working on was the publishing of a book on the history of Parrish, This Old House, by longtime Parrish resident and council member Iris McClain.
“We finally were able to print it last year with the proceeds going back to kids art through donations to the schools, buying supplies or holding special art sessions with the kids,” White said.
The book can be purchased online at the PAC website, and also will be available at the East2West event.
Both White and Krumlauf will each have a booth at the art market at the convention center.
White, who moved to Florida from Iowa in 2014 with her husband Steven, will showcase and have for sale her watercolor, acrylics, and oil paintings, photography, graphic design work, and color pencil drawings.
“I always liked art as a kid,” she said. “When I went to college I got a degree in applied computer science, but minored in art.”
She became involved with PAC in 2016 after learning about the organization at two other groups were she was active, the Harrison Ranch Art Guild and the Colony Cove art organization.
Krumlauf’s passion was photography.
“I always had a camera in my hands,” she said. “It was something my father and I did together.
“I had a Pentax and he had a Nikon, and we’d go out to see who would get the best shot and see which camera was the best,” Krumlauf said.
She moved to Florida in 2013 with her husband Karl. They have two daughters, Chelsea and Andrea, who is married and has a 6-month-old daughter, Avery.
Krumlauf said she also was involved the Harrison Ranch and Colony Cove groups, and “wanted to get more involved in the art community so I joined the Parrish Arts Council this year.
“I love the creative aspect, and artists getting together and creating art,” she said. “I love to watch them.
“It’s amazing the amount of creativity in our community,” Krumlauf said.
For more information about the Parrish Arts Council and the East2West Arts Market, visit the organization’s website at www.parrishartscouncil.org
The arts council also will hold a Member Social from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m., Oct 24, at the Shake Station, 4219 U.S. Highway 301 N., in Ellenton.
Nonmembers are invited to attend, and learn more about the Parrish Arts Council.