Page Two
STATE STREET FAIR:
Small but complete

fHE MICHIGAN DAILY

Wednesday, July 20, 1977


By LORI CARRUTHERS
The busy campus streets of
Ann Arbor have turned into a
bustling mass of shoppers and
artists signifying the beginning
of the three day art fair extra-
vaganza.
Since 1968 the streets of East
Liberty, Maynard, part of North
University and part of State
have been the site of the State
Street Art Fair. Part of this
Fair is housed under the huge
striped tent, hallmark of the
S:ate Street Art Fair.
Thougb thte State Street Art
Fair is the smallest of the three
fairs, 147 artists and craftspeo-
have set up their booths to vend
their wares.
The State Street Area Associa-
tion has purposely kept their
Fair small and are happy that
the quality of arts and crafts is
improving every year.
State Street Art Fair partici-
pants are carefully chosen for
their niqueness and originality,
only original items of the artists'
own creation are on exhibit. An
Art Review Committee sorts
through m o u n d s of resumes,
photographs and slides before
saking a final decision on par-
ticipants. The committee's goal
is to represent a wide balance

of media. From the real to the
imaginary, from things lovely
to look at, delightful to behold
to the ordinary and useful are
all here for the art appreciators
and bargain hunters to purchase
as momentoes of this year's Art
Fair. Wheel thrown pottery, pho-
tographs, coil formed ceramic
vessels, charcoal sketches, dain-
ty glass work and jewelry are
on display--as well as for sale.
The State Street Art Fair first
began nine years ago as an
unjuried fair featuring Michigan
artists and craftspeople exclu-
sively, and less than 40 artists
participated. The Fair now has
grown to include artists from
other states, and due to the Art
Fair Committee the selection of
artists and their works is more
important than in the past.
Striving toward sale appeal of
goods to the general public not
all items are of gallery status
but the State Street Area Art
Fair Association and the Review
Committee were not looking for
gallery items. Instead, the em-
phasis is on the saleability of
the art works and crafts with
reasonable price tags.
Artists and their wares aren't
the only ones stationed in the
booths.

Tuneful barker
A prospective customer listens to a free rec ital before purchasing a flute.

Shoppers and artists flood South U Summer Arts Festival

By RON DeKETT
The South University Art Fair gives artists from
across the nation and from several foreign coun-
tries an opportunity to subject their work to the
scrutiny, criticism and possible purchase by the
public.
According to George Paron, a member of the
South University Art Fair Committee, the artistry
will be among the best in the country.
"This is juried art," Paron remarked. "We
get 1,000 applications from artists around the
country and they send in two or three slides of
their work-nothing commercial. A committee
looks at the slides and picks the best."
Three-hundred artists were picked by the com-
mittee to display their best world, ranging fros
painting to macrame.

The South U Committee is proud of their art
fair. It was the first of its kind to be held in Ann
Arbor, and according to Paron, it is "the third
best art fair in the country,"
The South University Businessmen's Association
held the first art fair 18 years ago, simultaneously
with the Ann Arbor Summer Bargain Days, the
city's massive sidewalk clearance sale. Their
original intent was to lure shoppers to South U by
combining the sidewalk sales with the art fair.
The heavy influx of people increased the business
sales and provided artists with a chance to dis-
play their work, and possibly make a sale or two.
The- fair . was incredibly successful, and the
businessmen decided to turn it into an annual
event.

nuzzles out students
By KEITH B. RICHBURG
Can a struggling student artist escape the hard-line com-
petition and professionalism of the Ann Arbor Art Fair and
find happiness selling wares in a student Art Fair?
That was the question in my mind as I ventured into the
world of canvas and camel hair to discover if the Summer
Arts Festival had lived up to its credo, or whether professional-
ism and competition for space had made it indistinguishable
from the "professional" street fair.
The U of M Artists and Craftsmen Guild is housed on the
second floor of the Michigan Union, and the phone number is one
of those all-too-familiar "764 beginnings" to indicate some Uni-
versity affiliation.
"Who's in charge of' the Summer Arts Festival?" I asked
the voice at the other end.
"I guess I would te," answered Phylis, who shall remain last-
nameless. "May I help you?"
"I'm a cartoonist for the Daily," I began, "and I'd like to get
into the Art Fair with some political drawings, etc."
See STUDENTS, Page 18

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