July 24, 1984/ Page 5 People watching at the fair is a great diversion By MARLA GOLD "You aren't really going to print that, are you?" THE ART FAIR, filled with every Isa, a Russian literature student, said kind of eye-catching attraction, people watching "helps to define your from paintings to clothing, has a unique own type of behavior." side show which veteran fair-goers say Another woman said she watches is the best anywhere. women to see what they are wearing, The sideshow? People watching, of and watches men "to find cute guys." course. Mark Vaitkus, a seven-year art fair Although people's reasons for people veteran, and a sociologist, said the wide watching differ, everyone agrees that it variety of people at the art fair makes it shouldn't be missed - from the "the number one people watching event sometimes flamboyant to the in the state." sometimes outright weird, always He thinks that people watch others to changing art fair crowd. "size themselves up. People need to According to Dr. Steven Withey from know they fit in or don't fit in." the Institute of Social Research, people He considers Ann Arbor one of the will look at anything that constantly easiest places to fit in, because anyone changes - ocean waves, fire - but is "normal compared to the weirdos" in people hold the greatest fascination the area. because "there are a great variety of "And there's the entertainment value them, and so there is nothing more also," Vaitkus said. "(People wat- curious than people." ching) is a good way to kill time." Ann Arborites agree, and claim to Cathy Counard, a University have one of the best people watching graduate, likes to watch the street areas around. people and "contemplate why they're "Ann Arbor is the second best place here, what their lives are like." to watch people, second only to the Village (in New York City)," said Steve Avid people watchers have the sport Whitney, who is looking forward to his down to a precision art. Isa watches the eighth Ann Arbor art fair. way people walk and their facial ex- People watching is a "good sensory pressions to find out their sense of pur- input," Withey said, adding that "it's pose, and what kind of people they are. better than doing nothing." A lot better, say some people. "I look "Ann Arbor is a great people-watching at scantily clad women," said Carl town," Whitney asaid, andathen he Dmuchowski, an applied statistican at got back to the business at hand- U-Hospitals. He then added, grinning, people watching on State Street. DOUG McMAHON/Dc The art fair means more than just sales and crafts-it's a real boon for the people watchers, too. Art juries determine who comes to the fair By LILY ENG TF YOU'RE AN artist, getting into the I fair isn't just a matter of submitting an application and waiting for a reply. Two of the street fairs use a jury process to select the artist that will be allowed to set up booths at the fairs. Artist selection begins early for all three sponsoring organizations. The Ann Arbor Street Art Fair and the State Street Fair have street jurors and require application slides to evaluate an artist. Street jurors evaluate an ar- tist's work during the fair itself. This procedure prevents an artist from bringing in works which are not equal in quality to application slides. Artists are usually reinvited unless street jurors find fault with their work. Then they must reapply. The Ann Arbor Street Art Fair jurors rate artists in four categories: craf- tsmanship and technique; design; color and texture; and originality and inven- tiveness. The State Street Art Fair judges its participants in three areas: creativity, presentation, and skill. Despite the ambiguity of these criteria, Pat Kemen-Macias, coor- dinator of the State Street Art Fair, said the subjectivity of the jurying process is kept to a minimum. "Art is personal. You can't get away from that." But sin- ce the jurors are either artists them- selves or people who have been exposed heavily to differing forms of art, "they are able to critic art independent of their own tastes." The Artist and Craftsmen Guild does not have the same jurying process for the Summer Arts Festival. Because the Guild sponsors other fairs year-round, members of the Guild are evaluated through a standards committee, which checks different levels of expertise in each artist. According to Anne Mary Teichert, membership coordinator of the Guild, levels of expertise are separated into artisan, journeyman, and master, which is the highest rank. Exhibiting members are allowed into the Summer Arts Festival unless they have not been evaluated twica as ar- tisans. The deadline for the Guild's Summer Arts Festival and the Ann Arbor Street Fair is in March. The State Street Art Fair's deadline is February 15. Audrey Libke of the State Street Art Fair, still receives calls from people who want to get into the fair. "I just received a call from a person telling me his gran- dmother does great weaving and wan- ted to know whether a booth was still available," Libke said. According to Jill Damon of the Street Art Fair's jurying committee, "the focus (of the Guild's fair) is different from our own. Their system includes artists of varying levels and en- courages them to grow. I by no means think there is only one good way to run a fair." The Ann Arbor Street Art Fair provides plastic topped booths for ar- tists. These 10' by 10' booths are con- structed without sides by teenagers and young adults who are contracted by South University merchants. Artists who participate in the Summer Arts Festival and the State Street Art Fair provide their own booths. Approximately 700 artists submitted slides to the Ann Arbor Street Art Fair jurors this year. But only 45 new artist- s were accepted. Nearly 430 artists ap- plied to participate in the State Street Art Fair and 61 were invited. The Ann Arbor Street Art Fair sponsors about 250 artists while the State Street Art Fair sponsors 168 artists. Staff reporter Stacey Shank filed a report for this story. A y a"o"ht r"l As always, preparations for the art fair begin early.