story by Jeannie O’Flaherty

Over the weekend of April 29 – May 1, 180 local and national artists presented their art in booths in the center of Brookside. This was the thirty first year the Brookside Business Association hosted the Brookside Art Annual, which annually draws over 70,000 people from all over the city. Artists present work in mediums from jewelry, pottery, print-making, weaving, photography, glasswork and more. The Dart sat down with a few artists for some quick Q&As.

photos by Violet Cowdin

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Jeri Vitello, Fiber artist

Q: Where are you from?
A: Bremen, Indiana.

Q:How did you become an artist?
A: I started taking classes, which developed into buying my own loom, and from there I ended up on [this] street under a tent.

Q: What inspires your work?
A: My love of yarn and my desire to create something out of a spool of yarn.

Q: How often do you travel for art shows?
A: About 15 weekends a year.

Andrew Kosten, Printmaking/Graphics

Q: Where are you from?
A: Brookings, South Dakota.

Q: How did you become an artist?
A: I went to school for printmaking at Washington University and got my fine arts degree at the University of South Dakota.

Q: What inspires your work?
A: History, politics, satire, human nature, idiosyncratic behavior, quirkiness, just being weird.

Q: How often do you travel for art shows?
A: About 10 shows a year.

Ella Richards, Two-Dimensional Mixed Media/Scissors drawings

Q: Where are you from?
A: Greenwich Village, New York.

Q: How did you become an artist?
A: Scissors drawings evolved from my watercolors. I have been doing water colors for as long as I can remember. Around the arrival of my first child, my life changed and so did my art. I realized that cutting my drawings out of a sheet of black paper was the simplicity I sought; it allowed me to focus on the line and emotions of the piece.

Q: What inspires your work?
A: My friends, my family, people I meet at art shows, and I also draw from my memories of my childhood.