Admiring the Arts in the Park

A gorgeous Sunday afternoon offered artists and the community alike the perfect backdrop for the 43rd Annual Arts in the Park festival in Gregory Park in Brainerd.

About 150 vendors displayed their artistic endeavors, along with classic cars, food trucks, bubble-blowing and a variety of entertainment options. The park bustled with families and people of all ages.

Tom Lytle of Brainerd surprised his two daughters with a trip to the festival. Sasha, 10, and Chloe, 8, each proudly carried small stuffed animals they purchased from a vendor. Chloe had already selected a name for her tiny cheetah-patterned cat.

"It's Chi-chi," she said.

Sitting on the edge of the drained fountain in the park were Leia Borders and Jacob Botelho, both of Baxter. Borders enjoyed a large lemonade, while Botelho ate a gyro from the L&L Kebab House food truck.

"We were just looking for something to do on a nice day," Borders said. "I've never actually been able to come before, I've always had something going on. ... It's nice to see local artists and see the big draw."

Botelho moved to Baxter from Virginia Beach recently, and this is his first summer in the area.

"Seeing this reminds me of home, because there's always stuff like this going on," Botelho said.

The variety of art on display ranged from the familiar-photography, paintings, jewelry-to the delightfully odd and eye-catching-pottery forged with horsehair, garden decorations forged from secondhand silverware and apparel made with fish leather.

Kevin Matthews of Brainerd is a potter who's come to the Arts in the Park event since 2010. Matthews produces a variety of pottery, although some of his most prized pieces are those decorated with horsehair. Matthews uses the horsehair, which when burned on the pottery in a kiln, leaves behind striking carbonized designs. Matthews first became interested in the method after seeing a demonstration in college.

"I was really intrigued by how it looks, it looks like lightning to me," Matthews said.

Matthews said he was enjoying his day at a hometown art event.

"It gives me a chance to see the people from town, because I'm gone a lot during the summer doing art fairs," Matthews said. "Since it's my hometown art fair, it's nice when people come to visit me. ... Arts in the Park this year has been fabulous. The crowd here has just been awesome. This is probably the most people I've seen in awhile."

Dale Lessard of Isanti sat in the shade of his tent while his lawn sculptures danced in the wind in front of him. Lessard's "flying sculptures," forged from steel, forks and spoons to look like frogs, birds or dragonflies, use balance to sway in the wind. This gives them the illusion of flying. Lessard also displayed rock creatures with wire legs, such as deer and ants.

"I like to do unusual stuff, so I come up with all kinds of cool things," Lessard said. "I love working with metal, steel and rock. It's a good medium."

Lessard said he comes to Arts in the Park almost every year.

"Beautiful show, beautiful area, we're having a beautiful day," he said.

Across the park in an area shaded by one of Gregory Park's giant trees, Joe and Pamela Manthei displayed swatches of unusual leather made from the skins of fish. Joe Manthei said the couple discovered the material while on a trip to Iceland, and were determined to find a way for it to be shipped to the U.S. for them to use in the creation of purses, wallets, jewelry and more. Manthei said he recently took a class on shoemaking as he showed some of the moccasins on display.

Fish leather is the second strongest leather in the world and Manthei said it's a sustainable practice turning what otherwise would be a waste product into a useful material.

"They've won awards because it's sustainable, it's eco-friendly, you're not sacrificing the animal just for its skin, it's for food," Manthei said. "The skin was being thrown away or being turned into pet food, so they did something with it."

Judges Karla Overland and HollyRose McKnight criss-crossed the grounds, surveying entries for the competition. "Best in Show" was set to win $300.

"Placing artists in competition with one another is not the intent when judging an art show," McKnight wrote in a judge's statement. "Judges simply present their singular perspective on how well an artist has competed with their past personal accomplishments to press forward and produce excellence in their medium."

1/5: Deb Miller (right) shows how plant watering blown glass works Sunday at Brian Dean Miller’s hand blown glass booth during Arts in the Park at Gregory Park in Brainerd. (Kelly Humphrey, Brainerd Dispatch - Gallery)

2/5: Dale Lessard makes these rock creatures, which were on display at the 43rd annual Arts in the Park event Sunday. Chelsey Perkins/Brainerd Dispatch

3/5: Kevin Matthews of Brainerd creates this horsehair pottery, on display at the 43rd annual Arts in the Park event. Chelsey Perkins/Brainerd Dispatch

4/5: Joe Manthei talks about the fish leather he and his wife use in creating their products while holding a sample. Chelsey Perkins/Brainerd Dispatch

5/5: People look at Bill Gallant’s 1940 Hudson Rat Rod Sunday during the car show at Arts in the Park at Gregory Park in Brainerd. (Kelly Humphrey, Brainerd Dispatch - Gallery)