Saturday marked the second of three days for the 2023 “ArtFest Kingston”, an arts festival that showcases some of Ontario’s best small artists.
Carolyn Barnett is one of hundreds of artists of all varieties who descended on Kingston’s city park for the festival.
Barnett is a garment creator who creates everything she sells by hand, and each is one of a kind.
She said ArtFest Kingston is one of her favourite shows to do every year
“It’s huge, you know, we are making our living doing this. we’re not doing this just for fun — well we do it for fun because we love it. what we do is a passion,” she said.
The event features a wide range of different artists. as you walk along many lanes of booths, there’s everything from painters, sculptors and clothing designers, all the way to culinary arts, jewellery design and even candlemakers.
Event Co-Director Sophie Kiwala said the event is designed to uplift small artists who are trying to make a living.
“The overall goal is for artists to do well, for emerging artists to have a chance to begin to showcase their work in and environmentally and welcoming atmosphere,” she said.
Mark Pollard is the owner of Sprucewood Handmade Cookie Company, which specializes in savoury shortbread cookies.
He said that there’s something special about the festival.
“Artfest Kingston has this great vibe of caring about community and caring about the artists themselves and of course there’s so many other components to the event for families and for anybody who appreciates good food, great art and good talent,” said Pollard.
The festival also features live music, interactive art, live theatre and dance.
Pollard said that it’s important to use events like this one to prop up artists who are trying to break through.
“I don’t think the average artist has their own gallery, I don’t think they have access to major galleries. There’s just more of a nuance here, more of a caring environment that nurtures the young artist, the seasoned artist, the artist that may not be found,” he added.
The festival runs through Monday before coming to a close until next year.