Art Gallery ... Paradise City Arts Festival

Art Gallery ...

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Paradise City Arts Festival — Soul Food

“The Paradise City Arts Festival has a vibrant soul that many similar exhibitions reach for but never attain ... the three-day Northampton event has blossomed into a unique visual arts institution.” - Boston Magazine

THE Paradise City Arts Festival enters its eighth award-winning year on Columbus Day Weekend, Oct. 12, 13 & 14, bringing together this year’s choice selection of the most talented, creative artists and craft designers in America. Paradise City is the largest juried show and sale of museum-quality fine and functional art in New England, and features work that ranges from accomplished oil paintings and large-scale outdoor sculpture to fanciful teapots, exquisite gold jewelry, hand-blown glass and custom furniture. It’s certainly easy to see why Yankee Magazine declared, “If you get to only one fair this season, make it the Paradise City Arts Festival in Northampton, Massachusetts!”

PARADISE City Arts Festival takes on a brand new, expanded aura this year, with the renovation of two new buildings (adjacent to the 40,000 sq.-ft. Arena Bldg.) and the erection of an enormous peaked-roof Exhibition Tent at the main entrance. With the additional space, 300 artists from 40 states will be present at the show! Timed to coincide with the peak of Fall Foliage season, this picturesque setting along the majestic Connecticut River provides an opportunity to enjoy Nature’s bounty and the imaginative offerings of the talented artists and craft designers.

FOR the seventh successful year in a row, a very popular three-day Silent Auction of work by Paradise City exhibitors will be held inside the Arena Building to benefit Hospice of Hampshire County.

MORE than 80 brand-new exhibitors are coming to Northampton for the very first time. Here’s a preview their work ...

NORTHAMPTON’S own Nava Grunfeld’s highly realistic, large-scale watercolors take still-life painting to a remarkable perceptual level, endowing tomatoes and oranges with charisma and personality. Barry Leader’s colorful chairs, cabinets and occasional tables abound with curlicues, anthropomorphic legs and op-art decoration. Part sculpture, completely practical, their whimsical presence is both childlike and sophisticated. Jerry Berta, of Michigan, makes roadside diners, elaborate tabletop-size ceramic sculptures complete with neon É while Marvin Blackmore, traveling from Colorado, will introduce his Native American pottery — hand-etched with intricately incised patterns, animals and western landscapes.

WHAT else — in addition to the “remarkable art” noted by Boston Magazine — keeps visitors to this show coming back year after year? All weekend, fascinating demonstrations by master artists educate as well as entertain visitors of all ages. But this exciting combination of creative energy and discovery isn’t the only thing that makes the Festival the best place to be this October — there’s also the food and the music! In the spacious Festival Dining Tent, visitors can warm to the cool sounds of live jazz while enjoying world-class cuisine from some of Northampton’s finest restaurants. You’ll find curries and pastas, crisp salad plates, grilled quesadillas, the best focaccia sandwich on earth, and sinful desserts that are out of this world. Sample the offerings from Spoleto, India House, Vermont Country Deli, Del Raye Bar & Grill, North Shore Seafoods, La Veracruzana, Pizzeria Paradiso, and Amber Waves! Paradise City was ranked #1 in America for its food for the last three years!

NORTHAMPTON, is located at Rte. I-91, exit 19, less than a hour from southern Vermont. Make “The Best Small Art Town in America” your destination this fall.

FOR a sampling of our artists, and the flavor of our shows, preview this show now at our colorful and informative website, online at http://www.paradisecityarts.com.