Artist Jo Stephens looks over one of her creations Saturday afternoon during opening day of the 2008 Virginia Highlands Festival in downtown Abingdon. (Photo by David Crigger, Bristol Herald Courier)
*** Published: July 27, 2008 in the Bristol Herald Courier. ***
ABINGDON, Va. - Bright, big-eyed lobsters and crabs peer from the sides of bowls, glasses and measuring cups in Jo Stephens' booth. Her light, beach-themed painted glassware is new this year at the Virginia Highlands Festival, which started Saturday and runs through Aug. 10 in downtown Abingdon.
"It's stuff you use every day," said Stephens, who came from Fort Mill, S.C., to sell her wares at the festival. "I just always thought it should be fun."
She said the colorful critters were inspired by formerly living in Key West, Fla., where she decided to start painting on glass.
For the past eight years, she's been doing it full time despite being far from the beach and despite the slow economy. She said Saturday morning that sales had started well at the festival.
"For me, I'm very lucky because of the prices. I have things from $8, [and] usually everything is about $18, but I do have other artist friends who are struggling because of the economy," she said. "I do have things priced on the lower end. I don't have $500 paintings I'm trying to sell."
Artists with higher-priced pieces say they have seen sales decline, which they blame on the price of gas, the stock market and the economy in general.
"The way I look at it, people aren't spending $20 in gas coming over here to buy a $100 piece of my work to hang on the wall," said Dennie Tiller of Buchanan County, Va., who does wood inlay works.
George Howell, a watercolor artist from the Atlanta, Ga., area, described the situation as "slow, but hoping for the best."
While higher-priced art is selling more slowly than in some years, it appears to be business as usual for those who, like Stephens, sell lower-priced functional art.
Brent Ragan said he and his brothers will soon open a store on Edgemont Avenue in Bristol, Tenn., in addition to selling unique functional pottery at shows like the festival.
"Our shows have not been down at all," Ragan said. "Last year was our best year ever, and this year's on track to do that."
Annette White of Butler, Ala., said her paintings on slate roof tiles are still selling, but people have begun buying more of the smaller pieces.
"This is my opinion: the people who are doing this show even in this economy are doing well enough, which I think is a very positive thing when practically everyone is talking down, down, down," said Sandy Verrill of Spruce Pine, N.C., who sells women's outerwear.
"Most of us have been here for years. Some years are good, some years are bad, but I think this year is going to be a good one."
Bob Trent, vice president of the festival, said there are just as many vendors this year as last, and he expects attendance this year to top last year's estimate of 190,000.
"The crowd's up this year. The crowd's really good," he said.
The big difference this year is in the crowd makeup, Trent said, and high gas prices mean fewer people from out of town coming for the festival but more locals are visiting to shop.
"I've seen more people I know today than I have in the last five years," he said. "We also found there are a lot more people riding the trolley [into town]. What they're doing, they're saving gas, and I don't blame them. I would too."
