Festival of the Masters

Friday afternoon John and I spent a fabulous few hours at the Festival of the Masters art fair at Downtown Disney. Then, since I'd forgotten my camera, we went back Sunday afternoon and did it all over again. :)

The good news is it was even better the second time through, if a lot more crowded.

Our view walking in from the parking lot. (We haven't tried the new balloon ride yet.)

Our first stop was artist Deona's stand, where, of course, the painting I'd been eying on Friday was already sold. (Drat.)

See the penny farthing there on the bottom? (That's the big wheel bike.) The one I liked was like that only with a juggling girl on it, and the frame was distressed red and white stripes, like an old-timey circus. I guess I should've bought it when I had the chance. Grr.

Next we spent a looong time gawking at Jim Mullan's booth:

He paints and embellishes hand-carved wooden birds with old watch parts, gears, handles, and various antique metal findings.

If you're thinking "steampunk," you're not alone. I asked Jim if he'd heard of the style, and he said a lot of people had mentioned it to him. "But I've been doing this a long time," he told me. "I was 'steampunk' before there was steampunk." He described his house as overflowing with vintage tin toys, antique furniture, and an entire clock shop's worth of flotsam. (Wouldn't you love to see pics of that?)

His owl here placed first in his category. John and I seriously considered buying it, but went with this more colorful guy instead:

Since he has a vintage "Schnapps" tag on his chest, I've dubbed him Schnappsie. His head turns (and even comes off!) on two vintage watch dials. Isn't he great?


And the final artist I'm going to rave about is J.G. Puyana, who sadly has no website.

He constructs these amazing architectural pieces from metal and glass and charms. It's hard to describe, so I'll just show you some more pictures:

(See that piece in the background, up high, with the wings? If you turn a crank the wings flap.)

This piece has an observatory-style chair on a platform in front of several lenses. Here's a shot from further back:

The booth was half in glaring sunlight and packed with people, so getting these photos was a real challenge. It shows, too. Sorry.

One of Gabriel's pieces also placed first in his category - I believe the largest one in back that I couldn't get a picture of. Fortunately I found this photo of it on another blog, though:

The huge glass house has small paintings of people inside.

Oh, and that dangling pendulum and wires just left of center is the bottom half of the flapping wings piece.

John chatted with Gabriel for several minutes, and learned that his pieces are in the Metropolitan Museum of Art and Disneyland Paris. At multiple thousands each, they are also in no way affordable to the likes of us. Heh.

This piece is an homage to Monet (Or was it Van Gogh?):

The copper hands are holding a lens that lines up with two more sheets of glass, the final being the "canvas" on a brass easel. When you look through you see this wavy, iridescent pattern.

My favorite piece was the one hanging from the ceiling, though:

Isn't it gorgeous? I'd love to have something like this for our dining room chandelier. Now I just need to learn to weld. And find all those materials. And...uh...yeah.

If you're interested in contacting Puyana, his number is 407-671-4433. And yes, that really is the only way to contact him.

Now, since this post is getting a bit too long, stay tuned for more pics of the amazing sidewalk art, Disney paintings-in-progress, and my preview of Epic Mickey, which I got to play there at the Festival! (Woot woot!)

Oh, and here's one parting shot of the balloon: