Kimball Art Center Executive Director Aldy Milliken says he expects increased attendance and financial success compared to last year.
“We don't have our audience numbers yet, but we know that our financial numbers are higher than last year,” Milliken said Sunday. “That means more people came to Main Street and enjoyed the festival. Our bar numbers and the different sales that we have, whether the merchandise has increased, all the artists that I've talked to have been really positive about the weekend.”
Nearly 200 artists from across the county displayed their work over three days. Yves Goyatton, originally from France but now living in California, won this year’s Best of Show award. He creates bronze figure sculptures that he says juxtapose both the volume of the sculpture and its architectural elements.
“Instead of adding shape, I subtract shapes so it's mostly like negative space,” Goyatton explained. “She's missing part of a torso in the middle. So, you can literally go through it. It's this gold leaf on each side, so the sun glows into the sculpture. I’m really happy with how it came out.”
This is the fourth time he’s been accepted into the Park City festival and the third year in a row he’s won an award. This year it was for “Best of Show.”
“It's amazing to be part of this show,” he said. “It's a very difficult show to get in, so it's truly an honor to be part of this show. I'm so happy to be here back again. It's a great location. I love it here.”
Park City painter Karen Millar Kendall won the “Best Local Artist” award this year. Her mixed-media abstract landscapes use acrylic paint which she layers and scrapes away and embeds hand-fabricated collage paper.
She says it’s been a great weekend and sales were solid the first two days. Winning the award was icing on the cake.
“It's such a great feeling of validation for the work that I do, and to be honored like that, I was shocked and super surprised and really, really, really honored, so I'm so appreciative,” Kendall said.
For another local artist, Mitch Bedke, this was the first time he made it into the Kimball Arts Festival showcasing his kiln-formed glass art.
“It's been a fantastic weekend,” Bedke said. “Friday, I had my best day ever. Yesterday [Saturday], I beat it. So, yeah, there's people out buying art.”
Milliken says reaction to the news this week that the Kimball Art Center will be moving to Kimball Junction as part of the Dakota Pacific development has been overwhelmingly encouraging.
“In general, overwhelmingly positive, overwhelmingly supportive, and I think this is really exciting for people. And so coupled with the arts fest, this has been a fantastic weekend.”
Several other awards for each of the artistic mediums were handed out Saturday night based on a jury vote. The full list of winners will be published online in a couple of days.
