Artists showcase work at Stephens Lake Art in the Park

COLUMBIA — After an eventful Saturday at the Columbia Art League's Art in the Park festival, more than 100 artists were once again ready to show off their work Sunday.

Artists from as far away as New York and as close as the local community packed their white tents with various types of work, including paintings, lawn ornaments, jewelry and ceramics. 

Lamp-working artist Eric Brunson of Fulton displayed his glass work for everyone at the festival to see, with hopes to sell his latest creations.

“I primarily make pendants, paperweights, marbles, Christmas ornaments and other decorative objects,” Brunson said.

Brunson has been practicing the art of lamp-working since 2003. As a laboratory technician at the Columbia Environmental Research Center, Brunson said he first learned how to work with glass after the company that supplied the center's glass shut down.

“Instead of sending off and having someone else make our glass parts, I figured it’d probably be easier for me to learn some simple lamp-working techniques,” Brunson said.

The artistic side of lamp-working came when Brunson was learning these techniques at the Pittsburgh Glass Center.

“While I was learning the stuff I needed for my job, I got exposed to the more artistic applications of glass working,” Brunson said. “I decided when I got back that I would buy a torch and an annealing oven and just try it out myself.”

For the last seven years, Brunson has been creating works of art with his glass and selling them at local art shows, as well as at Village Glass Works.

Brunson said his interest in fossils inspires the design of his glass pendants.

This is Brunson's third year showing at the Art in the Park festival.

“This has been a good festival,” Brunson said. “I don’t really produce enough to do a lot of shows, but this has been a really good show for me.”

Martha Moore, a photographer from Blue Springs, was excited to show off her photographs in her first Art in the Park festival. Moore specializes in taking photos of animals.

“I’ve always been interested in animals. I find them fascinating,” Moore said. “I also think we’re privileged to have them.”

Moore said she takes a trip a few times each year to national parks in order to shoot some of her photos. 

“Yellowstone Park is my favorite,” Moore said. “And this year, we’re going back to Yellowstone in the winter.”

She also takes day trips to parks around the Kansas City area to photograph animals in their natural habitat.

Moore said she would like to start taking dog portraits and pictures of people’s pets in the near future.

While she may be new to Art in the Park, this was not Moore’s first art fair. Moore said she participates in nearly 20 art fairs each year.

Moore said that while the hot weather has been a slight drawback, the Art in the Park festival has had a good showing overall.

“I am amazed at how many people buy art in 95 degree weather,” Moore said.