Said Oladejo-Lawal books at least 10 art shows a year. Toledo’s Crosby Festival of the Arts stands out.
“It’s just beautiful,” said Oladejo-Lawal, a painter based in Columbus. “It’s in the garden. The foliage from the trees takes care of shading. The organizers were just exceptional. Those elements distinguish the Crosby Art Festival.”
Oladejo-Lawal is set to join about 160 regional and national artists and about 10,000 visitors this weekend at the Toledo Botanical Garden. The 56th Crosby Festival of the Arts, the oldest outdoor juried art festival in Ohio, runs 6 to 9 p.m. Friday, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday, and 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Sunday at the Toledo Botanical Garden, 5403 Elmer Dr., Toledo.
Tickets are $15 at the festival, or $12 in advance at crosbyfest.com.
What: Crosby Festival of the Arts
When: 6 to 9 p.m. Friday, 10a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Sunday
Where: Toledo Botanical Garden, 5403 Elmer Dr., Toledo
Admission: $15 at the gate; $12 for seniors 60 and older or in advance at crosbyfest.com. Children 12 and younger are free.
Information: crosbyfest.com
Artists like Oladejo-Lawal applied to the show in late November. In February, a jury of Toledo art experts, studio owners, and teachers selected the artists who would be invited to exhibit. The selected artists sell at a range of price points and work in nine different mediums: ceramics, fiberwork, glasswork, jewelry, mixed media, painting, photography, sculpture, and woodwork.
This year’s festival also highlights three local art nonprofits: Sunshine Studios, an art center in Maumee, Unruly Arts, a studio that supports artists with disabilities, and the Toledo School for the Arts, a public community school for grades six through 12.
Proceeds from the festival benefit Toledo GROWs, a local organization that supports more than 125 community gardens and runs educational programs for Toledoans of all ages.
“It’s an important community event,” said Yvonne Dubielak, the executive director of Toledo GROWs. “People look forward to it every year. We hope people wander around the gardens.”
Oladejo-Lawal’s style is impressionistic. His canvases display visible brushwork and colors that are rich and undiluted, or “times ten Fauvist,” he explained. Since he began painting in 1988 — his first year of art school at the Yaba College of Technology in Lagos, Nigeria — Oladejo-Lawal has taken inspiration from a variety of subjects. He has done impasto landscapes and music-themed scenes and portraiture. Last year at the festival, he recalled that people gravitated toward his impressionistic portrait of Ronald Reagan.
His favorite moment from the festival last year? When visitors came to his booth and had conversations with his art and then with him.
For Debra Hoffmaster of Adrian, the festival’s shade and cool weather distinguishes it from a typical art festival that would be held on a city street. She has exhibited her sterling silver and mixed metal jewelry at the festival for many years.
Nature inspires Hoffmaster’s jewelry. She began making art when she lived near a Pennsylvania state park, and took classes in painting and drawing from the park’s resident artist. Now, her sterling silver pendants display fish and leaves that draw their vibrant colors from patinas and epoxy enamels.
Emily Ohland is preparing to bring glasswork from her studio in West Lafayette, Ind., that is also inspired by nature — particularly Midwestern botanicals. She melts together various pieces of hand-cut and colored glass in a kiln to give the pieces shape and form, then paints on the surface of the glass.
“I like to hide surprises like insects, detailed patterns, and sparkles so that as you get closer to a piece of mine you are drawn in,” Ohland wrote in an email. She always adds a touch of whimsy to her pieces, she added.
Fiber artist Philippe Laine is inspired by his vibrant natural surroundings as well. He’s based in Palm Beach Gardens, Fla., and paints his hometown flora and fauna on silk materials like ties, lampshades, and pillows.
“My colors are very bright,” he said. “You like me or you don’t.”
Above all, Todd and Nancy Kime look forward to exhibiting at their hometown show.
When Nancy signed Todd up for a welding class at Owens Community College, he found a source of therapy and rest from his day job at an architecture firm. Fifteen years later, he still forms sculptures that reveal decidedly architectural influences — geometric lines, bold colors, and sculptural steel. They will be on display at the festival.
“We’re just excited to be back,” Todd said.
First Published June 23, 2022, 11:23 a.m.
