Lincoln Arts Festival 2024 showcases new artists, offers crafts for kids

Artists from near and far showed off their skills Saturday in the Haymarket at the Lincoln Arts Festival.

Emerging and advanced artists displayed an array of artwork crafted by pencil, paint, clay and wood at various booths on Canopy Street. Some booths offered photos, pottery or handmade jewelry. Hannah Ashburn's booth was decorated with rugs shaped and tufted into cicadas, among other images.

It was Ashburn's first time selling her work at the festival and she did so inside the Emerging Artists section, provided by the Lincoln Arts Council. In her work, she pulls functional pieces together with a touch of fine arts.

She received her bachelor's degree in studio arts with an emphasis on drawing and painting from Union College in 2017, but got started working with fiber during the COVID-19 pandemic.

"I needed something art related to do and so I picked it up," she said. "It was a great way to get out of my head and to get into something creative."

Now, she takes some graduate-level courses at University of Nebraska-Lincoln and works at Live Yes Studios – an art studio for adults with disabilities – as a fiber arts teacher and floor manager.

Ashburn said she's inspired by her students, her poetry and her everyday life. She's been influenced by intense storms, but also by a cup of coffee. She creates work that focuses on both positives and negatives as she pulls from her own mental health journey.

"A lot of my work focuses on the balance or the dichotomy between the mundane versus the extraordinary," she said.

Smaller pieces can be completed in as little as a half hour, while she works on others for around six months. Sometimes, Ashburn sketches designs straight onto canvases. For others, she projects the designs before she starts tufting the fabric into the canvas.

Ashburn was selling wall hangings, area rugs and coasters. The Lincoln resident said she wants to get into soft sculptures. She's been experimenting with a piece shaped like a fish with the mouth as a pocket.

"They can also be functional, but I think they're really beautiful in themselves," she said.

Outside of the Emerging Artists area, Tony Nguyen, a Texas-based artist, brought his portraiture and figurative art back to Lincoln, his hometown. Sean Corner of Wichita, Kansas, showcased clay sculptures. Keith Buswell's booth was full of prints of trees and their roots – a symbolic nod to communities helping each other grow.

Hundreds of people walked back and forth, some pushing strollers and others holding leashes. Across from the Emerging Artists booths was the Creative Zone – a place for kids to see what they can do with different mediums.

Music Studio LNK gave kids the chance to perform on drums and other instruments. In one booth, some built birdhouses. Others gathered under a tent and each drew one square of a much larger piece of artwork.

Gomez Art Supply let visitors choose from pre-carved linoleum blocks, ink them, press them onto papers and reveal their own artistic print to take home for free.

The Handweavers Guild of Lincoln drew quite a crowd as they were weaving and spinning fabric during the festival.

"We're looming at the loomers," one onlooker said.

Harbor Coffee, Kona Ice and other vendors offered food and drinks and will continue to on Sunday when the free event runs from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.

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