Juried Art Festival returns to Henderson

When you think of Mother’s Day traditions, food and flowers probably top the list.

But, since 1998, Henderson has had its own Mother’s Day tradition: art with heart.

This Mother’s Day weekend is no different, with the Art Festival of Henderson returning to the Henderson Events Plaza Saturday and Sunday.

The juried show features dozens of artists exhibiting paintings, sculptures, jewelry, ceramics, photography and other artworks.

Live entertainment and food vendors also will be featured. (Admission to the festival is free, but there’s a charge for some activities.)

Although the festival celebrates the work of accomplished artists, there’s plenty of opportunity for the kids to get into the act at the festival’s Imagination Station, which offers a variety of arts and crafts activities.

A new children’s attraction, the Rotating Education Tent, makes its festival debut this weekend, providing a hands-on connection to science, wildlife and history in addition to art.

Offering a Southern Nevada variation on Italian street painting, Piazza Colori returns this year, giving local artists a chance to create with sidewalk chalk at the Henderson Events Plaza.

Proceeds from Piazza Colori (which is sponsored by the Rotary Club of Green Valley) will benefit several Henderson charities.

And speaking of fundraising, proceeds from sales by City Lights Gallery’s participating artists will go toward funding art scholarships and supporting arts in Henderson schools, according to Ed Klein, the Henderson gallery’s festival coordinator.

Last year, six City Lights artists participated. This year’s total has doubled to 12, says Klein, who will be exhibiting his watercolors.

“We had a lot of people coming through our area inside” at last year’s event, he says. “We all did well — we sold several pieces and made a lot of contacts.”

In addition to paintings, the City Lights Gallery contingent will show artworks ranging from sculpture to jewelry.

City Lights President Ruben Marquez , a landscape photographer, and his wife, Jane Marquez, who’s exhibiting pastels and acrylics, were traveling and unable to participate in last year’s festival.

But they heard about the event from their fellow artists, who were “all very excited about it,” reporting “a lot of participation and a lot of visitors,” Ruben Marquez says.

“Everyone really loved it that was in it last year,” Jane Marquez adds.

One advantage the Henderson festival offers, in her view: an indoor setting for the City Lights displays.

“It’s so much nicer to be indoors with the air conditioning and out of the wind and sun,” she says.

Along with local artists, this year’s festival is drawing out-of-state artists — some of whom also exhibited at the recent Boulder City art festival, Ruben Marquez says.

“It’s gaining in popularity,” he says of Henderson’s Festival of Art.

In part, he attributes that to the fact that it’s a juried show.

“Artists look for that,” he says. “They know the quality of art is going to be there.”

Contact reporter Carol Cling at ccling@
reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0272.