NEWS FROM THE TRAIL

August 2006 - Sierra Art Trails Supports Local Artists!

Sierra Art Trails is an event that supports the working artists and artisans in the foothills communities by showcasing their work.  One of its purposes is to foster the visual arts and art education in the area and it also strives to benefit the community in general by establishing a reputation for the area as an arts destination.  To that end Mariposa is represented with 33 fine arts this year.  We will proudly showcase these artists over the next few weeks, but the show has a total of 117 outstanding artists for you to visit.

 Art Trails is on October 14^th and 15^th this year and we have 11 sites in Mariposa itself.  It will be a driving tour so that you can visit the homes and studios of the artists and talk to them or see them at work.  Their artworks will also be on sale.

One of these exceptional artists from Mariposa is Ken Webster.  He won 1^st place two years ago in the Mariposa County Fair.  This was shortly after moving to our community.  Since then Ken won an award in the Yosemite Western Artist Show and also an award in the Northern California Society of Art in Miniature International Exhibition.  He has also been a participant in the prestigious Yosemite Renaissance XXI show. 

Ken studied art at the Pratt Institute in New York, and he says he was a student of Maitland Graves, where he found one of his great loves: portrait painting.  Besides his artwork, Ken also had a career as an advertising art director in San Francisco.  Now he does lots of plein aire work mixed with anything that catches his fancy in his studio.  He says, “I paint what moves me regardless of the subject.”