Young, emerging artists featured at Mukilteo festival

Published 12:01 am Friday, July 15, 2011

One thing’s for sure at this year’s Mukilteo Waterfront Art Festival: You won’t see a lot of the regulars.

It seems that many well-known local artists who hit the summer festival scene will be in Sequim this weekend to show their work at the Lavender Festival.

No worries.

Visito

rs to Mukilteo’s festival will get to see some fresh faces and some new art, said Christine Awad Schmaltz, Mukilteo Arts Guild president, who put the festival together this year with help from husband, Steve.

“This year’s special because we like getting young emerging artists to show their work,” Schmaltz said. “We are not getting the regular art show guys from Everett or Edmonds, but getting the people you don’t always see.”

This year, the Mukilteo Waterfront Art Festival hosts 40 artists, whose work will be shown along the waterfront at Lighthouse Park on Mukilteo Beach.

With Possession Sound in the background, visitors can stroll among the artists’ booths where paintings, glass, pottery, wearable art and metal sculpture will be displayed.

Some artists will create pieces on the spot.

One of them might be this year’s Mukilteo Waterfront Art Festival poster artist, Angela Hoskins, an upcoming artist and single mother whose acrylic paintings and charismatic personality shine with light, Schmaltz said.

“You turn the lights off and you can still see light glowing from her paintings,” Schmaltz said. “She is a master of color.”

Another artist worth checking out is photographer Vicki Derks, who switched careers from being a Harborview Medical Center nurse to an artist. “Her work is phenomenal,” Schmaltz said.

Schmaltz said it’s important for visitors to see art being created because the art then becomes valuable to that person.

Mukilteo Waterfront Art Festival goes from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. Saturday and 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Sunday at Mukilteo Lighthouse Park, 609 Front St., Mukilteo. Admission and parking are free. Vendors will sell food and beverages. Proceeds from the vendors’ booths benefit the Arts Guild Student Scholarship Fund.

The festival is sponsored by the nonprofit Mukilteo Arts Guild and the city of Mukilteo.

Quilt tour

As part of your day in Mukilteo, you might also visit the Mukilteo Garden & Quilt Tour, a biennial event that showcases eight premier gardens in Mukilteo with 100 handmade quilts.

Mukilteo Garden & Quilt Tour is from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday. Tickets are $12 in advance or $15 on the day of the tour.

Further information and tickets are available at www.mukilteogardenandquilttour.org and at various locations in Mukilteo and Everett.