Arts of all kinds found their way into St. Louis this weekend at The Art Show in Queeny Park. People from all around Missouri and neighboring states came to show off their unique pieces of work to the community.
The Art show lasted from March 30 to the April 1. There were over 130 booths that displayed art such as clay, drawings, paintings, mixed media, oil and acrylics, photography, wood works, sculptures, and more. One woman, Sandy Moriarty, had a booth that showcased all of her personal photography. One picture in particular was of hot air balloons at the Albuquerque International Balloon Fiesta in Albuquerque, New Mexico. The focus of the picture was on a Darth Vader shaped balloon that appeared to be bigger than the rest. This was Moriarty’s best selling picture, and one of few she had left.
“A while back at a convention this woman said she had to have that picture, so instead of paying for it she tried to take a picture of it,” Moriarty said. “I had to stop her and make her delete the picture.”
Moriarty has had to deal with this issue more than once. She says that people don’t want to pay for her pictures, so they’ll take a picture of her work and blow it up for themselves.
In another booth Nancy Koehler was selling her handcrafted glass jewelry. She started her business after a frustrating experience of trying to get her own jewelry repaired. When she found she could do it herself, she started her own business.
“I’ve been doing it for a short time, but I love it,” Koehler said. “I started it up in 2009, and ever since then I’ve been learning and creating as much as I can.”
A few rows over Deedee Defabio-Lake is up laughing with a few other friends in the convention. She attracts a lot of attention with her out-of-the-ordinary jewelry. There are necklaces with shell cases, bottle caps, and guitar picks. Her whole display is comprised of personal memorabilia.
“Im’ really into the 1920s to 1960s jewelry,” Defabio-Lake said. “It triggers memories of my parents and grandparents, each piece is a time of my life.”
Junior Jennifer Wei went to the art show in hopes of finding inspiration. She waited by Koehler’s booth for nearly ten minutes just so she could ask Koehler how she made her glass tile pendants and water color pendants.
“At art shows a lot of people show their original work, and it inspires me to create different types of jewelry,” Wei said. “It also makes me want to see if I can create things similar to what I see.”
