Eclectic artists show off creations at Summerlin Festival of the Arts

Sarvi Hosseini’s jewelry and Marcus Thesing’s sculptural blown glass are well-known in the art community where they live in Laguna Beach, California.

This weekend, however, they branched out to display and sell their wares for the first time at the 21st annual Summerlin Festival of the Arts, a juried arts festival featuring more than 100 artists. This year’s festival, which lasted two days, drew more than 30,000 attendees, in keeping with past years, spokeswoman Danielle Bisterfeldt said.

“We wanted a new market,” said Thesing, who creates hand-blown art glass with a sculptural emphasis. “We know when we go to a new market, we’re fresh and everybody jumps on it. A lot of the shows I’ve done for years and years and years. I get a lot of repeat customers. The disadvantage is I start to flood the market.”

Thesing, who was featured as an “artist spotlight” at the Summerlin festival, said he sold about 20 pieces over the two-day period, from $100 paperweights to more complicated sculptures that cost thousands of dollars.

Las Vegans Jim and Nancy White added a multicolored, teardrop-shaped Thesing creation to their collection Sunday.

“It’s a really unique style,” Jim White said. “We’ve collected glass from all over the world, and this actually fits in beautifully with the rest of the pieces we have. We like something you don’t see everywhere.”

The Whites were impressed with the quality of the artwork at the show, saying they purchased three items within 30 minutes of their arrival.

“We usually don’t do that at shows,” he said.

Hosseini, whose jewelry is created with the lost wax cast method, which involves hand-carving and texturing waxes and hand-casting her shapes into gold and sterling silver, was also a featured artist at the festival.

“I really try to be different because I know there’s a lot of jewelry out there,” she said. “I want people to see something and say, ‘Wow, I can only get this here.’ That’s the biggest compliment I can get.”

Hosseini has been featuring her work for 10 years, primarily in Laguna Beach and its annual Sawdust Art and Craft Festival. But she said she’s looking to get out of her “Laguna bubble.”

“I’ve built a little collector base,” she said. “They come to me every year asking what’s new. There’s definitely more of a demand for me. I’m trying to venture out more and grow.”

Contact Natalie Bruzda at nbruzda@reviewjournal.com or 702-477-3897. Follow @NatalieBruzda on Twitter.