Downtown Summerlin expands audience for this weekend’s arts festival

The more things change, the more they stay the same.

In its two-decade history, the Summerlin Festival of Arts has changed locations — more than once.

And last year’s move to Downtown Summerlin has augmented the arts festival’s audience, with shoppers joining longtime art lovers at the event, which returns to DTS’ Lawn this weekend.

For all the moves, however, the festival’s focus — on art, not crafts — remains unchanged.

More than 100 artists from Southern Nevada (and beyond) will showcase their creations during the two-day festival.

The 21st edition of the festival also features performing arts — from pop-up Nevada Ballet Theatre performances to “Absinthe’s” tap-dancing twins Sean and John — along with children’s art activities and culinary demonstrations.

But it’s the festival’s fine arts lineup that sets it apart.

Unlike Boulder City’s long-running Art in the Park, which took place last weekend, “we’re not about the crafts,” according to Danielle Bisterfeldt, Summerlin’s vice president of marketing. That way, the locals have something different to experience at each festival.

This year, a record number of out-of-state artists — from New York to California — applied to participate in the juried Summerlin show, she notes.

That includes the 2016 festival’s two featured artists, both from Laguna Beach, California: jewelry maker Sarvi Hosseini and glass artist Marcus Thesing.

The event’s increasing popularity means some longtime participants didn’t receive invitations this year, according to ceramic sculptor Tanti Hill, who’s been at all 21 Summerlin arts festivals.

“There were so many applications, there was not enough space to accommodate everybody,” Hill notes. “People like me, who established this show — I felt they should be accepted. Somebody must have replaced them.”

Hill misses the more expansive feel of the festival’s previous location at Community Center Park, because “the crowd is different” at Downtown Summerlin, with shoppers who just happen to be there and come out of curiosity. Of course, she adds, that does not mean they do not buy.

Local painter Niki J. Sands — last year’s featured artist — describes the Downtown Summerlin move as “a hit — a home run.”

The artist feared the event would lose its charm, Sands acknowledges. But relocating the festival “brought out people (who were) not just interested in the event,” she adds. It brought shoppers and that means a lot more foot traffic for the artists.

Photographer Bill Kutcher, an eight-year participant, agrees.

“From an artist’s point of view, my sales almost doubled” following the move to Downtown Summerlin, he notes. “It was my best-ever show in Las Vegas.”

Kutcher specializes in scenic and nature photography, mostly from the American Southwest. He sells $3 notecards — and $1,000 triptychs. His best-seller: a shot from Bonnie Springs, in Red Rock Canyon, depicting a signpost at the Western town’s crossroads.

Hill’s ceramic sculptures range from $35 to $600.

“I don’t make the same thing twice,” she points out. “Everything is hand-built” — and because the process of firing is so unpredictable, the colors are unpredictable, too.

Whether Hill’s reconnecting with longtime customers or meeting new ones, “I like to be there and talk to the people,” she says, “whether they buy or not.”

Sands was “very honored” to be last year’s featured artist, she adds, calling the selection “something artists dream of.”

This year, she’s sticking with her Cubist style, featuring lots of color and bright fun shapes — whether in prints (priced about $40) or originals on sale “for a few thousand dollars.”

To Sands, the Summerlin festival helps in “bringing the community together through the arts” — and not just in Summerlin.

In her view, the festival highlights the connection between Summerlin and Las Vegas’ downtown arts district, allowing artists who work downtown “to talk about what is going on down there,” she says. “We feel comfortable and wish other people would feel the same way.”

Throughout the Summerlin Festival of Arts, attendees can experience creativity in a variety of forms, from painting and sculpture to woodworking, photography and more, Bisterfeldt notes.

All of which contributes to the show’s strength, according to Hill.

“It’s excellent,” she says. “And we would like to keep it that way.”

Read more from Carol Cling at reviewjournal.com. Contact her at ccling@reviewjournal.com and follow @CarolSCling on Twitter.