Summerlin Art Festival slated for this weekend

This weekend more than 100 artists and craftsmen from across the country will display a broad array of art at Summerlin Centre Community Park for the 19th annual Summerlin Art Festival. The event features fine art collections including paintings, glasswork, pottery, jewelry, metal works, sculpture and mixed media.

“Nearly 200 artists applied to participate in the festival this year and we picked only those who best represent high-quality fine art,” said Danielle Bisterfeldt, director of marketing for Summerlin. “Summerlin Art Festival isn’t a craft fair, it’s a full-bodied fine art festival that incorporates a wide variety of styles and mediums to offer a broad range of art that captures the interest of all art lovers.”

In addition to art for sale, the festival includes children’s activities, live music, dance and art demonstrations including performances by the Nevada School of the Arts NSA Chamber Orchestra with members of the Las Vegas Philharmonic and performances by the Academy of Nevada Ballet Theatre.

“Summerlin has been home to the 42-year-old Nevada Ballet Theatre for more than 16 years,” said Jenn Kratochwill, director of public relations for Nevada Ballet Theatre. “We love showing off the skills of our academy students to an appreciative audience, and we enjoy the opportunity to give back to the community that has done so much to advance our success.”

Le Cordon Bleu College of Culinary Arts Las Vegas Chef Chanh Boupha returns to demonstrate spectacular food and ice carvings. New this year, members of Cirque du Soleil will also take to the stage in costume.

The chalk art competition and public chalk drawing area is hosted this year by Discovery Children’s Museum. For a donation to the museum, children can participate in the draw-for-fun area, which includes a group mural designed by the museum. Preregistered chalk art competitors use the park’s sidewalks as their canvas to create art using pastel chalk. Winners are announced Sunday at 3 p.m.

The chalk art expo features master chalk artist Donovan Fitzgerald, owner of Fitzgerald Artworks, who will create a reproduction of a classical art piece during the event.

Best of Summerlin winners will be announced at the festival Sunday morning.

Free parking is available across from Summerlin Centre Community Park on South Town Center Drive between West Charleston Boulevard and West Sahara Avenue. The Summerlin Art Festival runs from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. today and Sunday. For a full event schedule go to summerlin.com.