White Plains Outdoor Arts Festival – 2009

It was a great day in the Hudson Valley – after all the rain we’ve had recently,  it was wonderful to be outside on a warm and SUNNY day.  White Plains has always been know for its shopping and more recently fine dining.  High-end housing in high rise luxury buildings is also something that White Plains is famous for.  But it has lagged behind in the arts.  Yes, we have our own theater, the Westchester Philharmonic under the baton of Itzhak Perlman  calls White Plains its “home.”  But only now is White Plains getting itself on the map – so to speak – as go-to place for the arts.  But on this weekend the artisans were out in force. Downtown White Plains was certainly the go-to place for the arts this weekend.

The White Plains Outdoor Arts Festival  was an amazing venue for a beautiful late spring day.   Any excuse to get outside was fine by me! But this was really worth an afternoon for anyone interested in amazing diversity of artisan work displayed. Truth be told I was only able to spend about an hour because Sunday is a work day for me, but I could easily have spent two to three hours had time permitted.   Here are a few of the highlights:

I was really struck by a couple of booths:

The first was A J Nostalgia…by Jeff and Jill Hand, with their 3-D nostalgic lithographs a bygone era.  The emphasis was New York, but there were lithographs from Boston and other parts of the country as well.  I bought my father a lithograph of the Yankees for father’s day while I was there.  I saw Brooklyn, Queens, Coney Island, Long beach among others.  Amazing detail and very colorful. There was no email address – only a phone number which I hesitate to put on-line.  The photos I got were terrible….

Then there was Robert Rodriguez Jr.   with his photographs on canvas.  Mostly of the Hudson Valley, these photographs portray the lush color and beauty of our region with vivid rich tones. They reminded me of the fact that New York is not all glass and steel and also of why I’m glad to be able to say “I’m from New York.”  This was not one of my better pictures – so for more information here is the link to Mr. Rodriguez’s web site.

Then there was Kevin Burnett’s amazing pastels.  Striking effects with vivid color.  I ran into Marie – an interior desinger who was also delighted by them. I wanted to buy all the dog portraits – no surprise there –  but I contained myself…For more information you can visit Mr. Burnett’s website.  Kevin Burnett is local to Westchester -so he is truly one of our own.

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© 2009 Ruthmarie Hicks – all rights reserved.

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