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The 34th annual SoNo Arts Celebration will get under way Friday evening, featuring a full lineup of performing artists and visual art. The juried show, one of the larger art exhibits in Connecticut as well as the East Coast, will include work by 125 artists, including photographers, painters and sculptors, on the streets of SoNo, said Sue Brown-Gordon, a SoNo Arts board member and director of exhibiting arts for the event.
The celebration is intended to be a dialogue between the artists and the community as much as an exhibit, Brown-Gordon said. "This might be a young person's first exposure to art," she said. "We want it to be a positive. We want them to be able to talk with the artists."
To support this conversation between exhibitors and the community, the artists will post statements about their work such as what inspires or motivates them, Brown-Gordon said. Whether someone purchases a piece of art or just browses, the SoNo Arts committee hopes the experience is both fun and educational.
The jury reviewed scores of entries to choose the artists for this year's exhibit, Brown-Gordon said. Each artist submitted five images of their work. Selections were based upon artistic quality as well as variety. The committee wanted to assemble a balanced show that included a variety of disciplines, she said. The jury included professional artists, teachers and "customers," as Brown-Gordon characterized them.
"The SoNo exhibit has a very distinctive personality," Brown-Gordon said. "It draws a progressive crowd. The work is a little edgier."
The 34th annual SoNo Arts Celebration opens at 6 p.m. Friday with a kickoff concert featuring Mystic Bowie and continues all weekend. The full schedule of events, including performing artists, is available on its web site.
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