Greenville street festival puts its money where its brush is

Attendees browse the booth of Kent Ambler at Artisphere. Photo by Ken Osburn
Attendees browse the booth of Kent Ambler at Artisphere. Photo by Ken Osburn

Artisphere doesn’t hold back in expression. It’s centered around Greenville’s downtown waterfall and grows a culture by routing hundreds of thousands of dollars back to various arts organizations — this year it’s South Carolina Children’s Theatre, the Greenville Chorale, the Greenville Chinese Cultural Association, and the South Carolina Governor’s School for the Arts and Humanities. The spring street festival represents music, culinary, and the visual arts; within the latter genre, media includes painting, ceramics, digital, mixed media, and fiber art.

Some emerging artists receive scholarships to show at Artisphere — current recipients are clay artist Daniel Bare and painter Kiah Bellows. Others can view it from a more seasoned end of the spectrum. Darin Gehrke, another ceramicist, has experienced Artisphere as an out-of-state fine crafter, a local one, and now a juror. He emphasizes the support the festival shows its participants: “It’s in a league of its own.”

Last year’s event drew an unprecedented number of visitors. However, its success was more evident in a burgeoning number of artist sales.

That’s arguably because a good portion of festival real estate is given to “Demo Row,” where viewers can watch creations evolve in real time.

“I believe the audience is entertained by the visual hands-on [aspect],” notes Ryan Calloway, owner of Greenville-based Creative Ironworks. When kids and adults get a chance to watch what he calls “hot work” — including the forging of metal in the 2,500-degree-Fahrenheit range — it’s not a just-browsing scenario anymore.

“It breaks up the experience,” he says.

Artisphere happens Friday, May 12 (12-8pm), Saturday, May 13 (10am-8pm), and Sunday, May 14 (11am-6pm), in downtown Greenville. Live music starts Friday and Saturday at 8pm. For more information, see artisphere.org.

0 replies on “Greenville street festival puts its money where its brush is”