Graphic by Bell Jackson By M.K. Bryant
On Saturday Oct. 29, over 100 vendors lined up under multicolored tents along Montevallo’s Main Street for the annual Art Stalk, an art festival that is usually held around Halloween time. The event lasted from 11a.m. to 6 p.m. and consisted of a diverse selection of artists putting their work on display for the whole town to see.
Booths were spread out from Blue Phrog Gallery to La Conchita Bakery, and from KFC to Provenance Church.
Emily Gill, Montevallo Art Walk coordinator, explained that the Art Stalk is a subsidiary of the Montevallo Arts Collaborative.
“We have a separate funding stream, we’re sort of a separate entity,” Gill said, “but largely, we are programming that is under their umbrella.”
Art Stalk provides local artists with an affordable way to sell their art and promote their work.
Gill said, “The main thing that we try to do is, you may notice that there’s a really big diversity of offerings here, and our entry price is very low. People that are more established artists and vendors get a nice price break, and for people who are starting to explore what they make and find their audience, it’s a really low investment.”
Artist and UM senior Erica Lewis explained, “Events like this help boost art in a community and help local artists make money, which is important to us, and getting our names out there is always important, especially for young artists.”
Lewis sells printmaking pieces and digital copies of their drawings.
Among the artists at Art Stalk was UM student Kat MacIlveen, who was selling handmade jewelry.
“It’s important to support local because it’s a direct way to give back to the community,” MacIlveen said.
UM sophomore Romeo Garrison, an event attendee, agreed with this sentiment.
“We need to focus more on local artists than all of these online retailers that are mass produced,” Garrison said. “We should support the artists we have around us instead of just giving all of our money to these big corporations.”
Visual art was not the only type of art highlighted during the event. All throughout the day, local musicians set up on the Owl’s Cove stage next to Fallin Hall to perform.
Gill also said that the event is held on Main Street as a way to promote local businesses alongside all the art.
“One goal that I would like to see if we could follow through on,” Gill said, “is how to get people to the Village on Valley area, because right now it’s not connected by a walkway.”
The Village on Valley area, Gill explained, is the area of Montevallo that houses C’s Cake and Coffee, Slice, Boho Tea Bar and other small businesses.
M.K. Bryant is a contributing journalist for The Alabamian. She’s majoring in mass communication with a concentration in multimedia journalism, and she’s double-minoring in theatre and creative writing. When she’s not busy watering her plants or writing, M.K. can probably be found wandering around an art museum or a library.
