Saturday, August 11, from 10 AM –5 PM, rain or shine. This popular, free, outdoor festival of art, food and music, now in its thirty-fifth year, is sponsored by Village Artisans Gallery of Yellow Springs. Both new and returning artists will present their ceramics, drawings, fiber art, garden art, glass, jewelry, leatherwork, mixed media, papercraft, paintings, photography and more. Food vendors and live music complement the outstanding, juried artwork.

Returning this year is Art on the Lawn’s Featured Artist – Anastasia Mak – an accomplished painter from Chicago. Mak won Best of Show at the 2017 Art on theLawn. Born and raised in Ukraine, at 14, Mak came to the UnitedStates as an exchange student and her parents moved to the U.S. a year later.After graduating from college in Atlanta, Mak said she “looked for a place that was a better fit for me, and Chicago was it.”

When asked about her art education background, Mak said that while in Ukraine, she attended a “special children’s art school designed to prepare kids for a formal art school. But in the States, she did not pursue an art education; instead she got a business degree. However, Mak says she paints almost every day and “that’s why I like to say that my art education just comes from practice!” 

Using acrylics, Mak says her “style continuously evolves but the bright colors with geometric skies have been in my paintings for at least a decade. My subject matter is closely connected to what I love the most – traveling and exploring. Since the beginning it has incorporated various destinations: cities, landscapes, trees.” 

When asked about her recent Ohio art successes – 2017 Best of Show for Art on the Lawn and First Place in Painting at Kettering’s 2016 Art on the Commons, Mak said, “ I never expect to win any awards, so they are always a big surprise. Feels humbling!” To see more of her work, visit Art on the Lawn, and Mak’s web site: https://anastasiamak.com .

Village Artisans, sponsors of Art on the Lawn, has been a multi-media cooperative art gallery since 1983. The gallery is located at 100 Corry Street in Yellow Springs. Gallery hours are Monday – Thursday 11 AM – 5 PM; Friday and Saturday 11 AM – 6 PM; and Sunday Noon – 5 PM.  For more information on Art on the Lawn and/or Village Artisans – stop in, call  937-767-1209, email villageartisans.email@yahoo.com or visit www.villageartisans.blogspot.com.