Downtown Walnut Creek’s 69th Semi-Annual Fine Arts and Crafts Fall Fair

Original artwork and live music will thrive in downtown Walnut Creek as more than 150 professional artists gather to usher in autumn during the 69th Semi-Annual Fine Arts and Crafts Fall Fair. The free event will showcase one-of-a-kind works including paintings, sculptures, jewelry, photography, clothing accessories and much more, as well as musical performances.

Presented by the Walnut Creek Downtown Business Association and sponsored by Contra Costa Times, for the first time this spectacular weekend extravaganza extends along the closed street of North Main between Mt. Diablo Boulevard and Civic Drive, Saturday, September 29 from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. and Sunday, September 30 from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. As part of this year’s event PUSH, a classic American rock band based in the Bay Area, will perform Saturday from 3:30 pm-5:30 pm on stage at the corner of North Main Street and Civic Drive. There will also be live acoustic musicians playing throughout the weekend.

Among this year’s featured artists is landscape artist and oil painter Catherine McClure Lindberg from Concord who has been painting and selling her work from coast to coast for more than 30 years.  Catherine gains most of her inspiration from the local area, hiking all over Mt. Diablo sketching, photographing and painting small paintings en plein aire.  “The mountain provides endless inspiration with its ever changing color, light and mood,” says Catherine.

Ted Arden of Clayton is a retired history and social studies teacher who has been a nature photographer for the last 35 years. He photographs flowers, fall colored leaves, vast landscapes and garden butterflies. Ted has always been interested in the hand-color photography art form and uses transparent oils to enhance each photograph. Many of his compositions are from western Pennsylvania and California.

Born and raised in the Bay Area, Kurt McCracken, who now lives in Clayton, uses his 6-foot, four-inch frame to wheel-throw a single piece of clay into extraordinarily large forms. His vessels often exceed three feet in height, while some of his more contemporary works include ceramic towers measuring up to 8 feet tall. To finish his ceramic pieces, McCracken uses two firing methods including a low-fired approach that results in a variety of colors, as well as a new approach to the ancient Asian art of raku, which produces iridescent shades of copper, purple and gold.

Additional participants in the 69th Semi-Annual Fine Arts and Crafts Fall Fair include Dori Egan and Mike Durkin of Pleasant Hill showing their custom fine art jewelry; Gene Gracey of Walnut Creek with her outdoor photography; and Daniel Lindholm of Concord featuring his wooden art ranging from highly polished pens, to durable inventive bowls, to delicate and high class wine glasses.

For more information about the 69th Semi-Annual Walnut Creek Fine Arts and Crafts Fall Fair contact the Walnut Creek Downtown Business Association at (925) 933-6778 or Pacific Fine Arts at (209) 267-4394 or www.pacificfinearts.com. You can also see more information on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/PacificFineArts and on Twitter @PacificFineArts. This event’s print/online media sponsor is the Contra Costa Times. There is a free shuttle from BART to downtown Walnut Creek – for more information, please visit: http://cccta.org/.