ABINGDON, Va. – Ping Guo practices a traditional Chinese art that goes back 2,000 years.
Yet it was only two years ago that she realized the fine silk embroidery her family has done for generations could help them make a living in America.
“This is good,” she said, explaining that nine family members do the embroidery, while she and her husband travel and sell it at arts and crafts shows like the Virginia Highlands Festival. “People like my art.”
Here from Buffalo, N.Y, she is among what appear to be dozens of new vendors at this year’s festival, which is in its 62nd year.
Another is Tracy Booth, of Marshall, N.C., who says her bright, whimsical paintings are an effort to counterbalance all the bad news in the world.
“I just like to ignore it all and create my own little world,” said Marshall, whose display features a painting of two fairies floating above the land in a big red balloon and “catching sunshine for a rainy day.”
Bob Trent, arts and crafts co-director for the festival, said he doesn’t know how many new vendors are at this year’s fair, only that some different folks were selected in the jurying process.
“We require them to send us five Internet slides, and they’re juried on that by professional craftsmen,” Trent said. “The way we’ve got it set up, nobody knows who the people are.”
While the festival’s new location on Remsburg Drive has brought a lot of new vendors, Trent said, he has no knowledge of any past vendors who stayed away because of the cramped, muddy conditions at last year’s location on the Barter Green.
However, several vendors who vowed last year not to return because of the conditions were not present on this year’s opening day.
The new vendors who apparently took their places Saturday were optimistic about the outlook for this year’s festival.
“It’s been a good show so far. It’s our first year, and there’s been a lot of traffic and a lot of sales,” said Randy Chapman, a metal sculptor from Fuquay, N.C. “I’m kind of surprised, as hot as it is, that the crowd was as big as it is.”
Improvement in the economy still has a ways to go, he said, but it’s overall better than it was a year ago. And art buyers who might have stayed home for financial reasons, he said, are coming back, “slowly but surely.”
dmccown@bristolnews.com | (276) 791-0701
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