It was a perfect fall weekend for the Black Swamp Arts Festival – lots of sun and no rain.

On Saturday, visitors were out early in sweatshirts to check out the artists and listen to the Bowling Green State University Falcon Marching Band.

High school students were starting their Chalk Walk art, many of them checking sketches on their phones.

The rain held off Friday, but it was a little brisk, said Justin Mckenney, who was setting up his Vegetabowls tent Saturday morning. The orange (cantaloupe) and red (watermelon) bowls were eye-catching.

He explained his wife Melanie, an art teacher, created a lesson plan on molding and casting. She was interested in finding an object that was hard to recreate by hand so she purchased a cantaloupe and used it in a mold-making demonstration.

“I joked about it and called it a vegetabowl,” Mckenney said. “I thought it was a clever pun.”

The couple, from Sarasota, Florida, keep a trailer of their pieces at a nearby airport, allowing them to fly in and do shows throughout the Midwest.

Mckenney said he had colleagues recommend the Black Swamp Arts Festival and heard it was well-attended. He canceled plans for a show in Michigan to attend.

Local wood artist Ellen Fure Smith was awarded the blue Best of Show ribbon and $2,000.

This was Fure Smith’s ninth Black Swamp Arts Festival.

“I am so honored, there was so many talented artists this year exhibiting,” she said.

The first time she was selected for the juried show, in 2014, she won second place. That showed her she could be an artist and a mom, she said.

Every year she has been selected since then has been proof she can make a business of her passion, she said.

“As a local, it really means a lot to me,” she said.

Fure Smith has lived in Bowling Green for 11 years. She is a graduate of Marshall University in West Virginia.

She said she never expected to win a prize; she makes what she thinks people will like to see.

She uses a lot of baltic birch plywood with contrasting hardwoods at her Little Bare Furniture shop and keeps sustainability in mind when she is creating. There are very few scraps of wood left.

“My work is driven by what creative idea i have in my brain,” she said.

Other juried art show winners included:

Best 2-D: Kati Kleimola, a painting artist from Toledo, who was awarded $1,500

Best 3-D: Alison Vasquez, a jewelry artist from Livonia, Michigan, who was awarded $1,500.

Judge’s Award: Emily Sekerak, a printmaking and drawing artist from Newark, was awarded $1,000

Sustainability Award: Shannon Lewis, a mixed media artist from Ashland, Kentucky, was awarded $500

Emerging Artist: Chuck Strasshofer, a ceramics artist from Lakewood, was awarded $500

Honorable Mentions:

Honorable Mentions: Aya Kang, ceramics; Josiah Eidmann, jewelry; and Chris Plummer, printmaking and drawing, each won $350

The Wild Oddisorium showcased portraits of animals in costumes, including a swan as a ballerina, a boxer (dog) with boxing gloves on, and cats in Victorian-era dresses.

This was J.Bird Cremeans’ first time at the festival.

She said she was inspired by Harry Whittier Frees, who photographed animals in costume.

“I just thought it was hilarious,” she said.

She uses digital art, Cremeans said, and no animal is sacred as seen by the walrus, frog, and a cow sitting on a crescent moon.

“I like to think they kind of tell me who they are,” she said. “Some of them I specifically look for puns they are associated with.”

Tom Sorrell, of Sylvania, was working on a watercolor of a water scene while Saturday’s crowds built.

“I figure if I have to be here, I might as well paint because people like to see it,” he said.

He had on display landscapes and animals.

“Anything that catches my attention, I’ll paint,” he said, “or if it’s something that moves me in some way.”

He said he will do some painting on location and will work from photos other times.

Jenniger Kiger recycles books for her Tale of Two Folds business.

The Bowling Green resident was set up in the Wood County Invitational parking lot.

“I love to read so I used to buy books super cheap and sometimes they were missing pages and I can’t stand to throw a book out,” she said.

She started searching for ways to use the books and with skills at math and art, she created her books, which have painted or printed designs on the pages.

On average, it takes eight-10 hours per book.

This is Kigor’s fifth year at the festival.

“I love this festival. I love the visitors and there is such an appreciation for art,” she said.

Down the street in the teen area, Chris Fry was drawing a chalk salamander.

He said he has been coming to the festival for at least six years and he keeps coming back because “this is one of the favorite events that I do.”

Seeing high school students do chalk art for the first time and what they are learning from it “is so much fun,” he said.

Fry travels from Columbus “to encourage people to and give them an idea of what they can do that is outside what is traditionally considered regular art, such as painting, drawing and digital stuff.”

After he finished his piece, he planned to talk to the students that were already at work on their chalk art to give them advice and answer questions they may not know they have, he said.

“Chalk art is almost a performance piece. These kids are very brave to come out. They are doing something in public, they are creating art in front of people,” Fry said.

This years Chalk Walk theme was “Expressions of Emotion.”

Students

When he learned the theme, Aiden Lee said he thought of the emotions shown at Mardi Gras parades and the culture of New Orleans. The art he and classmate Ellen Knowles were working on was of a jester hat and dragon’s body.

The two are from Payne High School, located one hour southwest of Bowling Green.

We sketched it out before we came today, said Lee, “so we would have a good idea of what we wanted to do.”

They traveled to the festival “just for fun,” he said.

Olga and Art Meave were watching the Bowling Green High School’s Beats on the Street choir warm up in the Family Tent. The couple, of Bowling Green, have attended the festival since its inception, mostly for the music but sometimes for the food.

“We spend a lot of time at the Main Stage,” Art Meave said.

Olga Meave is the piano accompanist for the high school choir.

Next year’s festival dates are Sept. 5-7.