Watermark Art Festival returns for its 56th year July 20-21
BEMIDJI — The 56th Watermark Art Festival is set for July 20-21 at Watermark and Library Park.
Running from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Saturday, July 20, and 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Sunday, July 21, the two-day juried fine art and craft fair has been a highly anticipated summer event for thousands of northern Minnesota residents and visitors since 1967.
Madelyn Haasken / Bemidji Pioneer
Vendors sell a wide variety of goods, from hand-crafted wood items, ceramics, apparel, jewelry, photography, metalworking, leatherworking, homemade preserves, soaps, glass art, original paintings, paper art and more.
The festival area includes the Watermark Art Center grounds as well as the historic tree-lined Library Park across the street.
Over 100 artists will be featured alongside Indigenous artist demonstrations, two stages with live music, entertainment, free family art activities, exhibits and food. Watermark Art Center’s galleries and gift shop will also be open for attendees.
Annalise Braught / Bemidji Pioneer
In the family activities area, attendees can make their own metal sculpture, hand-dye silk, get their face painted and watch minnow races.
New to the festival this year is a free community project. Fiber artist and botanist Sarah Nassif, of Minneapolis, will lead festival-goers in a water-weaving workshop that will connect them to the local watershed.
“Sarah is interested in textile art and the connection between the resources, which would be in this case the land, the watershed, the fiber … and how those resources are being supported and used in the process, whether you’re creating clothing or art,” said Watermark Executive Director Lori Forshee-Donnay.
According to Forshee-Donnay, this community experience is “a way for us to have a conversation about those connections and make people think about what a watershed is and where they live, and it also lets people try their hand at some art techniques that are not common.”
Contributed
Participants can spin, fold, bind and dye cloth and fiber to create unique patterns using organic Indigo dye and local water. The fiber arts tent will be open both days of the festival, and attendees can stop by for a few minutes or several hours.
Like a watershed, which encompasses all the streams and rivers that run into a shared body of water, “each of us channels the creativity of our ancestors, life experiences and cultural traditions,” Nassif said in a release.
The many fragments produced during the festival will be woven into a new textile artwork piece that will be displayed at Watermark.
The latest updates to vendor maps and music schedules are available on Watermark’s
website.
There is no fee to attend.
The festival is presented by Watermark Art Center, event sponsor Paul Bunyan Communications and the many local sponsors listed on Watermark’s website.
For more information, visit Watermark’s website at
watermarkcenter.org,
call
(218) 444-7570
or email
Madelyn Haasken / Bemidji Pioneer
Carley Swanson-Garro is the newsroom clerk at the Bemidji Pioneer focusing on events and community news. She is a 2023 graduate of Gustavus Adolphus College with degrees in English and Communication Studies. She enjoys poetry, puzzle books and long walks in nature.
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