The Kayenta Arts Festival took place this week with diverse artists gathering to present their work.
UPR reporter Chris Holmes spoke with Gayle Bray, spokesperson for the Kayenta Arts Foundation, as she discussed how the 14 years of the festival have created many opportunities for the independent artists of southern Utah.
“We’ve had this Coyote Gulch Arch Village, we’ve had different productions put together, we’ve had art in Kayenta, the Kayenta Arts Foundation has started, the Kayenta Center for the Arts is ground-breaking and building," said Bray. "If you really take a step back and look at the totality of all those art events going on here, it’s been wonderful."
In the Kayenta Arts Foundation, independent and diverse artists find a place to express themselves.
“It’s really about a celebration of diversity," said Bray. "So, I guess you could look at the key words as far as independent artistic expression as well as diversity and now we’re going to have a center of the arts to show for that."
One of the most popular events at the festival is the quick draw competition, which this year featured 16 artists.
"The artists are under the gun that they have to sit and create something original and beautiful in 90 minutes; that’s just mind boggling to me, but they do it and they do it really well," said Bray. "The crowd cheers them on and then the artists sit back and nervously wait as their piece gets auctioned off and it’s all to support the Kayenta Arts Foundation.”
The festival began Oct. 11 and ran through Oct. 13 in the village of Kayenta in Ivins, Utah.