Riverside Arts Market

I decided to go to the Riverside Arts Market (RAM) yesterday. It's a market that is held every Saturday in Jacksonville, FL from April through December. I love a good art fair and I'm hoping that this one, in its first year, will continue to thrive.

As soon as I got to the market, I was SO pleased to see so many people there. The last time I went, it was the 4th of July weekend and the turn out wasn't the best. Today was a totally different scene. All of the vendor rows were full and people were buying and eating and enjoying the day.

Do you see the structure overhead? That's a bridge/overpass for the 6 lane expressway, called the Fuller-Warren bridge. I learned from one of the vendors that when the overpass was designed, this space that the Riverside Arts Market is using, was built into the scheme. The riverside, paved area is wonderful. The roadway above shades this entire area for most of the day and in Jacksonville that's a rare treat.

I met Kelly at Happy Shack Design and was very excited to see her photographs. I loved the box frames that the images were mounted on. She's got some really fabulous photographs of these old rusted cars. I forgot to ask where she found these cars, shoot! I really liked the close up of the DeSoto hood. If you'd like more info on her, she's got a nice website, here, and a blog. You can even find her prints on her Etsy shop. She also makes and sells jewelry, too!

There was something going on the entire time I was at the RAM. The balloon guy had some really cool balloons - they looked like daisies. I meant to get a photo, but I got sidetracked. That happens when there is so much going on and so much good food!

This is Tanzaku art by Lynne Taylor. I loved this. I loved it, I loved it, I loved it! These prints are not on her website as they are a new thing for her, but I'm sure they will be shortly. Her photography is on there though and it's quite lovely. Her photography makes up the Tanzaku above as well.

She has turned the Tanzaku papers into book marks/ gift tags. I did buy three of the tags. I had to! I was so taken by the idea. I would love to have one of the Tanzaku pieces above. I really like the beach grass one on the left hand side.

OK, so you are probably asking...what in the world is Tanzaku? According to the information provided to me by Lynne...

Tanzaku is a narrow, vertical strip of paper - the opposite of a panorama. Tanzaku prints and poems evolved from traditional Japanese architecture, which had few solid walls - often the only place to hang a picture was on the structural pillars. The constraints of these dimensions force haiku-like brevity where each element is carefully and deliberately placed, and light quality is critical. These qualities are found both in the traditional ink and brush paintings and calligraphy poems along with today's photographic compositions. The Tanzaku developed to be a 3" x 14" print presented on a board of fine handmade paper with gold and silver embellishments.

Lynne's Tanzaku Art Prints follow these traditions and presentations.



The Riverside Arts Market is also a farmers market. I brought along my shopping crate on wheels and stocked up on some goodies. I took a photo of the corn, then moved on down to the tomatoes. By the time I was done purchasing my items from the other end of the table, I completely forgot about the corn! It sure does look good, doesn't it?!

I eat so few tomatoes that I asked if I could buy just one instead of a box of five. It smells wonderful. I haven't sliced into it yet, but it's fragrance is a beautiful perfume in the kitchen.

I don't eat avocados, but I was perplexed by the skin on these. They aren't what I normally think of when I visualize what an avocado looks like. I noticed several people with these in their hands, so I'm assuming that they know what they are getting.

I should say... I normally don't eat avocados. I don't hate them by any means, I don't choose to have them...except on a topopo salad from El Azteco.

(Bob - you still haven't sent me the Topopo salad recipe, btw. hint hint)

The pottery booth. Be still my heart. I love pottery. This is the Westside Studio Clayarts booth but they don't have a website, tisk tisk. I encouraged them to do so. I'm sure they will listen to me! I purchased a bowl from this table to give to my husband for his birthday, but I'm not going to point it out just yet...just in case Tom reads this.

This was my last stop of the day at the RAM. I'd spent two hours at the fair, drove to a park I'd never seen before and then took a stroll through Five Points (a block of fun shops.) I hadn't been there since my friend Bob came to visit a year ago February! That's a long time. It was a real good Saturday.

I hope you've had a real good weekend and that you enjoy the holiday tomorrow. I'll be attending a cook out with my transplant support group friends at a local hotel.

Enjoy!
Kristin