SHAWNEE, Okla. ( KFOR ) — There are more than 200 contributing artists who take up the brush at Shawnee’s Community Art Gallery.
We found Sonya Spears on a Friday morning working on a painting of the Pott. County Kayak Club’s new dock at Twin Lakes.
GREAT STATE: This Stonewall, OK carver is very busy every October “They take special needs kids out to the lake and teach them how to kayak,” she informs us.
If a picture tells a story then visitors to this space have a lot to choose from.
Lions, tigers and bears are all present.
Painting subjects inside this Shawnee Mall storefront includes more animals, sunsets, flowers, and this time of year, darker themes too.
Hanging on these walls leading up to Halloween — ghosts playing flutes, moody portraits, and monsters on the loose.
A few of these paintings come from the imaginations of artist, Scott Baird, one of the original 12 artists who began this collective less that five years ago.
“It just kind of fell out of the sky and hit us,” he says about the mall’s offer of old retail space.
When the City of Shawnee decided to pull back on plans for their big Halloween Parade, he and his staff turned their paint brushes around and got to work.
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“When you pick up a brush,” Baird explains, “turn it around and it’s a magic wand. You can do anything with it.”
They only had a few weeks to get things blocked out.
Frankly, the scariest part of their Spirits and Spells Halloween Festival, was what it didn’t look like the day before the event was supposed to start.
“Eh,” Baird smiles, “It’s a little bit of work. Give me a box of Legos and I can build you boat.”
Artists create worlds with oils, water colors, and acrylics.
Baird builds a medieval fair every year so he knew he could do the job.
“I’m an event coordinator,” he insists. “That’s what I do.”
A brush in some hands is a wand, but in the right hands, it can perform other miracles too.
“You’re brush could also be a conductor’s baton,” we offer.
“Yup,” Baird agrees. “I’m a conductor in a symphony of color.”
The Spirits and Spells Festival behind the Shawnee Mall runs Saturday, October 19, from 10 a.m. until 8 p.m. and again on Sunday, October 20 , from 10 a.m. until 6 p.m.
For more information go to the Visit Shawnee Facebook page here .
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