Local artists showcase talents at festival

In booth 55, just beyond the reflecting pool next to the library, stood Sarinda Jones, a glass artist.

Jones makes sushi sets, window art and pieces of sculpture at her studio, Reflective Art Studio. She is also a newcomer to the Utah Arts Festival.

"This is my first year at the Arts Festival, and I'm actually an invited artist, which is a huge opportunity," she said Thursday.

The festival, which runs until Sunday, offers food, art and fashion. Visual artists set up in white tents and sell their wares. This year, 130 artists are selling items that include colored leather shoes, oil paintings and magnetic tile bugs.

Salt Lake-based painter Tom Mulder, who earns most of his income selling at festivals, can't imagine doing anything else. "I don't know what else I would want to do. I just have to paint," he said.

Jones, in an interview Wednesday at her studio on the corner of 300 East and 1700 South, said she started working with glass about four years ago, but she's been dabbling in art her entire life. Glass was just the medium that stuck.

"I started collecting marbles of all things, and I've always been fascinated with glass," she said.

In 2003, she studied a the Pilchuck Glass School in Stanwood, Wash. The course was short and focused.

"It's an intensive four-week program where you go up, and all you do is glass," Jones said.

Her work involves technology as well as art, she said. "You have to know firing schedules and the way that the glass is going to react to heat and how it spreads out in the kiln."

Jones was invited to the festival about five months ago and since then she has been busy preparing.

"It's been a mad rush," she said, "With the firing process, I can do only one sushi set at a time. It's about a week's worth of work to get one sushi set done."

On Thursday, the first day of the festival, Jones stood in her booth, which was decorated to resemble her studio. The rug on the ground inside the booth had an Asian design and was bright green, just like the walls of her studio.

Another invited artist at the festival, Anne Munoz, said the environment is fun because of the people.

"I really like talking to the other artists and talking to the people," Munoz said.

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E-mail: blusk@desnews.com