One-of-a-kind jewelry, paintings, photography, and ceramics are among the variety of works to delight your senses at the 49th annual Mammoth Lakes Open Air Arts & Crafts Fair July 28-30, 2023. Unplug and enjoy a peaceful, leisurely stroll perusing arts and crafts against the majestic background of the Sierra Nevada Mountains at this free, open-air event.

The free event, which runs from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. each day, takes place on the grounds of Kittredge Sports, at the corner of Highway 203 (Main Street) and Forest Trail in Mammoth Lakes. Visit Mammoth Lakes Open Air Arts and Crafts Fair, shop for handcrafted treasures, get to know the artists and learn the stories behind each piece they make. And on Saturday and Sunday from 11am-3pm, enjoy toe tappin’ music performed by Sandy Anderson Trio while you shop!

Among this year’s participants:

Jewelry

Cathy Enright’s passion for creating jewelry started with a love of semi­precious gemstones, and evolved into a passion for creating contemporary style jewelry using sterling silver, copper, gold and semi­precious gemstones. The abundant natural beauty of her surroundings in California’s Eastern Sierra inspires Cathy’s work. Short walks near her Mammoth Lakes’ home studio and long hikes in the mountains supply her with plentiful ideas for pieces that strive to reflect nature’s beauty and forms. “What surprised me about embarking on this venture is how much joy I get from people buying my jewelry,” says Cathy. “I feel so honored to be a part of the story of a piece of jewelry that is given as a gift, or bought as a gift to yourself…to make you feel good. Because jewelry and gemstones do just that…they make you feel good!”

Photography

Aston Myer Photography is the spousal duo of Tim Aston and Dori Myer. Their photography focuses on the endlessly diverse locales of California, tracking seasonal cycles and exploring backwoods gems. They have lived and traveled up and down the state, currently residing in Mammoth Lakes, a prime location for accessing some of the most celebrated views on the planet. The couple’s goal is to share a unique vision of their beloved home state and also remind locals of the grandeur that is so near at hand to promote conservation and appreciation. As a science educator and a local history preservationist, they seek to understand and share the intricate details of our country’s most prized landscapes and natural phenomena.

Printmaking

Nora Akino was born in Japan to a family of artists. “I have been creating art from a young age and studied drawing and painting in college,” she says. “My work arises from a feeling I often have when encountering a vista of exceptional beauty – a longing to touch what is far away and mysterious, that is perhaps universal.” Nora’s prints are almost always created in a single pass through the press, so the inks are all applied to the plate at once before transferring to paper.  The images are created with brayers, palette knives, paintbrushes and rags using viscosity technique, in which inks of varying viscosities (thick and thin) resist each other on the plate.

Painting

Ehi Obinyan is an energetic and free-spirited artist who has developed mastery for the combined use of watercolor and gouache medium he calls “WaterCombo.” He is a product of the Art School of Painting & General Arts at the famous Federal Polytechnic college in Nigeria where he graduated with distinctions. Saddled with an infectious enthusiasm for life, Ehi is eclectic in his chosen theme and distinct in style. Passion and zeal rule his brushes as he works with gouache, acrylic and oil medium. Many of his works draw their inspiration from a reservoir of deep spiritual influences that stretch from the ancient Kingdom of Benin through to the modern tech world.

For more information, contact Kittredge Sports at (760) 934-7566 or Pacific Fine Arts Festivals at (209) 267-4394 or visit https://www.pacificfinearts.com/. You can also see more information on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Pinterest.