oil paintings

Third Annual Riverwalk Market Fair Opens June 2, 2012

Northfield’s Riverwalk Market Fair kicks off the 2012 season on Saturday, June 2 from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m.  Located on Bridge Square in the heart of historic Northfield, this one-of-a-kind open-air market runs every Saturday from June through October. Each Saturday features a different combination of organic and sustainably grown produce from local farmers, artisan foods including breakfast pastries and desserts, seasonal flowers and a juried selection of the region’s top artists including ceramics, watercolors, oil, acrylic and mixed media paintings, prints, photography, glasswork, textiles, wearable art, garden sculpture and hand-crafted jewelry.  The Saturday Market features live musical entertainment by local performers as well as family-friendly activities and special events.

This year, in keeping with its mission to provide a marketing venue for Northfield’s array of fine artists, food artisans, organic farmers and producers, Riverwalk Market Fair is showcasing emerging artists in their own tent, as well as young entrepreneur agriculturists, food artisans and chefs in the new Youth Tent.

Now in its third year of operation, Riverwalk Market Fair has become a favorite Saturday meeting place where neighbors and friends gather over a cup of coffee and a pastry, buy freshly picked produce and see what local artists have to offer.  The fair has become a popular weekend destination for a growing number of visitors from the Twin Cities, Rochester, Lakeville, Fairbault, Owatonna, Albert Lea, Red Wing, the five-State area and beyond.  Last year Riverwalk Market Fair drew an estimated 20,000 visitors, nearly double the number in 2010.

After October 27 the fair moves indoors and continues through December. Check the new Riverwalk Market Fair website, http://www.RiverwalkMarketFair.org each week to get the upcoming Saturday’s schedule of events. The list of vendors who will be there, as well stories and profiles of the artists and farmers featured each week. Check out Facebook and Twitter to find out what visitors are saying and discover what’s happening behind the scenes.

Amanda Casey – Caseys Canvas

I’m a self taught artist that loves to experiment with different media, but the majority of my work consists of oil on canvas.  I’m fairly new to Minnesota (moved here in January of 2011) but have sold/commissioned my art to two or three different restaurants and business in the Minneapolis area in addition to selling to the general public at art fairs and through my website. I have the greatest job in the world!  I love what I do!

www.caseyscanvas.com

– Amanda Casey

Alexandra Betzler

Alexandra Betzler is a painter who works both in acrylic and oils.  As a Northfield native, she learned to paint in acrylic under Katherine Norrie and participated in the Honors Art Program before graduating from NHS in 2005. At Macalester College, she studied oils and used the front porch of her rental house as a studio.

She sees her work as a form of meditation and hopes to give the viewer a peaceful impression of the world. She is also a book junky and collects old picture books from thrift stores. Many of her paintings are inspired by the pictures in these books of places and people from a different time or place.

This is her first summer participating in Riverwalk Market Fair, and she couldn’t be happier with the experience. She loves connecting with her hometown community and meeting new people.

Marsha Kitchel

I began my small business, MKMK Studios, in 2010, one year after a job loss, and after a lifetime of painting as a hobby.

Painting mainly oils on canvas or Masonite, I love to capture the southeastern Minnesota landscape. I also love to paint people and animals, and portraits have become a larger focus of my business. Exhibiting paintings of my family members has increased portrait commissions! People especially like the portraits of ancestors I create from old black and white photos.

I occasionally pick up my pastels and grab Wallis paper to create paintings in a different medium. Switching between oil and pastel (and, occasionally, watercolor) freshens your viewpoint and keeps things from becoming stale. I sometimes use a palette knife instead of brushes, which lessens control and creates a more painterly outcome. My particular ambidextrous condition allows me to use brushes in my left hand, and palette knives in my right, so painting exercises both sides of my brain and keeps me on my toes!

- Marsha Kolstad Morrill Kitchel