AURORA | East Colfax Avenue isn’t the only Aurora corridor brimming with creative juju.
Just a few blocks south of the city’s urban artery, another, more furtive pocket of artistic innovation has acted as a bastion of bohemian originality for Aurora artisans for more than 40 years.
But the artistic offshoot nestled just off of Del Mar Circle has been effective in maintaining a quiet, insular presence.
“We’ve done our best to try and get the word out, and there are struggles with that,” said Eric Crow, a longtime Aurora artist and educator. “Word of mouth and friends of artists are definitely what keep the show going.”
Along with his wife, Crow is one of the chief organizers of the Aurora Fine Arts Festival — one of the oldest and best-kept secrets in the city’s artistic community. Now entering its 42nd year of existence, the annual fundraising show at Parkview Congregational Church on East Parkview Drive features works that range from ink drawings to intricate metal jewelry from more than 70 local artists.
“It’s never been a huge moneymaker,” Crow said. “It’s really all about celebrating the arts community and having people come in and see different works of art.”
With numerous artistic events slated to take place throughout the weekend, the show offers a rare opportunity for regional artists to have their works displayed in a juried, gallery setting. Each of the entrants must be approved by a panel and, if admitted, becomes eligible for first, second and third-place ribbons in several, medium-based categories.
“I love the Parkview show,” said Joan Heinen, a local artist and retired City of Aurora employee who has displayed artwork at the festival for the past several years. “It’s just a worthwhile show and it’s a lot of fun. I like to just go as a spectator, too.”
The show was started more than four decades ago by an enterprising pair of local educators and artists, Neal and Sharon Lininger. Along with Dick Schafer, former art coordinator for Aurora Public Schools, the couple pursued the project in an effort to open more pathways for Aurora artists to display their work.
“Of course, in the 42 years that this has been going on, there are now lot more avenues for artists to exhibit, but at that time, (more space) was needed really badly,” Sharon said.
Neal said that the first incarnation of the festival involved just eight local creatives and that the event mushroomed from there.
“It has really grown a lot,” he said.
Though they’ve remained involved over the years, the Liningers have slowly passed the task of organizing the show off to Crow, who they met through the church.
Crow said that in recent years his goal for each festival has been to recruit a handful of new artists to participate in an attempt to keep the event fresh.
“I’ve been pushing since I started assisting with (the show) to try to get new artists in,” Crow said. “Not necessarily all younger (artists), but diversifying those who have been a part of the show. People want to come to a show and see new things, new mediums and different types of works.”
Retention has never been an issue for the event’s organizers as several participating artists have had work displayed in the festival every year since the gathering began in the 1970s, according to Crow.
“We try to keep those that have done well with us, with us,” he said.
Making good on his commitment to lure new artists to the church in north-central Aurora, Crow helped to book Denver-based singer-songwriter Megan Burtt for a free concert during the festival on Saturday night.
Despite Crow’s ongoing push for new faces and fresh art, the show’s longtime anchors, the Liningers, haven’t strayed far from the tradition they helped build.
“When you get something like this going, it gets in your blood,” Neal said. “So we still have to be there.”
Sharon said the she and her husband plan to attend the bulk of the festival’s happenings this weekend, but that they will leave much of the organization to the event’s crop of new-guard planners like Crow — well, partially.
“We’ll try,” Neal quipped.