Throughout the Pandemic, many events have had to be canceled or postponed, and that includes many community art fairs. Like many people, some local artists did the pandemic pivot and created a new style of art fair that is bringing together the artisans in a very different way. It’s called the Back Yard Art Fair and it’s happening this Saturday 11 AM - 6 PM.
Host Jason Carr spoke with3 local artists that are involved in the fair: Kelly Kaatz, Yvonne Spampinato, and Jodi Lynn Burton. Kaatz is one of the co-founders and the owner of Kelly Kaatz Ceramics. Spampinato is another co-founder and is the artist behind KEPT Jewelry. Jodi Lynn Burton made a lot of the promotional material for the fair and is the owner of Jodi Lynn’s Emporium of Doodles.
Kaatz has been working on the project since the beginning with Carrey Gustafson, another local artist. When several of the art fairs were canceled last summer they came up with a COVID-safe way to still host them. Instead of cramming all the artists into a couple of streets, it would instead be set up like a community-wide garage sale, where people set up stands in their backyards, hence the name. The area where the stands will be set up includes Ferndale, Oak Park, Royal Oak, and the surrounding communities.
They hosted the event last year and got such a good response that they more than doubled the number of artists involved this year. Below is a map and a list of the artists involved. For more information, visit their website with the same name, “Back Yard Art Fair.”