Art Talk

North Mississippi has been waiting, and it is now time for the 6th Annual Water Valley Art Crawl which is scheduled Saturday, September 20 from 5:30 to 9 p.m. This free, family friendly arts extravaganza is a popular fall event that brings hundreds of people to Main Street and surrounding areas to see good art, hear good music and be inspired.
And you will be inspired as the line-up of participating artists is extensive. There will be 15 stops on the crawl, with all being within a half-mile radius including all three art galleries. I suggest making Main Street your first stop as you can get your maps at either Bozarts Gallery or Yalo Studio.  
At Bozarts, you will see the opening of their newest show, Made in Mississippi, featuring works by Nicole Gladden, Jeff Long and Hanne Gaycken. Gladden specializes in mixed media paintings and Gaycken works primarily in clay. Long creates handmade furniture out of beautiful wood he gathers from his property. Works by all alliance artists will be on display in the mirror gallery including work by featured artist, Carol Smith.
Across the street at J. Clayton’s you can see jewelry by Natalie Rodgers,  blacksmithing work by Jonathan Smith, acrylic paintings by Linda Potts and photography by Jim Hendrix,  whose work will be on the next cover of Experience Oxford.
While on this busy street make your way over to 200 S. Main to visit Tim and Cortney Warren. This is the first year for them to open their home, which has been in their family for four generations, on the crawl.                     Cortney’s cousin, Melissa Parsons Vincent, will be showing her mobile art. She does incredible photographic arts on her iPhone – art that has to be seen to be believed. Playing music on their front porch will be Jesse McCraw, who is from Laurel. She is currently attending grad school at Ole Miss and will be entertaining visitors with her musical talents.
Once you finish with Main Street, there is plenty left to see with over 40 artists showing at the various stops. My best advice is to try and see as many as you can as there is always something interesting to see at each location.         
To add to the festivities several musicians will play during the evening at various spots including Susan-nah Furr, Steve Thompson, Grant Thompson and Jacob King. After your feet are tired out, make your way back over to Main Street where the After Party will be held at 111 N. Main St.  Playing at this party at D and D House of Bar-b-que will be the Zediker Brothers along with Mikey Namorato beginning at 9:30 p.m.
As this is a walking event, plan on wearing comfortable shoes and be prepared to be entertained. Residents and artists pull out all of the stops for this annual event making sure everyone has something memorable to talk about afterwards. Have fun and enjoy all that the Valley has to offer this weekend!