Area artists participate in Paint out in the Park Aug. 8 at the top of the hill at Ford Field during Dearborn’s Homecoming Festival.
By SUE SUCHYTA
Times-Herald Newspapers
DEARBORN – Under sunny skies, five dozen artists filled the top of the hill at Homecoming with colorful creations during the annual Paint Out in the Park competition.
Artist and event staff member Sasha Corder said this is the 12th Paint Out in the Park event and the biggest year yet, with 60 artists participating.
“Everyone forgets it is a competition,” she said. “Everyone just spends all three days making friends, meeting new people, networking, exchanging styles and techniques and products, and how to push people’s art even further.”
Corder said it’s inspiring to see everyone come together for Paint Out in the Park.
“I think the consistency of us being here in the arts district is we get a lot more interaction now with the festival goers, where they will actually come seek us out every year now,” she said. “It’s not like a happy accident, ‘I just stumbled on some really cool art,’ it’s like ‘I’m going to the Homecoming Festival to go see the art.’”
Corder said they have 20 emerging artists who are under 21, and of those, six are Pockets of Perception mural team alumni and two worked on the mural at the Dearborn Historical Museum this summer.
She said they have a small-scale mural done by a featured artist, along with a community mural to which all may contribute.
Dearborn Community Fund Executive Director EmmaJean Woodyard said it is inspirational to see what the artists come up with in terms of their designs and ideas.
“Everybody is so different,” she said. “That, to me, is the exciting part.”
Team member Johanna Seidel said Paint Out in the Park has had a great turnout in terms of artists this year.
“I have my fingers crossed for no rain,” she said.
Participant Sofia Peterwas, who was working on the community mural, said it is fun when people stop by, and they encourage them to get involved.
“It’s kind of nice to see the kids smile, knowing that they helped with the mural, and when we tell them they can see it in the gallery when it’s all done, they get excited about that,” she said.
Artist Jonathan “Seymor” Sandberg, who was participating for his fifth year in Paint Out in the Park, said he likes to paint trees, which he said are a metaphor for neurons and state of mind, or the collective unconscious.
He said he enjoys spending time with other artists as well.
“It’s a great excuse to see a bunch of friends,” Sandberg said. “We are all kind of workaholics, so we get to see each other while we’re working, so it’s a great experience.”
Artist Matt Thornton said it’s also his fifth year doing Paint Out in the Park.
He said he enjoys painting fun cartoon characters, a theme he was pursuing this year at