By YooJin SHEEN, intern

The Montrose-Verdugo City Chamber of Commerce hosted its quarterly Art Walk event from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Saturday, July 19 at the Montrose Shopping Park. The event took place along the 2300 and 2400 blocks of Honolulu Avenue and included booths that housed various artists who displayed and demonstrated their art. Over 1,500 pieces, including paintings, jewelry, pottery and woodworking, were on display by more than 20 artists from the foothills area and neighboring cities.

Trish Kertes from La Cañada was one of the artists at the Art Walk. She has been painting for 32 years, primarily in oils and watercolors. She credits traveling for providing inspiration for the scenes she portrays in her paintings.

“I was at Morro Bay recently and I wanted to capture the great view there through painting the scene,” she said. “I have also gotten inspiration from sceneries like the blooming flower fields and waterscapes. I like to express the mood through painting such scenes with oil.”

Kertes has participated in the Art Walk for many years and sold four paintings at the recent Art Walk event. She said that she felt that the event not only provided a chance for artists to connect with the community, but also offered an opportunity for the community to meet new people who share similar interests.

Jeneanne Iacono was another local painter who took part in the Art Walk. She paints primarily in watercolor and prefers that medium to oil.

“I have been painting since 2011, which is not a very long time. My father is a painter, and it must run in the blood to have motivated me to paint,” Iacono explained.

Though her painting career may not be as long as some of the other participants, her waterscapes and paintings of pets drew a lot of attention.

“I like to experiment with a variety of art themes. Unlike some of the other artists who like to specialize in one area of the arts, such as landscapes, I tend to enjoy painting and consider myself as being quite versatile when it comes to art,” Iacono said.

This was Iacono’s second time participating in the event and she said she  hoped the community would continue to support the quarterly Art Walks.

“It would be amazing if the community knew more about events of this sort and if more people participated in the Art Walk,” she said.

Jim McGuire, another artist at the event, was carving wood with a scroll saw. Many people surrounded McGuire as he demonstrated how to create  intricate works of art from blocks of wood.

Though each piece had a different design, all shared a intricacy and sophistication that reflected the artist’s talent.

“Some simple pieces require only a few minutes or hours, whereas some require hundreds of cuts and may take a couple of days to complete,” McGuire explained.

He also takes part in competitions, including one at the Orange County fair where he won first place with his carving of the Los Angeles Red Car.

“I have always enjoyed doing things and building things with my hands,”  McGuire said. “I have been doing [wood carving] for 36 years now.”

Art Walk is held in May, July, September, and November. For more information, contact Anna Yagodzinski at (818) 248-1093. Applications for next season’s Art Walk can be found at http://montrosechamber.org/art-walk/.

  YooJin SHEEN