Thunderbird Artists return to Carefree next weekend
By Curtis Riggs | January 7, 2009
Violinist Arvel Bird to perform
CAREFREE – Contemporary painter Krista Sheldon and Native American musician Arvel Bird will headline the 16th-annual Carefree Fine Art & Wine Festival the weekend of Jan. 16 through 18, in downtown Carefree.
National art magazines rate the art and wine festival, which is a Thunderbird Artists event, the number one arts and crafts festival in the Southwest.
Sheldon and 165 other nationally recognized artists will display their work in booths at the festival, which will be held along Easy Street and Ho Hum Road, from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. daily. Admission to the festival for the general public is $3. The festival is free to Carefree residents.
Sheldon’s career started in the textile industry, but after ten years she decided she was ready to explore new avenues in art and began to paint. She uses acrylic and oil-based paints and also does watercolors. Her pieces often incorporate multiple layering of different media, which create depth and dimension unique to her work. She also uses special techniques to accomplish an aged-by-time effect. Her piece “Persimmons” is the 2009
Thunderbird Artists Carefree limited edition print.
Bird, an internationally recognized violinist who is known as the “Lord of the Strings” grew up in Utah and Arizona and studied music at Arizona State University. He has released ten CDs and has been nominated for both the Native American Music Awards and Indian Summer Music Awards.
The Carefree festival is Arizona’s largest wine tasting event. The AZ Wine Company, A International Wines, Kokopelli and Page Springs Cellars wineries will participate in the festival.
For more information on Thunderbird Artists Festivals visit www.ThunderbirdArtists.com.
Courtesy Photo: Arvel Bird, an internationally known violinist, will be the feature entertainment at this month’s Carefree Fine Art & Wine Festival.
