Creative artists show their talents at Grant County Fair

MOSES LAKE — At the Grant County Fair, almost anything can be art. 

“We have things from Legos where they have, they build them from a kit, or they build from their own design, so free build. "We've got different photography for youth, juniors, adults, seniors,” said Arts and Crafts Superintendent Lanita Pomeroy. “We have things where you use ordinary items, and you then create them into an art project.” 

That’s called upcycle, Pomeroy said, and it can encompass the oddest of sources. 

“An example would be you take a CD, and you make a drawing on it, and that's your upcycle,” she said. “Another one did a deck of cards and created it into something else. We have kids that get stuff from the dollar store and they make projects. Others, they make pottery, jewelry, greeting cards.” 

The more conventional arts were on display as well. Photography, painting and drawing in various media all had their place on the walls and pegboard displays.  

“(I especially like) the goats,” said Royalanne Hector, who was touring the exhibits with her family, pointing to a photo high on the wall. “I think it’s the whiteness of his teeth.” 

Hector is a photographer herself, she said, although she didn’t have anything entered this year. 

An awful lot of other folks did, though. 

“I think we had something like 1,700 preregistered entries,” Pomeroy said. “Not all of them came in, but then we had more that came in on Saturday that weren't preregistered.” 

Pomeroy has entered some photography herself in the past, she said. Her daughters went in for drawing and painting, and her grandchildren did Legos. 

“I love to see the adults do things,” she said, “But what inspires me most is the kids who want to try to do things, and if they do it from year to year you’ll see how they were in early elementary and as they grow up, how they improve, the creativity, the things they come up with.” 

    The paintings at the Grant County Fair were varied: acrylics, oils, and watercolors. The most important requirement was that the artist had to like it enough to share it with the whole county.
  

    From left: Royalanne Hector, 12-year-old Jillian Hector, Braydon Hector and 9-year-old Lila Hector check out photographs in the Arts & Crafts Building at the Grant Count Fair Wednesday.
  

    The upcycle category at the Grant County Fair’s Arts & Crafts Building was for art pieces made from ordinary things.