By Matt Clevenger
For Miami Valley Today
TIPP CITY — Artists from around the Miami Valley gathered at Zion Lutheran Church on Saturday, Feb. 1, offering their works for sale during the annual Art Affair event sponsored by the Tipp City Arts Council.
“We have Piqua, Sidney, Greenville, Springfield, New Carlisle, Troy and Dayton,” said festival organizer Mojgen, who is also a glass fusion artist and member of the Tipp City Arts Council. “It is a Miami Valley-wide area.”
The Art Affair featured artists working in a wide variety of mediums, ranging from drawings, paintings and sculpture to woodwork and leather work. “We try to include different medias,” Mojgen said. “It’s basically all different; fiber, metal, paintings, different kinds of glass, pottery and concrete.”
“Today we have 28 vendors,” she said. “We call it quality local artists, and we take great care to make sure that is a good environment for them to sell.”
The event also featured live music, performed by the Troy-based group Vaughn and Jerry Live, as well as catered food.
“There’s music and we have Paul’s Pork, which is catering, so we have wonderful food,” Mojgen said.
“Last year we had 375 people,” she said, “so we’re hoping we get at least that many this year.”
The Art Affair event started out approximately 10 years ago, and has been held at Zion Lutheran Church every year since.
“I think this is about the tenth year,” Tipp City Arts Council Media Coordinator Lynn Shirk said. “When we started out it was called Art for the Heart, and it was always the weekend before Valentine’s Day. We changed the name last year to an Art Affair.”
The event is sponsored by the Tipp City Arts Council.
“We do all of that,” Mojgen said. “All of the proceeds from the booth fees go to the Tipp City Arts Council, to be used for scholarships, children’s programs, and we have a music festival. The money that gets gathered here, it goes back into the community, and everybody else in our organization, they’re just doing it as volunteers.”
