Here's your first look at the 2024 Ann Arbor Art Fair
ANN ARBOR, Mich. (CBS DETROIT) - Ann Arbor Art Fair organizers held a preview event for community members on Monday.
The event is the largest juried art fair in the country. Its footprint takes over the city for three days each July.
"We are three fairs, one event, and what that means is that we meet every single week, and we have joint leads and joint things that we do together in order to make it a seamless event for the community," said Angela Heflin, executive director of the State Street Art Fair.
The event consists of the Ann Arbor Summer Art Fair, the Ann Arbor Street Art Fair, The Original and the State Street Art Fair.
From Thursday through Saturday, nearly half a million people come to see the work of roughly 1,000 artists from around the country.
Three local artists were at the Art Fair preview event on Monday, including Erin O'Connor.
"I make glass mosaics," she said. "I hand cut each piece of glass, then I grind it, and then I glue it and grout it with a charcoal-colored grout."
"I create different painted pieces using slabs of clay," said artist Stassia Fulmer. "And I'll hand-illustrate each one, where I'll then carve the design, usually pulling from a lot of local flora and fauna."
Fulmer said her favorite thing about the Ann Arbor Art Fair is its sheer size and breadth of art to see.
"It's so big in Ann Arbor; it's so open and embracing of art and different kinds of art," she said. "And so, it's such a great conglomeration of new artists and artists who have been doing this for decades, all in one space for three whole days."
This year's fair will take place July 18-20.