See this Milan artist's studio ahead of Ann Arbor Art Fair
MILAN, Mich. (CBS DETROIT) - Kim Rhoney is a painter who draws inspiration from her home surrounded by farmland in Milan.
This will be her 16th year participating in the Ann Arbor Art Fair – an event she first experienced as a teenager.
"Growing up on a farm, we were working people," she said. "I didn't get to go to museums. But my dad was in construction, and he worked in Ann Arbor on campus. He told me about the Art Fair, and he brought me to the Art Fair, and I remember being 16 years old, and he said that I was old enough to stay there by myself and walk around and look, and I said, 'Can I stay here all day?'"
She said she was discouraged from painting when she was younger and only started a full-time art career when she had children of her own.
Due to the toxic nature of solvents and with small kids in the house, she taught herself how to paint without them. She also mixes cold wax into her paints, which allows her to build texture with a scraping knife.
Rhoney paints in her sun-filled living room. At the time of our visit, she had paintings and prints seemingly filling up every room in her home as she prepared for Art Fair.
Whether it's wildflowers picked from her garden or her rooster Syd, she loves to paint what's around her.
"I'm making work about things that I care about and in a way that intrigues me and challenges me and lets me grow," said Rhoney. "And that's why I work. I feel very fortunate to be able to do what I love to do."
The Ann Arbor Art Fair draws nearly half a million people each year and is the largest juried art fair in the nation. Rhoney says it's a critical event for her business.
"As a fine artist, I don't know how I would be able to do what I do without that show," she said. "That show provides easily 25- to sometimes 30-40% of my income for the year, depending on if the weather cooperates."
You can find Kim Rhoney at the Ann Arbor Summer Art Fair near the corner of South University and State at booths SU813 and SU815.
For more information about the event, visit www.theannarborartfair.com.
