Experience art and nature at Art Along the Trail

Art and the outdoors will converge at a free event along the Columbia Canal next weekend.

Art Along the Trail will showcase the work of around 20 artists Saturday, Oct. 8 on a nearly half-mile stretch of the north end of Riverfront Park.

Artists will show their work and provide interactive art experiences for people walking by.

The event is organized by the Columbia Art Center and park rangers with the City of Columbia Parks & Recreation Department.

“There are many artists that use nature and the outdoors for inspiration. I think it makes a nice combination and exposes folks to more than one thing,” said Brenda Oliver, an art specialist for the Parks & Recreation Department and one of the organizers for the event.

Participants at Art Along the Trail will have the opportunity to collect leaves and make a collage or impressions in clay. Woodworkers will be on hand building birdhouses. The City of Columbia and Sonoco Recycling will make artwork out of recyclable materials. And several artists will have large canvases that the public can paint on. The music collective Ebb:Flow will provide entertainment.

“Normally, I’d show and sell at an art event but decided I wanted to create a community mural,” said participating artist Alicia Leeke. “I’ll have a drawing, and people can paint by numbers, basically.”

Leeke does landscape, cityscape and abstract painting. She said she is inspired by water, especially the Saluda, Congaree and Broad rivers.

Leeke said the north end of Riverfront Park is overlooked, and Art Along the Trail is a great chance to check it out.

“It gets people outside and walking on the trail, and they’re going to be able to see artists who create and are inspired by nature,” she said.

Participating artists

▪ Diane Farace

▪ Tim Graham, Columbia Art Center

▪ Jane Hiller, Sonoco Recycling

▪ Samantha Yager, City of Columbia Solid Waste (Recycling)

▪ Kay Paschal

▪ Alicia Leeke

▪ Valerie Lamott

▪ Sharon Funderburk

▪ Bruce Sorensen

▪ Joan Sorensen

▪ Alice Poyner

▪ Kathy Poyner

▪ Flavia Lovatelli

▪ Annis Rankin

▪ Forester Fortier

▪ Gwen DeBandi

▪ Yvonne DeBandi

▪  Keith Tolen

This story was originally published September 28, 2016 at 10:30 AM with the headline "Experience art and nature at Art Along the Trail."