“We’re excited to have a new medium,” said Gail Stewart, downtown manager. “Her artwork is an example of the kinds of one-of-a-kind handmade artworks that we encourage and makes our festival.”
Keyes, who was born in China, learned as a young child from her mother and sisters to create pictures with 100% silk embroidery. The thread is a silk floss, Keyes said.
“I want to promote this art because it has thousands of years of history,” she said.
Keyes achieves the high sheen to her subjects — like birds, flowers and landscapes — by splitting the floss thread into many tiny pieces, she said.
“That’s what makes it look like fine painting,” Keyes said. “People have to look very close to see that it’s not a painting.”
Along with art vendors, there will be a pottery wheel and chalk-painting demonstration, Stewart said. Three chalk painters will create works right on the street.
“I think the public is amazed to see a work in progress,” Stewart said. “These guys are great. They just draw the subjects and blend the colors. The public can stop and watch them for a while, go see other artists in the festival and come back and watch the work in progress.”
The chalk paintings will be 10-by-10-foot sections on the street, and chalk artists use every inch of that space to create intricate, realistic designs, said Robin Faulk, marketing consultant for Downtown Burbank.
“They often will create 3D illusions that will pop up at you, or draw what looks like a real hole on the ground,” Faulk said.
While people are strolling along, they will also be able to listen to the Robert Incelli Trio playing Latin jazz, bolero and salsa music. The is the fourth time Incelli is performing at the Burbank Fine Arts Festival, he said.
