Batavia art festival is family affair

The 2008 Art in your Eye Festival at Batavia's Riverfront offers the usual great attractions: the work of 75 artists from across the U.S., a variety of art forms, special exhibits, children's hands-on activities, live music and a puppet theater.

This year the event also features something new: the student legacy project exhibit.

Chelsea Kraft, 17, a senior at Batavia High School, not only joined other students with her two exhibited works, but contributed to a family art tradition.

Her grandmother, Vie Kraft of Batavia, was exhibiting "Brown Jug," a still-life oil on canvas as part of the city hall art exhibit. Her brother, Joe, was exhibiting pottery.

Chelsea never took lessons from her grandmother but she considers her an inspiration. The art supplies and easels were always part of her grandmother's home.

"I always wanted to carry on the tradition," Chelsea said.

"I'm very proud of my grandchildren," Vie said. "Chelsea was into art as soon as she could hold a pencil or a Crayon."

Chelsea contributed "Dog in Focus," a close-up photograph of a wide-eyed spaniel named Duke, and an untitled watercolor on wood which depicts a tree with an extensive root system.

"We students all have a theme and mine is wasteful greed," Chelsea said. "My watercolor is about deforestation, which really moves me. I wanted to show the beauty of trees. They grow for hundreds of years and we can't just cut them down. We can't completely stop deforestation but we should be conscious of it and try to preserve what we have left."

Chelsea is one of seven students whose works are part of the new exhibit. They others are Phil Bakala and Joe Fuja of Marmion Academy in Aurora, Lauren Cofer of Batavia High School, Eddie Gayton of East Aurora High School, and Nora Leavy and Kathy McNally of Rosary High School in Aurora.

"We wanted to recognize very talented students in the area," said Lisa Dzuricsko, coordinator of the student project and art instructor at Marmion Academy. "And we wanted to put them in with practicing artists. High school students do it for themselves, their work is very honest. And if the subject is a littler edgy, that's OK."

The festival runs from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. today around the Batavia Riverwalk and inside city hall near Houston Street and Island Avenue, and at the Depot Museum, 155 Houston St.