Judges
Bonnie Blandford
Bonnie Blanford is a 43 veteran of the art fair world. Both as an artist and as a director. She is a jeweler and has traveled the country with her work. She has run 3 different fairs over the last 15 years.
Bonnie says: “Jurying has been a passion since I’m a firm believer in peer jurying and trying to keep the jury system fair for all.”
Now her time is being spent mentoring emerging artists, shopping at art fairs, and serving on the Board of the Guild of Artists and Artisans.
She loves the art fair world and looks forward to doing her part to keep the industry alive and vibrant.
Chris Buonomo
Chris says: “Creation is at the center of my being.” – This is certainly true.
After graduating University of the Arts with a BFA in Sculpture, Chris Buonomo moved to Prague, Czech Republic to apprentice with a master stone carver. He spent three years working by his side every day and eventually started to create architectural and sculptural carvings in the city. The stone carvers in the Prague Guild believe that Chris is the only American who has created stone carvings for buildings in Prague. He also has sculptures in private collections around the Czech Republic.
Painting is also an integral medium in his work as an artist. Having so many different avenues to express creativity has helped Chris to constantly grow as an artist.
In addition to his work as an artist that works in multiple mediums Chris is currently the Managing Director for the Rittenhouse Square Fine Art Association. This juried Fine Arts show just celebrated its 97th year and is the oldest outdoor art festival in the country. Chris currently has work in private collections and has exhibited in many different galleries throughout the United States.
Michael Bryant
Michael Bryant started participating in art fairs more than 30 years ago. His current work is photography based and is created with a plastic toy camera called a Holga. He prints his work on copper leaf and makes his own frames because he doesn’t want to give his money to “Big Picture Frame” and thinks that getting enough sleep is overrated. Sometimes, he wonders why he doesn’t succumb to the siren call of digital cameras, but then he gets a whiff of the intoxicating smell of photo chemical’s and he knows. He really knows.
Steve Oliver
Steve has been creating art almost his entire life and has, for the past 30 years, exhibited his wildlife art in wildlife art shows throughout the country. His creative process is rather simple. To start, he travels to places to observe and learn about birds and mammals living in their natural habitat. This is so he can learn more about these animals and to better understand where and how they live. Then, using these experiences, he develops a composition to honor an animal in a painting or drawing and to create it in a way distinctively his. Most of his work is done using acrylic paint, with an occasional piece using colored pencils or pen and ink. Steve is equally comfortable doing his artwork on illustration boards, stretched canvases or on Masonite panels.
In addition to receiving numerous awards and recognition for his animal art, he has taken part in many regional, national, and international wildlife art shows. He also has over 100 limited-edition prints featuring his work and he is a longtime member of the prestigious, international organization, the Society of Animal Artists.
Also, since 1994, Steve has been part of the staff organizing the Rittenhouse Square Fine Arts Shows in Philadelphia and was the Executive Director from 2005 until 2022.
Maureen Riley
Maureen “Mo” Riley is happily retired after serving 14 years as the Executive director of the Ann Arbor Street Art Fair, the Original.
A Forty-year industry veteran, she received a BFA from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee and later did post-graduate work toward an MBA at Wayne State University in Detroit. Her early career was spent as a Production Stage Manager for the theater and ballet, until an unexpected turn opened the door to concert and festival management. After several years she made the transition from music to art festivals. Prior to the Ann Arbor Art Fair, Ms. Riley was the Director of the Detroit Festival of the Arts.
Ms. Riley continues to reside in Ann Arbor, Michigan with her husband and her dog.