Watch now: Inaugural Kingsport Arts Festival draws estimated 2,000 downtown

KINGSPORT — Where can you find Japanese-style raku pottery firing and circus-style jugglers, mural making, traditional pottery, weaving, woodworking, glass blowing and iron pours within walking distance?Saturday these things, plus kids crafts, vendors and Inventor Center activities, were part of the inaugural Kingsport Arts Festival mainly on Shelby Street between its intersection with Main and Market streets. However, some things took participants throughout downtown.Along Shelby Street, jugglers Craig Lewis of Johnson City and Keith Campbell of Asheville entertained people, occasionally having issues with the wind. Lewis owns and operated the Night Owl Circus Arts in Johnson City.Mayor Pat Shull attended the event after going to the Riverview Community Cleanup and said the arts event is a prime example of free educational and entertaining things to do in Kingsport.EVENT TO BECOME ANNUALKristie Leonard of the Kingpsort Cultural Arts Office and Linore Huss from Engage Kingsport and the Inventors Center said the plan is to make the event an annual one downtown. It is a collaborative effort of the arts office, Engage Kingsport and the Inventor Center, participants in the Tennessee Arts Commission.Leonard estimated about 2,000 people attended throughout the day, which started with sprinkles of rain in the morning but then turned partly cloudy and by 1:30 p.m. had turned sunny.The modern raku firing Americanizes a Japanese method. Pottery is heated and then put into metal trash cans with shredded paper, which treats carbon line designs in the glaze to make the decorative, but not food-safe, pottery, Leonard explained.It was demonstrated for the public by employees of a business named The Clay Gurus, formerly Brixey Arts Studios and operated by Kip Brixey on Shelby Street. Brixey said the pottery in the trash cans reaches a temperature of 1,800 degrees Fahrenheit during the raku process.Across the street, in front of the Inventor Center, the glass blowing demonstrations entertained the crowd, while next to that the iron pour demonstration made more creations a little later in the day.Other activities included a musical instrument "petting zoo," painting and chalk drawing events for children and creation of an Earth Day Mural from bottle caps at 246 Broad St. and Court Appointed Special Advocates mural at the CASA building at 310 Shelby St.A Sculpture Walk and Art Crawl throughout downtown also were promoted by the event.In the Tennessee Craft booths, artisans from throughout the Tri-Cities did pottery, woodworking and jewelry. Dwight Hobbs from Harmony, near Jonesborough and member of the group, said the demonstrations proved popular.Mary Mullins of Gate City, a four-year potter, drew a steady stream of children and some adults as she created clay items on her potters wheel later to be fired.CASA MURALAcross Center Street to the east but still on Shelby Street, muralist Leigh Ann Agee of Bristol and assistant Debbie Bell of Kingsport were working on the mural on the back of the CASA building, along with CASA Executive Director Shannon Kern and CASA board member Jo Zimmerman."We thought it would be a great place for a mural," Zimmerman said of a design made to let the community known what CASA does for abused and neglected children in the legal system.She said the mural, eventually to include the words "Every child deserves a chance," will be the first in Kingsport to include a QR code that will take people to the CASA website.She also thanked Sunbelt Rentals for donating a lift and Sherwin-Williams for donated paint. A private grant paid for the rest of the projects, meaning none of the money donated or given for CASA operations went toward the mural.Kern, Zimmerman and the muralist said the project, which started earlier in the week, should be done in a couple of weeks depending on the weather. Rainy weather Friday meant no work on the project that day, they said.