Fields Project art festival Sunday in new location

The Fields Project brings artists together from all over the U.S. and sometimes other countries to paint, photograph, and sculpt the beauty and surroundings of Ogle County, while they stay with local farm families for 9 days.

This year, 12 artists will display their works at the culmination of the project, an annual art festival from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Sunday at a new location, Oregon Park West on 14th Street.

It has been held in Mix Park, but Park West has more parking and recreational facilities for the whole family, including hiking and nature trails, a skate park and a children’s splash pad.

There also will be art from regional artists for show and sale, food vendors and entertainment by the Sauk Valley Community College Drama Department.

The art festival also features entries in the annual Community Art Legacy sculpture contest. Each year, sculptors submit models of sculptures for the theme of the Fields Project, “bringing art and agriculture together.”

The winning sculptor receives $2,000 and the life-size statue is molded, cast in bronze and added to the Oregon Sculpture Trail. The purpose of CAL is to add 10 sculptures in 10 years to the trail; this is the ninth.

There will be guided bus tours to view all works on the sculpture trail, as well as the Black Hawk statue overlooking the Rock River in Lowden State Park. The tour will leave Oregon Park West at 1 and 3 p.m. Tickets are $15.

In addition, the Oregon Public Library Art Gallery, 300 Jefferson St., will be open from noon to 4 p.m. for a special showing of paintings and sculptures from the original Eagles Nest Art Colony, founded by sculptor Lorado Taft, creator of the Black Hawk statue.

Go to fieldsproject.com for a map and more information.