Art on Wabash "functional"

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. (WLFI) - Dozens of local artists put their skills up for show at the annual Art on the Wabash.

The sporadic showers throughout the day were not enough to put a damper on this year's Art on the Wabash.

Despite the lack of a downpour, artist Becky Brody still carefully moved her paintings under her tent.

"It's watercolor. When it rains, it runs," said Brody.

Brody has been painting professionally for about six years. You can catch most of her work at Main Street Cheese and Wine in Lafayette, but for now she's hoping pieces, like the ones on her handmade, tinted, watercolor paper get sold.

"I like some of my friends because they live in Battle Ground and they're my friends. But I also like what they do as artists," said volunteer and shopper Becky Dunker, a Battle Ground resident.

While hometown allegiance may have been what brought Dunker to Art on the Wabash, as we followed her from booth to booth, we learned just what she appreciated the most.

"I like this piece a lot. I think this is just a beautiful.  She's doing some functional stuff. You can use this for a few things. I mean you can probably serve some food in it, just do a collection of pebbles and shells or something like that if you wanted to," said Dunker.

Dunker said she likes ceramics too. So, she made another stop at artist Scott Frankenberger's tent.

"I have my coffee in his mugs in the morning," Dunker said.

Frankenberger may know a thing or two about drinking coffee because he wasn't always a sculptor.  He was a high school teacher for 35 years. After getting a masters in ceramics, he let his three-dimentional work do the teaching.

"Some of the pieces start to speak to each other. I'll get a picture and a bowl and they'll start wanting to work together, so I'll get a picture and a bowl set," said Frankenberger.