Daily Newsletters
Account
Washington Evening Journal
111 North Marion Avenue
Washington, IA 52353
319-653-2191
Stacey Kitakis to put on International Small Works Show
Southeast Iowa Union offers audio versions of articles using Instaread. Some words may be mispronounced.
FAIRFIELD – The founder of First Fridays Art Walk is continuing to support the arts in other ways, with a major exhibit planned for November that will feature more than 300 works from over 100 artists.
Stacey Kitakis, who formed Art Walk in 2002, has put together an art exhibit called “The International Small Works Show.” The exhibit will open on Nov. 1 at Neil Cunningham’s Central Park Furnishings on the west side of the square, and remain up for three months until Feb. 8. The exhibit will be open from noon to 5 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday, with additional hours on special occasions.
Kitakis said the roughly 125 artists featured come from all over, with about 28-30 from the local community, 18-19 from across the country, and 73 from outside the U.S., with 28 countries represented.
“By bringing together handmade works from across the globe, we honor world traditions while reminding visitors of Fairfield’s many artists and our active arts scene,” Kitakis said.
The exhibit is not just the typical two-dimensional paintings but also three-dimensional works in wood, ceramic, fiber, metals and more. Kitakis said 5 percent of the proceeds will go toward public art in Fairfield.
“I am delighted to focus on bringing this collection of diverse work to the public,” Kitakis said. “I will do my best to attract out-of-town visitors to come and explore ICON, Fairfield Art Association Gallery and Cindy's Art Beat while they are sinking into our art offerings.”
Kitakis has established herself as one of the main conduits between Fairfield residents and international artisans. About a decade ago, during the height of the Syrian refugee crisis, Kitakis visited the island of Lesvos in Greece to help with relief efforts and find ways to aid Greek artists. Kitakis gathered items in Fairfield to send to refugees in Greece, and also brought back artwork from Greek artists to sell stateside.
Kitakis has taken some time off from the art scene. She closed her nonprofit called ArtLife Society in 2019, and has limited her travel since then. But now Kitakis said she’s ready to come out of hibernation. She wants to enliven Fairfield’s art scene and host events that draw visitors from neighboring towns. She considers her current venture with the International Small Works Show as a reincarnation of her previous Emerald Gallery art shows.
“I want to make Fairfield juicy and enticing, to bring the curiosity back as there used to be in the early years of Art Walk,” Kitakis said.
Art Walk had humble beginnings, and was spurred by an event hosted by Maharishi International University wherein artists were featured over a single weekend in August 2002. A few weeks later, Kitakis and five friends were together in an art studio pondering how to do the same thing again, maybe once or twice a year. Kitakis, who had experience with regular art exhibits in cities around the world, told the group it had to be more frequent than that.
“It has to be on the same day, every month, 12 times a year,” she said. “Because nobody is going to know, ‘Is this the month?’ I said, ‘Let’s do it every month.’”
In October 2002, the first of the now hundreds of Art Walks was held in Fairfield, assisted by numerous art studios and other businesses in the downtown that agreed to exhibit art.
Call Andy Hallman at 641-575-0135 or email him at andy.hallman@southeastiowaunion.com
