Iowa Sculpture Festival in new location

For the 15th year, artists and art lovers will descend upon Newton to take in the Iowa Sculpture Festival and Fine Arts Festival. In a new location at the former Maytag Buildings 1 and 2 and in the adjacent courtyard, the festival aims to maintain its reputation for excellence and add a few new attractions.

Open from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday and Sunday, the festival boasts 2-D and 3-D art mediums created by artists from across the country.

“We have held the Iowa Sculpture and Fine Arts Festival in that vicinity before, and could not pass up the very special ambiance it holds, both indoors and outdoors,” festival president Linda Klepinger said.

At the location, weather permitting, a set of African drums will be placed in the courtyard area for youth participation from 11 a.m. to noon on Saturday and 1 to 2 p.m. on Sunday. Ida’s Food Truck and Maid-Rites will also be available during lunch at the site daily.

“Artists will be demonstrating on site during the event,” Klepinger said. “Free face painting and youth art creation will also be included.”

Among the artists at the festival, Nancy Sams of Knob Noster, Mo. will have a signature piece on display. A sculpture created from bronze, the statue titled “For our fallen: A warhorse tribute” features a warhorse on a precipice with its head arched and bowed to its chest holding an English saddle with boots on backward for the riderless soldier.

“It is in tribute for all of those who have fallen for our country. I am excited about it,” Sams said. “I got the idea, I was driving down the road in the winter and I looked over and there was a great, big Belgian draft horse with its head bowed to its chest with the winter wind blowing the hair south. It was such a phenomenal sight, I about drove off the road. It was just mesmerizing and I decided then and there that I was going to incorporate it into a sculpture.”

Sams, who is an avid horseman who owns four horses herself, got started in the medium after previously only working in two-dimensional art. About 20 years ago, she took a class with Missouri sculptor Elizabeth Ritter and was hooked.

“We just really hit it off and within 10 years I am traveling with her and we are showing our art together,” Sams said. “She really became a mentor and got me into that third dimension.”

Most of Sams’ subjects fall into three categories, equine, wildlife or Native American and is created out of bronze or clay. She also has a line of jewelry made of primarily copper and silver as an option for patrons want to own a piece of wearable art.

“Patrons might not be able to take home a bronze sculpture but they might be able to take home a clay or a piece of jewelry that is very reasonable,” Sams said.

This is the third year Sams will be participating at the Iowa festival and she has only good things to say about the organization.

“I heard about it from another participating artist. She had been so pleased with the people that put it on and also had a lot of patrons that come in that are interested in the arts that she recommended it,” Sams said. “It is just such a wonderful group of people that put this show on that it is just a pleasure to come back to it.”

Entrance to the festival is $3 for adults and free for youth 18 and under. For more information visit iowasculpturefestival.org.

Contact Jamee A. Pierson at 641-792-3121 ext. 6534 or jpierson@newtondailynews.com