“I thought, ‘Let’s do a mini festival with the road being open,’” said Layl McDill, co-owner of Clay Squared to Infinity. The Flux Frost Fest was born. It was held Saturday, Dec. 7, at the Flux Arts Building, 2505 Howard St. NE.
McDill greeted people in the retail space located just off the newly-reopened Lowry Avenue. The building hosted 15 vendors and artists with everything from ceramics to stained glass to Trinidadian food.
The Flux Arts Building opened in 2019. The purchase of the building was a joint venture by the owners of Clay Squared and Potekglass, who have studio, retail and teaching spaces in the building. The Fest flowed between the two spaces, filling in a common area with artists and food vendors.
“I hope to get exposure for people with the building,” Josh Blanc said as he ran the Clay Squared store in the north end of the building. “We have people who have lived here their whole life who haven’t heard of some of these artists, so this is another way to get people out and helping the community.”
Not only were attendees able to shop for gifts, ornaments and food, they were also able to participate in hands-on art projects in a “make-and-take-clay” activity. The event attracted many people from outside of the area.
“We came up from Rochester,” Danielle Vetterkind said as she worked with clay in the Clay Squared retail space. She was with two others, each making their own art piece.
The proceeds from the “pay-what-you-want” hands-on activities went to Art to Change the World (ACW), located on the second story of the Flux Arts Building. ACW featured its own hands-on art activities.
Left to right, Dreya Vetterkind, Alana Biebinger and Danielle Vetterkind using jars and tins to give their clay art pieces structure. (Davis Steen)