---

The inaugural Art Blitz at Chisago City's Ojiketa Regional Park drew 25 talented vendors showing their work in media such as painting, sculpture, woodworking and photography Oct. 8-9. They welcomed an estimated 600 or more guests who came to appreciate the park and the art, with some further supporting the artists by buying pieces to bring home or for gifts.

With three hours remaining for potential sales Oct. 9, visiting artist Christina Plichta hoped to entice at least one more buyer with her display of landscape and floral paintings as she worked on her latest piece, an image of Ojiketa's autumn leaves. "I've had two small sales, so I covered my booth fare and my gas money," said the resident of Minneapolis, who was familiar with the park from attending a dance camp there. She has taught dance professionally but is in her first year of bringing paintings to shows. "I like being outside. I always paint outside," she said while working on the porch of Strom Hall overlooking Green Lake. "It's just really beautiful. I'm thinking of this as a little vacation."

Much of her previous work has been inspired by sights in the Minnesota Landscape Arboretum, the Longfellow Gardens of Minneapolis and the Boerner Botanical Gardens in her native Milwaukee. She said she has heard from other artists, veterans of the art show circuit, that there has been a decline in recent sales. "Since I just started, I don't have anything to compare it to, but I'm learning the more urban the area, the higher the sales," Plichta said.

A few yards north of Strom Hall, spray-painting a large abstract work in a Halloween theme, Cameron Bouwens noted he had shown earlier abstracts at First Avenue and The Loft in Minneapolis among other Twin Cities venues and that he, too, expected his art would play better to urban markets.

But he said he also enjoyed showing his work close to home, living in Lindstrom and having graduated from Chisago Lakes High School in 2010. He is interested in graphic design and is looking to start a clothing company. "It's fun coming out here," Bouwens said of the park. "It's fun to show people a little bit different art."

"Our artists have been awesome," said Doris Zacho, Art Blitz coordinator and Chisago City parks programmer, who said she was also pleased by the numbers of visitors both days. "A lot of people just used this as an excuse to come and check it out (Ojiketa)."

Among other seasonal programs this month, Ojiketa will host Duke Addicks to share ghost stories based in Minnesota 2 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 29, in Strom Hall. The park is at 27500 Kirby Ave.

---