Local artist featured in festival

Manassas, Va. -- Craft lovers can find a reprieve from the winter weather through the warmth of handmade creations this weekend at the Sugarloaf Crafts Festival in Chantilly.

The show will feature more than 250 of the nation's finest artists and craft designers, including renowned watercolorist Jan Ford of Manassas.

The festival will be at the Dulles Expo Center Friday through Sunday. The marketplace will feature thousands of handmade items in various mediums, including decorative pottery, sculpture, glass, home decor, furniture and home accessories, leather, fiber and textiles, fine art and photography.

Ford has been painting for 25 years. Her work has been featured licensed nationally and produced as puzzles, Easter cards and flags -- casting her handmade interpretations of Virginia across the country.

She has also won numerous awards and been featured in prominent articles in national arts publication.

As a well-known instructor, she has taught watercolor workshops in Virginia, Alabama, Ohio and North Carolina. Her work is also included in many private and corporate collections throughout the United States.

Born on a small Ohio farm, surrounded by flowers and gardens, Ford recounts her youth through lyrical recreations of those familiar subjects.

Her array of artwork includes lush flower gardens, floral still life images filled with lace and the occasional antique, and vegetables from the local farmer's market.

Ford studied art at Ohio State University, The Art League School in Alexandria, as well as with private instructors. She is a member of the Potomac Valley Watercolorists as well as the Virginia, Southern, National and American Watercolor Society.

"The creative world of the arts has always been an integral part of my life. As a child on a small mid-western farm, I found beauty in the simplest of things -- the fruits and vegetables from the gardens, corn from the fields and flowers that filled the backyard," she said. "I can tell you this now, years and many sketches later, the essence of my creativity, the essence of my inner being is so closely related to these earlier years."

Dozens of the jury-selected artists will display and sell wool sweaters, fleece-lined jackets and coats, alpaca wraps, thermal gloves, hats and caps -- in a wide range of styles, from traditional silhouettes to contemporary flair.

Artists are finding inventive ways to help keep their customers' homes warm as they will display homemade candles, handcrafted andirons, elegant fireplace screens and whimsical hearth accessories.

The festival will open from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Friday and Saturday and 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Sunday at the center, 4320 Chantilly Place Center, Chantilly. Adult admission is $7 when purchased online and $8 at the door. Children younger than 12 will be admitted for free.

Staff writer Bennie Scarton Jr. can be reached at 703-369-6707.