Artists from near and far showed off their skills Saturday in the Haymarket at the Lincoln Arts Festival. Emerging and advanced artists displayed an array of artwork crafted by pencil, paint, clay and wood at various booths on Canopy Street. Some booths offered photos, pottery or handmade jewelry.
Hannah Ashburn's booth was decorated with rugs shaped and tufted into cicadas, among other images. It was Ashburn's first time selling her work at the festival and she did so inside the Emerging Artists section, provided by the Lincoln Arts Council. In her work, she pulls functional pieces together with a touch of fine arts.
She received her bachelor's degree in studio arts with an emphasis on drawing and painting from Union College in 2017, but got started working with fiber during the COVID-19 pandemic. "I needed something art related to do and so I picked it up," she said. "It was a great way to get out of my head and to get into something creative.
" Now, she takes some graduate-level courses at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln and works at Live Yes Studios — an art studio for adults with disabilities — as a fiber arts teacher and floor manager. Ashburn said she's inspired by her students, her poetry and her everyday life. She's been influenced by intense storms, but also by a cup of coffee.
She creates work that focuses on both positives and negatives as she pulls from her own mental health journey. "A lot of my work focuses on the balance or the dichotomy between the mund.
