Artists, festival-goers brave the rain for the Liberty Arts Festival

The intermittent rain didn’t deter anyone in Morris on Saturday as crowds flooded Liberty Street and the area around the Grundy County Courthouse for the 10th annual Liberty Arts Festival.

Dancers, musicians and artists entertained in the downtown while even more artists painted and sold their art on the courthouse lawn. Further up Liberty Street, the Morris Area Public Library was home to a rare collection of art from a local collector. This collection featured art from Salvador Dalí and Marc Chagall.

The collector spoke to the Morris Herald-News on the condition of anonymity.

“Most of my pieces, are what they call pencil-signed,” they said. “It means Salvador Dalí held this piece in his own hands and signed it with a pencil.”

The collector said the exhibit at the library was an opportunity for everyday people to see up close the painstaking detail these artists put into their work.

The Morris Watercolor Guild also celebrated the Liberty Arts Festival with an art show at the First United Methodist Church, 118 W. Jackson St., highlighting the work of featured artist Laurel Lake McGuire. Hundreds attended the showing in between bouts with the rain.

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The dolls get their chance to practice watercolor painting at the Morris Watercolor Guild's exhibit during the Liberty Arts Festival on Saturday. (Michael Urbanec)