To help launch the 12th annual Jazz & Beyond Carson City Music Festival, which runs Friday through Aug. 23, Capital City Arts Initiative is hosting Art on the Porch, an event offering art for sale, music, food and a home and garden tour from 3 to 6:30 p.m. Friday at the Bliss Mansion.
The free event is happening prior to the 7 p.m. concert by John and Cherie Shipley. A variety of artists will be on hand showcasing their work.
William Hutchison will show the Dangerous Toys glass sculptures and his hand-blown glass ornaments. Carol Brown’s hand-made books, blank greeting cards, and small prints will be available, as well as brightly colored paintings on silk by Louise Noel. Debbie Howell will have her landscapes created with crushed colored-glass. Watercolors by Ken Heitzenrader and Cyndy Brenneman will be displayed. Audrey Markowitz will have her Zentangle drawings. Paul Ford will have Nevada landscapes made with local soils, recycled materials, and acrylic. Mischell Riley will give a bronze sculpture demonstration. Susan McCormick, Terri Akins Calleas, and Vickie Workman Detomasi will bring the renowned “Miss Dixie Vintage Bus” from Fallon with art, craft, handmade goods, and jewelry to sell.
If you’re hungry, A Catered Affair food truck will be on site from 4 to 8 p.m.
Guided tours of the Bliss Mansion, a 15-room Italianate-style Victorian mansion completed in 1879 by Duane L. Bliss, will be offered in the afternoon.
The music will begin in the Bliss Mansion garden at 7 p.m. with Cherie & John Shipley with “Take This.” They arrange many of the tunes they play, presenting customized, original jazz versions. Cherie has been a favorite vocalist in the area since the 1980s and John is a founding member of the jazz-fusion recording group Hiroshima. His jazz and R&B piano/keyboard talents are a draw for true music aficionados. Saxophonist Doug Coomler, guitarist/vocalist Paul Covarelli, and drummer Steve Self will join “Take This” for the concert. Audience members are asked to bring lawn chairs or a blanket for seating.
Other events in the festival lineup include: An art show and music by Jakki Ford and Peter Supersano from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. Aug. 15 at Greenhouse Garden Center; a display and live painting event with Rosie Laird at the Speakeasy Swing Dance Party from 7:30 to 10 p.m. Aug. 15 at the Brewery Arts Center; and a CCAI art show and sale from 5 to 7 p.m. Aug. 15 at the Carson City Community Center, where Lloyd Williams will perform from 7 to 9 p.m. the same day.
For more information about the festival, go to jazzcarsoncity.com. For more information about CCAI, go to www.arts-initiative.org.