AnnArbor.com digital journalist James Dickson is blogging today from the Ann Arbor Art Fairs. In Part Two, he visits the fairs on North and South University.

Ann Arbor's Katie Halton has learned to embrace the art fair

Katie Halton is hardly the first Ann Arborite to schedule her vacation during Art Fair to avoid the influx of out-of-towners.

But for the last two years, displaying as an emerging artist at the South University Art Fair, Halton has learned to appreciate that influx.

Halton, a University of Michigan alum whose work juxtaposed animals and bright colors to "play on the balance between art and nature," is waiting for word on whether she'll be admitted to U-M for grad school. She's been holding down part-time work but said that the graduate program would be a big step toward her goal of doing art full-time.

"It's nice to be a townie because I have a lot of foot traffic, between friends and family," Halton said. "I definitely don't mind Art Fair anymore!"

For Chicago's Xavier Nuez, cities are the muse

For the three years photographer Xavier Nuez lived in Ann Arbor, he says, he never got a good picture. The one Ann Arbor photo he brought to the South University Art Fair, featuring the bubble gum wall in the painted alley on East Liberty, was taken after he'd moved out.

"I take inspiration from cities," Nuez explained. "Detroit, Chicago, LA. I try to take these dark and grey places and bring color to them.

"I was always been the kid who walks down the dark alley," Nuez explained. "And I still am."

Ann Arbor might not inspire much of Nuez's work, but coming back to town gives him the chance to explore Detroit. Nuez is staying in town an extra week after the art fair to hit Flint and Toledo as well.

Bryan David Griffith does it old school

"Real nature," the sign at Bryan Griffith's booth explains. "No enhanced colors, combined exposures, HDR, special filters or other tricks."

Griffith has been presenting at the Ann Arbor Art Fairs since 2001, but has been attending them since his college days at the University of Michigan. He'd dabbled into photography for some time, even setting up a makeshift darkroom in his college apartment, but wasn't thinking about it as a career — he was studying Industrial and Operations Engineering.

After Griffith worked in the consulting world for a few years, he felt he needed a change.

"I needed to do the right thing for the planet, for my soul. Being a part of the corporate system wasn't it."

Griffith now calls Flagstaff, Arizona home, but still makes it out to the Ann Arbor Art Fair each year, usually by van.

"Art fairs are always kind of a gamble, but Ann Arbor is a significant part of my income every year," he explained. "And it's always good catching up with friends who live in town, old professors, and all that."

It's OK to have too much fun, says designer Robert Stadnycki

"A woman came into my booth a few years ago," said designer Robert Stadnycki, whose booth is stationed in the Ingalls Mall. "She asked me if I ever thought about digitally printing my paintings onto fabric. We printed them off of her computer, and three hours later I had a roll of fabric."

He hadn't, but took the woman up on her suggestion and soon matched up with a pattern maker.

"It's taken off ever since," Stadnycki said of the colorful jackets he's been designing for the past six years.

"The kind of person who'll like my work has a big spirit that they're only trying to make brighter. I have designs for more conservative people too, but if you're a bright spirit, you'll be drawn to what I do."

While a number of exhibitors reported falling numbers from previous years - "a lot of people are here to look and not buy" said Maureen Voorheis, a sculptor from West Bloomfield — Stadnycki said that he's doing well this year.

"I think I do well because me and Ann Arbor have the same energy," Stadnycki said. "People here aren't afraid to try something new."

James David Dickson can be reached at JamesDickson@AnnArbor.com.