By Sean Sullivan

Natick’s ArtWalk brings the fruits of creative labor from the studio or spare room out onto the sidewalk for all to see. 

The middle of last month saw the return of the town’s street-side art showcase, as craftspeople and potential customers converged on the downtown area to put on display, peruse and potentially purchase one-of-a-kind creations.

Art and music of all stripes were on display during the July 15 art festival, with a portion of Washington Street shut down to make space for outdoor dining by local restaurants. The ArtWalk featured works by painters, quilters, ceramicists, mixed media artists, musicians and more. 

Main Street’s high facades offered some shade from a setting sun that had just recently reemerged after a seeming weeks-long hibernation, and brought back with it summer’s swelter. The mercury was up, yet spirits seemed high. The annual art festival held added meaning, an outdoor venue in which to gather after the tumultuous and trying months of the year prior.      

Some people took the free time and seclusion imposed by the shutdown to focus on a hobby or two. Or three. For still others, that hobby evolved into a business and/or side hustle.

That’s been the case for Natick resident Tiana Meehan, who started Tiny Light Candle Co. in her basement during the pandemic. She manages a Boston real estate office, and runs the candle company in her off time.

“The pandemic hit, and I thought, why not give it a shot?” she said.

Passersby gravitated toward Meehan’s table at the ArtWalk, pulled in by the prospect of sampling a new scent. They lifted lids and sniffed, and one could catch nearby a hint of the fragrance on the sultry summer air. Patrons haggled with one another about the virtues and potency of this or that scent. High Tide is her most popular offering.

A longtime consumer of candles, Meehan started educating herself about what went into making them, and discovered a lot she didn’t like about the commercial brands. Most use petroleum-based wax, she said, which isn’t healthy for people or the planet. She would settle on soy wax for her candles, a renewable and more eco-friendly medium.    

“I did all this research. I went from interest to being very passionate about it.”

Nearby, Barbara Levitov’s handcrafted pottery was on display, some home décor hardware to contrast and complement Meehan’s scented candles. Levitov sang the praises of Debra Sayre, the creative and organizational drive behind the ArtWalk and Natick’s weekly Farmers Markets. A crafter of earthy-hued, wheel-turned ceramic art, Levitov is a frequent presence at local art shows and festivals.

“This is one of my favorites,” said Levitov of the ArtWalk.   

For some, the sidewalk is the studio, the curbside their canvas. 

Natick resident Jason Cheeseman-Meyer could be found street-side during the ArtWalk, putting some finishing touches on an enormous mural. The piece, painted on Main Street pavement, is an aquatic scene featuring fish, turtles and other denizens of the water world.

Cheeseman-Meyer teaches at Natick’s Walnut Hill School for the Arts, and was one of several artists commissioned to create an original mural in the space. His is part of the Traffic Calming Project, an effort that seeks to reclaim space from busy thoroughfares, reallocating square footage away from cars and repurposing it toward works of art and other fruitful ends. 

The piece evolved over the course of the project, as passing children kept asking if more colorful fish would be joining the group of trout and bass that Cheeseman-Meyer had envisioned for his mural.

But making art outdoors has its tradeoffs. High public visibility on the one hand, vulnerability to the elements on the other.     

“The weather has not been cooperating,” he said of his weeks-long project. “If I’m not being rained on, I’m being baked.”

Some hyper-local businesses put their storefronts (and AC) to good use during the ArtWalk, their location and inventories a perfect fit for the festival. The downtown area is home to an increasing family of creative-based businesses, and the art festival offers the perfect venue to get the word out about what they offer.

Some of these shops took advantage of the foot traffic, setting up small displays just outside their doors to draw patrons inside for a look and brief respite from the heat and humidity.

Uni-T, a shop on Court Street that sells its own line of hand-printed T-Shirts and an eclectic assortment of locally handmade art, set out a selection of goods on the sidewalk to give passersby a sense of the store’s character.

“It helped a lot to gain new customers who don’t normally shop downtown,” said Eujin Kim-Neilan, the shop’s owner. “It’s a very warm and friendly event.”