Artists and art lovers flocked to Lawrence for the 12th annual Summer Arts Festival, which attracted exhibitors from as far as Auckland.
Festival communications person Maureen Cummings said the festival was very successful, with 33 stalls in this year's event, although stalls were moved from various venues around Lawrence to Simpson Park to escape the rain.
"A change of venue had to be made before the tents went up," she said.
"It was a difficult decision, because it was 25 degrees on Thursday morning, but then . . . the heavens opened up."
The festival ran from Friday night until Sunday, and offered a diverse range of works, from the traditional fine arts, to the dramatic arts, and the slightly more obscure, but very practical art of fly fishing and fly tying.
There was also an art competition, won by Marie Reid of Mosgiel; an art auction and an exhibition of artwork from prisoners at the Otago Corrections Facility.
Marie Kean, owner of Marama Lodge where the art auction was originally to be held, said it was the first time the festival had held an art auction, and it was disappointing people were not willing to bid as the items came up.
"We sold some stuff after the auction," she said.
"There's some nice things in there.
"There are 63 lots.
"It's a complete mixture of art."
The highest price paid at auction was $260, for a painting titled Autumn Vineyard, by artist Rachel Hodgkins-Blyth.
The festival included artwork from prisoners in the Otago Corrections Facility at Milburn.
Dot Crofts, from the Department of Corrections, said involving prisoners in art was a gateway to other types of education.
"When we started putting the exhibition together, you could see the difference in [the prisoners'] self esteem," she said.
As the men discovered "they had skills they didn't know they had", they became interested in education, she said.
