Shakopee Will Crawl With Artists This Weekend

Scott County is hosting its second annual self-guided art crawl Friday and Saturday. The event, which will feature paintings, photography, sculptures, glass art, pottery and jewelry, is part of an art crawl looping 45 miles through through Shakopee, Savage, Prior Lake and Jordan.

Over 65 artists will show off their original work, with live demonstrations peppered throughout the Scott County Art Crawl.

Despite the far-flung points on the map, most of the studios and sponsored locations for the artists are within walking distance of each other, said Denise Baert, an organizer of the Scott County Art Crawl.

“It’s actually clustered for a walking tour of the downtown Shakopee area," she said. "We kept it into a fairly finite five- to six- block radius. It’s an easy walking tour, or to park and walk.”

Amy Zellmer from Custom Creations Photography was pleased by the turnout last year and is looking forward this weekend to showing off her fine art prints, including photography from her travels to Costa Rica. Zellmer said the event brings together local Scott County artists and art connoisseurs to one location. 

“Last year downtown was just buzzing. It was a nonstop stream of people all day,” she said. “The people that come to the art crawl tend to be really interested about art. It’s not like setting up in a mall. They’re interested in art and buying art."  

The Scott County Art Crawl was conceived with just that notion—that there were many people interested in fine art in the South Metro, but until the Crawl, there wasn’t a common location to share it all.

“We found that there weren’t many art-related events in the area, that we would have to go over the river to see quality fine arts," Baert said. "We thought, why don’t we bring the event to the artists?” 

The event is sponsored by the Savage Arts Council, a nonprofit organization that supports regional arts. The entire event was coordinated by volunteer help, with the proceeds from the artist fees going back to promoting the event.

“First, we’re trying to offer a venue to sell original art work and, second, (the crawl) is meant to bring another event to the community to be able to share in the art experience,” Baert said.

Additional information about the crawl, along with printable maps for the event can be located on the Scott County Art Crawl website.