By Brooke Luna
With her dangly earrings swaying in the hot summer breeze, mixed media artist Erika Roberts removes her sunglasses to wipe the sweat from under her eyes as she steps into the shade of her bright pink tent at the Cooper-Young Festival.
Inside the tent, festival-goers rifle through wooden crates of Roberts' various paintings and prints of Memphis landmarks like the Hernando de Soto Bridge and the gazebo in the center of the Collierville Town Square.
For Roberts, this is her first time featuring her artwork, which she likes to call “funky, yet refined Southern art,” created through a combination of sculpting and painting, at the Festival.
However, this is not Roberts' first time at the Cooper-Young Festival. Roberts says she and a friend had a booth 10 years ago selling hand-sewn tea towels and aprons, but she hopes this year, her first as a fine artist, is more profitable than her first go around. “I think that year I made just enough money to cover my booth fee,” Roberts laughs.
She says many of her paintings feature Memphis because ever since moving here, she feels inspired by the city and she's come to embrace what it means to be a Memphian. “I love Memphis and I feel like Cooper-Young is well known for its love of Memphis and a lot of my art reflects that,” Roberts says. “I felt like the festival would be a great way to introduce myself to the Midtown community.”
Originally from Nashville, Roberts left her career at a law firm when she realized art is what she has a passion for and what she wants to pursue. She says art is something she loved as a child and nurtured by attending the Tennessee Governor’s School for the Arts in high school.
After moving from Nashville, she lived in Memphis for 11 years, but recently relocated to Collierville, where she now runs the Erika Roberts Studio and micro retail shop at Creative Minds Art Studio.
When she's not showcasing her work at festivals around the South, she spends her days working in her studio and giving art lessons to both adults and children. Roberts also paints wildlife, florals and architecture, which she takes custom orders for on her website. In addition to Memphis, she says new cities, Southern hospitality and celebrations are among the things that inspire her to create.
In an attempt to bring business, like Roberts selling her artwork, and people to the neighborhood, the Cooper-Young Business Association (CYBA) launched the festival in 1988.
Executive director of the CYBA, Tamara Cook, says when she joined in 1999, the festival was all volunteer based and about 45,000 people attended. The number of attendees has now increased to 135,000 people, making it the largest street festival in Tennessee.
All of the profits from the Cooper-Young Festival go right back into the neighborhood for projects like street banners, resealing concrete and landscaping.
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