Booths and displays lined Woodmont Triangle in downtown Bethesda for the 9th annual Bethesda Fine Arts Festival May 12 and 13.

140 contemporary artists from 25 states and Canada displayed their work, which ranged from ceramics to clothing. The festival is the highest ranked art show in Maryland, according to Sunshine Artist Magazine.

To participate, artists must apply up to a year in advance by submitting photographs of their work as well as booth shots to show the jury they can exhibit professionally.

The street festival brought drew between 20,000 and 25,000 people to downtown Bethesda to view and purchase the original art, as well as to enjoy the live entertainment by local band Wes Tucker and The Skillets.

Husband and wife Jeanne Petrosky and Dennis Guzenski create mixed media pieces on handmade paper, focusing on subtle to vibrant colors and textures. Their studio is in Pottstown, Pennsylvania, but they heard about the festival and decided to enter their work in the juried show.

The jury is comprised of three to five members from the Bethesda Arts and Entertainment District advisory committee, and the judging process is selective, Guzenski said.

“The judges are looking at the slides, and there are no names on them, so they don’t know who it is,” Guzenski said. “Then they award it a number from one to five, and when they look through around fifteen hundred applicants, they take the top numbers.”

Petrosky and Guzenski have been artists for 25 years and have participated in hundreds of shows.

Unlike Petrosky and Guzenski, designer Ivan Radojicic is relatively new on the art scene. Radojicic was originally a woodworker, but three years ago, he discovered he could transform some of his extra material into pieces of art.

“It was just one more option,” Radojicic said, “And I fell in love with it.”

The show allows him to display his artistic abilities and promote his other job as a woodworker.

“It’s good commercially,” he said. “You get feedback, and I also still do a lot of woodwork, which means people will call me back later for stuff they want to be made.”

Artist Lisa Stewart of Raleigh, North Carolina said this is her first year participating in the Fine Arts Festival. Along with husband Andrew Hayden, Stewart founded Lisa Steward Designs in 2001, which focuses on creating and selling artwork and products that feature Stewart’s calligraphic imagery, patterns and designs.

Stewart said she enjoys participating in the festival to increase her artistic exposure.

“It’s a juried fair that allows us to get a work in front of our customers,” she said.

Stewart draws inspiration for her illustrations from different parts of the world, including Celtic and Tibetan influences.

“I love to be able to blend those cultures in and allow the person to see what she wants to see rather than being in her face about what it is, and that’s all there is to it,” she said. “I like the customer being able to interpret her life onto the bag to make the bag her own.”

Petrosky and Guzenski, along with many other participating artists, rely on traveling art shows for their living. The show allows them to show their art directly to the public, and hopefully sell some of their pieces.

“We don’t have any other income. This is our income,” Guzenski said. “This is how we make our living.”