Car and elbow space was at a premium last weekend in downtown Highland Park. Thousands of lookers and buyers poured into the town square for what has become one of the northern suburbs` largest and most prestigious art fairs:
More Top Picks Best Chronograph Watches For Women
the Eighth Annual Port Clinton Art Festival. Once a local show of 60 Chicago area artists, about 2,000 artists applied to the juried show, and 243 were accepted.
Buyers gobbled up Downstater Robert Cumpston`s rusty sculpture-from-the-far m animals. ”We love his works. We just ordered a 16-foot giraffe,”
said Barrington resident Carole Barbieri, who was art shopping with husband Forest and daughter Jessica. Two other Cumpston giraffes already stand on their front lawn. ”We`re known as the Giraffe House,” Forest said.
The neon art of Chicagoan Charles P. Wood III attracted admiring glances, sales and promises of future commissions. ”I don`t do art fairs,” said Wood, who was persuaded to make an exception this time by show director Amy Amdur.
Amdur explained that her goal is to attract gallery-quality artists. ”I want high quality, not schlock. I want gallery artists to feel comfortable here. And they do when they know that other artists are all in a similar price range,” Amdur said. Even though there were some works below $100, most of the art ranged from a couple of hundred to several thousand dollars.
”It`s a good art fair. You have high-quality art. People come and actually purchase pieces,” said Wisconsin potter and Raku specialist Marty Marcus.
The show boasted more than high quality. It offered a good mix, from the soothing watercolors of New York artist Yu Cha Pak to the brilliant jonquil yellow and indigo blues of Colorado potter Richard Cohen.
”I like the show. It has a good cross section (of art categories). It`s not so jewelry-oriented,” said Vicki Kriser of Highland Park.
”It`s awesome,” said show admirer Sue Strunk of Evanston. Her friend Sandra Barnett agreed: ”We`ve been to most of the art shows this year. This is the best we`ve seen.”