Art fair followers still have almost three months to go before the outdoor show season. But North Suburban Synagogue Beth El’s 33rd Annual Festival of the Arts did a lot to relieve withdrawal pangs last weekend-and at the same time raise dollars for Beth El Sisterhood’s charities.
Wind-chilled single-digit temperatures decreased attendance from the previous-year’s sellout of 4,000 people, but sisterhood officials were pleased that close to 3,500 hardy souls braved the weather to view, and in many cases, buy high-quality art at the temple in Highland Park.
“We’re not a craft fair,” said festival chairwoman Susan Block of Highland Park. “We’re a mixed-media fine-art show. We travel to other shows to find artists who we ask to submit slides. But that doesn’t guarantee they will get in. This is a juried show,” Block said.
More than 70 artists from Israel to New York to California were showcased this year in what Sisterhood officials say is one of the longest-running indoor art fairs in the area. “We were one of the original indoor art shows,” Block said.
Sisterhood President Helene Isaacs said, “Weather may be more of a factor than the economy,” when asked if either factor influenced North Shore buying. “People have been feeling more upbeat about the economy lately.” Without knowing consignment and followup orders, Sisterhood officials estimated that weather-impacted attendance had a slight impact. “We think we did very well,” Block said.
The money would be used to help support Jewish charities such as a food pantry, synagogue remodeling, religious school projects and the Jewish Technological Seminary, Isaacs said.
Among the exhibits drawing crowds were renowned Chicago painter Winifred Godfrey and fantasy animal sculptor Dennis Pearson of Spring Green, Wis. Godfrey, best known for her flower paintings, credits the synagogue’s art patrons with jump-starting her career back in the mid-1970s. “This is one of first shows I ever did. My actual start in art was at Beth El.”
Pearson has been herding his friendly, funny-looking, life-sized fiberglass animals called Beasties from Wisconsin to Beth El for the last five years.
The festival might not offer the same visibility he had when his herd grazed on the White House lawn during the 1986 Easter Egg Roll. But the sculptor said, “I love the North Shore. This has always been a good show for me.”