Last year’s 31st annual American Craft Exposition, held at the Chicago Botanic Garden in Glencoe for the first time, ended up breaking attendance records and raised $231,000 for NorthShore University HealthSystem’s ovarian cancer prevention efforts.
“The show was always beautiful, but being at the garden with that beautiful backdrop it raised the show to a different level,” said Debbie Kerr, event co-chair and a Northfield resident.
This year’s American Craft Expo returns to the Chicago Botanic Garden Sept. 23-25 with 140 artists selling handmade works in 12 media including ceramics, furniture, glass and jewelry. Only about a fifth of the artists who apply make it into the show, with a panel of artists who have participated in past shows and the show’s directors ranking the submissions and admitting the top scorers. The American Craft Exposition also devotes space to emerging artists who have been working on their craft for six years or less.
“That’s always a fun category,” Kerr said. “A lot of artists get their start at ACE. One of our artists was a fireman in Evanston and switched careers and now is one of the top jewelers in the country.”
Morton Grove resident Aaron Macsai has sold his jewelry at the show for 20 years but says he never takes it for granted that he’ll get accepted.
“I keep my fingers crossed every year,” he said. “I would say it’s one of the best craft shows in the country of its kind — the caliber of artist, the support it gets from the public. It’s a very unique show.”
The move to the Chicago Botanic Garden last year proved a boon for Macsai’s business.
“I got new customers from all over the world because there were people who go to the garden who were there and didn’t expect to see the show,” he said.
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The show also includes an online auction and raffle. Proceeds benefit NorthShore University HealthSystem’s pharmacogenomics research, with allows doctors to analyze a patient’s genes to predict how they will react to specific courses of treatment. It’s a cause that’s very personal to Macsai, who gave a speech at the show’s kickoff about how NorthShore doctors were able to find a treatment for his severe chronic daily migraines.
“I feel very strongly about supporting medical research because I’ve benefited from medical research,” he said. “(The headaches) were debilitating. About 10 years ago I had to stop working for a while. Nothing really helped.”
Neurologists at NorthShore recommended he try radiofrequency ablation once a year, which heated up the nerves in his neck and destroyed their ability to send pain signals to the brain.
“It’s a little risky, but it takes away the headaches,” he said. “It kind of changed my life.”
American Craft Exposition
When: 10 a.m.-6 p.m. Sept. 23 and 24, 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Sept. 25; preview party 5:30-9 p.m. Sept. 22
Where: Chicago Botanic Garden, 1000 Lake Cook Road, Glencoe
Tickets: $15, $30 for a three-day pass, $45 for a pair of three-day passes; $175-$200 for the preview party
Information: 224-364-7270; americancraftexpo.org