Saturday morning’s cloudy skies didn’t stop Debbie Kusek of Carol Stream from dropping by the St. Charles Fine Art Show.
“It’s always sunny in the world of art. Any time you can get out and look at original artworks, I think it’s wonderful. It’s an inspiration,” Kusek said as she looked at some oil paintings at the event held over the weekend in downtown St. Charles. “It’s also a chance to see a lot of different techniques and ideas.”
The St. Charles Business Alliance and its sponsors offered the 28th annual St. Charles Fine Art Show, which was held along Riverside Avenue between Main Street and Illinois Avenue. It featured more than 110 juried artists offered a wide variety of art using mediums that included ceramics, digital art, wood, sculpture, jewelry, glass, oil and watercolors, photography and more.
Jenna Sawicki, executive director of the St. Charles Business Alliance, said artists for the show were selected from a pool of over 150, and included “over 50% that are returning but we also have a lot of new people to keep things fresh.”
“You need people to come back and visit their favorite artists, but people also like something new,” she said. “Our mixed media and digital art seem to be increasing, which is the way of the world now, but we also have clay and ceramics and watercolors. There is a mix of new and old.”
Along with artists from the local area, others came to take part in the show from Colorado, Minnesota, Michigan, Ohio, Iowa and even Canada, she said.
The event draws about 10,000 people through the weekend and offers a good synergy between the city and its businesses, she said.
“That’s our whole mission, to drive people into our businesses and we put on the event and then there are specials that our brick-and-mortar businesses are doing,” Sawicki said.
“Having people visit an art show, in times like this, it’s important to appreciate art still and take a minute to see beauty and the creative process – see people still being creative,” Sawicki said. “It’s important supporting the creative work that people do and seeing the joy it can bring in that.”
Artist John Carman, formerly of Wayne who now lives in Free Soil, Michigan, took part in the show and said he has been painting for a long time.
“I’ve been to this show before and it’s actually one of my favorites because I know a lot of people around here,” he said. “The people that run the show here are fantastic. I love the way this is laid out with the main street and the offshoots. It’s a lot but it’s not too much. I’ve been to shows with thousands of artists and it’s just too much.”
Evan Bierman of St. Charles, who came with his daughter, Sophie, 5, said the event offered a chance to look “for things for our daughters’ rooms and our living room.”
“We want some art we can display and there are a lot of great mediums,” he said while looking at some of the photo prints made by Chris Bergstrom of Omaha, Nebraska, at the show. “We’re from the city and we moved out three years ago and we’re looking for some stuff to fill the space. I’m drawn to more colorful vibrant art for the kids.”
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David Sharos is a freelance reporter for The Beacon-News.