Park Forest, IL—(ENEWSPF)— Glassware, paintings, photographs, jewelry and other forms of fine art will be exhibited and available for purchase at the 52nd Annual Park Forest Art Fair. The fair has more than 100 artists and artisans displaying and selling original artworks and features live entertainment, a variety of foods, and activities for the children.
This year’s Art Fair celebrates its 52nd Anniversary, making this event one of the longest running suburban art fairs in existence. As such, this event has become a family affair, embracing new and past exhibiting artists.
The Park Forest Art Fair will be held from 10 a.m. –5 p.m. on September 15 & 16 in Downtown Park Forest, IL. The public is invited and admission is free.
Some of the artists, such as Mark Corriero and Grant White, who will be participating in this year’s fair, also have their work currently exhibited at the Tall Grass Art Gallery’s Gift shop which is located at 367 Artists Walk in Park Forest.
“I love nature!” Exclaims the self taught artist, Mark Corriero. As such, Corriero enjoys letting the images emerge from natural elements such as wood and/or logs.
Grant White, the well known sculptor specializes in bronze. White’s art work reflects both the positive and negative aspects of life. White grew up on the south side of Chicago and currently resides in Ford Heights. Grant proclaims that art connects him to the community. He has always had great passion for art and can recall the support of his adoring Grandmother who helped him draw as a child with crayons. Last year, Grant White’s artwork was chosen to be part of the Tall Grass Gallery’s permanent collection.
Several of last year’s prize winners, such as Ginny Raftery and Phil Sapienza will also be returning to the fair. Ginny Raftery enjoys experimenting with color, texture and form. “I have so many artistic ideas; I’m having trouble finding the time to complete everything,” says Raftery. “The world of imagination, nature, and spirituality are what fascinates me.”
Raftery conveys a sense of hope through her use of color, line, value, texture, form and subject matter. Raftery’s representations of such realistic images as trees, the moon, and stars reflect this sense of hope throughout her paintings. Her philosophy is that life at times can be challenging as well as complex, but primarily, life is a precious gift.
Like Raftery, the acrylic painter, Suzanne Dreher also loves color. Dreher’s paintings always begin by her blocking off color and she slowly builds the layers of color unto the canvas. This self taught artist describes her style as being somewhere between realism and impressionism. She enjoys working in a variety of mediums such as acrylics, oil and/or watercolors. Currently, she is working on a mural for the Crete Community.
Carol Boyajian’s art work demonstrates her great love of animals and their interaction with mankind. Like many children, Boyajian loved horses and wanted a horse of her own. Since her family lived in Chicago, there was no opportunity for Boyajian to own or raise a horse. For Boyajian, drawing horses was the next best thing to owning one.
Boyajian’s art depicts horses living with the buffalo and other game animals within natural wildlife.
Constantly evolving and inviting changes to her artistic abilities is returning jeweler, Cynthia Russakoff. She at the age of 16 made her musical début with the New Orleans Philharmonic Symphony.”\
Jewelry and music are connected.” says Russakoff, “They share in common, endless potential of possibilities. To me, the art of jewelry is like capturing a musical composition frozen in time. What music and jewelry have in common is their sense of rhythm, color, and texture.” Throughout the years, Russakoff has enjoyed developing different styles and creating various artworks. She has taught over 25 years and currently, these past five years has exhibited at the fair.
“Outdoors is my comfort, my muse, and what I love to paint” says the artist, Marikay Peter Witlock. She enjoys painting landscapes that are real and very familiar to her. It is her emotional connection to the world.
During the fair on exhibit in the TGAA Gallery which is located on Main Street at 367 Artists Walk in Downtown Park Forest, will be works of art that range from the highly realistic to the whimsical, from single abstract prints to multi-part installations. The Tall Grass Arts Association is proud to announce its exhibition of ‘INK’, works from the Chicago Printmakers Collaborative which will be on display from August 17th through September 29, 2007. This exhibit will include etchings, engravings, wood block prints, lithographs, serigraphs, monoprints and mixed media approaches to printmaking by sixteen member artists associated with the Collaborative: Hiroshi Ariyama, Joel Dugan, Doug Gapinski, John Himmelfarb, Carrie Iverson, Deborah Maris Lader, Kim Laurel, Kate McQuillen, Steve Mueller, Duffy O’Connor, Dennis O’Malley, Heather Page, Artemio Rodriguez, Anatole Upart and Miles Votek. The Chicago Printmakers Collaborative, founded by artist Deborah Maris Lader in 1989 and located in Chicago’s Lincoln Square neighborhood, is a facility and community dedicated to promoting the art of the handmade print through shop access, classes and workshops, lectures and exhibitions. The CPC has served as a studio for more than 100 members from fourteen different countries.
For more information about the Park Forest Art Fair, September 15 & 16 in Downtown Park Forest, call the Tall Grass Arts Association at 708-748-3377 or visit www.tallgrassarts.org. This event is sponsored in part by a grant from the Chicago Southland Convention and Visitors Bureau. www.visitchicagosouthland.com /
888-895-8233
