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Oak Street Art Painter Rachel Malcolm Ensor to Give Talk Friday, June 21, at Longbranch

6/6/2019

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Oak Street Art painter Rachel Malcolm Ensor, whose paintings are hanging at the Longbranch Cafe and Bakery through July 1, 2019, will discuss African Americanisms: Aesthetics of Freedom. See the flyer below. Come join Rachel for the talk on Friday, June 21, 2019 from 6 to 8 p.m. at Longbranch. 
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Oak Street Art featured in Life & Style magazine ("Collective Souls," Summer 2018)

5/21/2018

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What is Oak Street Art all about? Check out the Summer 2018 edition of Life & Style magazine to find out! 
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A few weeks before the 2018 Oak Street Fine Arts Fair, we spent a fun morning talking with reporter Chanda Green as Byron Hetzler snapped photos. 
We loved the new feature story, Collective Souls: Oak Street Artists Nurture the Connections between Art and Community. Pick up a copy of the (beautiful, full-color, glossy) magazine where The Southern Illinoisan is sold, and see Chanda's story and Byron's photos online at the Life & Style website here. ​
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Stay Tuned for WSIU Morning Conversation with Oak Street Art

3/5/2018

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Last Friday, Oak Street Art welcomed a special guest, WSIU radio news anchor Jennifer Fuller. Recording equipment in tow, Jennifer led a fun and spirited 30-minute dialogue with us at our headquarters at RME Studio (formerly the Murphysboro School of Art) in Murphysboro. 
Jennifer will edit things down to about 6 minutes for a spot (in April) on her Morning Conversation series. Stay tuned!
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Art and Grace (by Rachel Malcolm Ensor)

1/24/2018

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A couple of years ago I gave one of my handmade bookmarks to a good friend. 
I received an email from her a week ago about the bookmark. Her father has been in the hospital and very ill. My friend has been caring for him and feeling extremely lonely. She sat down to read and escape from her daily trials and found my bookmark. Instantly the bookmark reminded her of me and our friendship and quelled her loneliness--so much so that she emailed a thank you.​
Grace keeps on giving because the bookmark--my bit of grace--helped me in a time I was reflecting on missing my mother, who had passed the previous year.​
So in a sense my gift of art returned grace to me in my time of reflecting on my loss.
I've come to the conclusion that in our creative work we are at our best, and that equates to grace. So when we freely give to others our creativeness, we are sharing our grace.
INVITATION: Do you have a story of art and grace? We'd love to hear, so please share it in the comments below. 
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Darby Ortolano of Oak St. Art Group, Is Artist of the Month in "I Like Illinois"

11/16/2017

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Ceramic artist and Oak Street Art Group member Darby Ortolano is featured in the November 15 issue of "I Like Illinois" as the Artist of the Month! 
In the profile article, Darby talks about her early days as an artist in the Chelsea neighborhood of New York City and about the "three glorious years" she spent working on her Master of Fine Arts degree at Southern Illinois University. You can also hear Darby's thoughts on living and working in beautiful southern Illinois, as well as on where she draws inspiration for her art, which "speaks for itself."
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Read the full profile at www.ilikeillinois.com/living/arts-culture/624-artist-of-the-month-darby-ortolano. 
Brava, Darby!
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Art in Everyday Life: When Is a Mug Not "Just" a Mug? (with Rachel Malcolm Ensor)

9/20/2017

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Painter and Oak St. Art Group member Rachel Malcolm Ensor talks about art in everyday life.

My husband and I support our local community by making purchases in our community. Recently we refined our goal even more by deciding to purchase handmade items for our home, particularly our kitchen, from artists in the area. Also when we go out of town, we seek out galleries and make purchases as we can.  Our most recent goal is to collect mugs made by artists, particularly really well-known artists, because this way, we can have something that is a specific work of art that we use every day, So we're integrating art into our daily lives.  
This connects to the idea of the Bauhaus in early 20th century Germany, that art should be part of our every day experience: The teapot should be a work of art, the glass we drink out of should be a work of art, and the chair we sit in should be a work of art.  We already had an extensive collection of art and artifacts, but they're not utilitarian. So this is a new thing for us, and we are loving it. 
As a friend of mine told me about bookmarks that I make, "You know, every time I read that book and use your bookmark, I think of you." And we do the same thing when we drink out of a cup made by [ceramic artists] Darby Ortolano or Rob Lorenz. We think of them and appreciate their artistry.

Posted by Ann Fischer on behalf of Rachel Malcolm Ensor
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  • Home
  • Art Fair
  • Community
  • Events
  • About Us / Artists
    • Luca Cruzat (printmaking)
    • Stephanie Dillard (stained glass)
    • Sue Gindlesparger (metals, jewelry)
    • Darby Ortolano (ceramics)
    • Cathy Schmidt (leather)
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