​Happy holidays from Oak Street Art! 2019 has been a big year for us. In addition to holding our annual Oak Street Art Fair (with 30+ artists, 7 live musical acts, and children's art projects) in April, we also held two First Friday Art Walk open houses in September and October. Then in November was our Holiday Art Sale with our own members and a few friends. 

We also continued our work in the community by creating art lessons and working with second-grade children at the Gen. John A. Logan Attendance Center. Beyond that, we coordinated children's art projects for Father's Day gift making at the Murphysboro Youth and Recreation Center and a winter holiday ornament-making project as part of the Murphysboro Hometown Christmas celebration.

In a happy surprise, Oak Street Art was given a WSIU “Good Neighbor” award for June 2019! According to WSIU, this award “recognizes those who make a positive impact in the community.” We are grateful for second-grade teacher Tabitha Harris for nominating us.

Another big deal was officially moving our headquarters to the old Jones House (401 S. 16th St., Murphysboro, Illinois) in the Logan Historic Arts Neighborhood, thanks to generous space-sharing by the Gen. John A. Logan Museum and director Michael Jones. People-wise, we said goodbye to a few old member/friends moving on to other projects (thank you, Shirley Krienert and Rachel Malcolm Ensor) and welcomed a new one (welcome, Stephanie Dillard). 

Below is a photo of our December holiday get-together with the six current members. FRONT row, left to right: Darby Ortolano (ceramics), Sue Gindlesparger (metals, jewelry), Luca Cruzat (printmaking), Cathy Schmidt (leather), Stephanie Dillard (stained glass). BACK row, all alone: Ann R. Fischer (photography).

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. ​

Be on the lookout for a feature (and some photos) in April. We'll let you know!

Jennifer will edit things down to about 6 minutes for a spot (in April) on her Morning Conversation series. Stay tuned!

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! 

Read the full profile at www.ilikeillinois.com/living/arts-culture/624-artist-of-the-month-darby-ortolano. 

​Thanks to the Carbondale Times for publishing a piece about our recent fine arts fair, held September 23!

Two of the six founding members of the Oak St. Art Group (Rachel Malcolm Ensor and Sue Gindlesparger) were quoted as they spoke about their vision for the fair. ​Read the full story here: Oak Street Art Fair: Using Art to Revitalize the Community.

For us, one highlight of the article was the final paragraph: 

We had a blast during this morning's radio interview with Murphsyboro Mayor Will Stephens! Listen to Oak St. Art Group Members Rachel Malcolm Ensor, Sue Gindlesparger, and Ann Fischer talk about the Oak St. Fine Arts Fair, coming up Saturday, September 23.

• INTERVIEW HERE via Soundcloud: https://soundcloud.com/radio-will/oak-street-art-fair-2017