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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). 
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If you have been keeping up with Oak Street Art, you know that this year we have been involved with an educational outreach program in Murphysboro. Metalsmith artist Sue Gindlesparger presented a lesson to three second grades at General John A. Logan Attendance Center on Wednesday, February 20th. The focus of the lesson was Adinkra Cloth (with roots in Ghana), and the personal symbols found on the traditional cloth. Students created their own symbols using a base of styrofoam, and then printed their creations on cloth squares. The squares will be displayed together creating classroom quilts. You can see from the pictures that the students are enjoying the art lessons - lots of learning and creativity involved! Teachers participating in the outreach program will be heading up our Children’s Art Tent at the annual Oak Street Art Fair on Saturday, April 27th.
In a multidisciplinary activity combining literature and art, two second grade classrooms at the General John A Logan Attendance Center created dream catchers under the instruction of leatherwork artist and Oak Street Art member Cathy Schmidt (pictured below in white Oak Street Art apron). The students worked very hard on their individual projects. The smiles below show their enjoyment, pride, and success in creating art! The participating teachers have agreed to head up the Children’s Art Tent at the annual Oak Street Art Fair in April 2019. Keep checking back for more details on art activities in these classrooms.
  Thanks to Blaine Ensor and George Mendez for sharing their photos from the 2018 fair! Hover for captions, or click to begin a lightbox slideshow with captions. If you have other photos you're willing to share, please post them on our Facebook page, post to Instagram using the #oakstreetartfair tag, or click to email them to Ann. Come on, 2019! Two Oak Street Art members are happy to have works on display in the Civic Center Corridor Gallery in Carbondale, Illinois. The exhibit Focal Point is sponsored by Carbondale Community Arts and includes photos by our own Darby Ortolano (first photo below) and Ann R. Fischer (second photo below).
Running from May 31 through June 29, 2018, the exhibit is available for viewing on weekdays between 8 a.m. and 5 p.m., as well as during public events. We hope you will stop by the Civic Center at 200 South Illinois Ave. in Carbondale (map below). In addition to seeing photos by Darby and Ann, you will also find images by many other southern Illinois community members, including two artists who participated in our 2018 Oak Street Fine Arts Fair: Eldon Benz and Helen Ashraf.
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.
We are so grateful to the organizations and businesses supporting the 2018 art fair coming up Saturday! (See links below the graphic.) Event RSVP here. 
Yes, yes, yes! Come out to Oak St. in Murphysboro on Saturday, April 21, for our 2018 Fine Arts Fair, 10am to 5pm. Highlights:
Feel free to download and share the poster below, and please remember to RSVP via our Facebook event page. 
Beyond the scheduled projects, we will have drawing supplies available during these times, so kids can add to an ongoing Children's Mural. RSVP for the fair at www.facebook.com/events/138503296972475/. Feel free to download and share the poster below!  |
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