About 3,000 people attended the 13th Mundelein Arts Festival, an annual juried festival on two consecutive days starting on Sept. 7 in Mundelein at Courtland Commons in downtown along the northeast corner of Courtland Street at Seymour Avenue.
Saturday’s weather was banner, with blue skies and temperatures in the mid-60s for the show, which featured nearly 50 artists. Sunday also had banner weather.
The Mundelein Community Connection (MCC) and the Mundelein Park & Recreation District held the festival.
“When we thought of the idea of bringing an art festival here, what we wanted to do was showcase the arts, we wanted to have it be kind of inclusive with music and we wanted our high school kids to be able to exhibit their art here,” said Arts Festival Event Chair Christa Lawrence, also marketing and communications manager at the Mundelein Park & Recreation District.
“And we really wanted just to just show off Mundelein as a great place to live and raise kids and inspire community.”
Amenities featured live music and fare for purchase.
Iva and Vasko Stankovic of Round Lake Beach, operators of Stankovic Music Learning Center of Mundelein, performed on Saturday as a duo.
“We are so honored to be invited to this beautiful event,” Iva Stankovic said with a smile between musical numbers. “Lake County, especially Mundelein, our beautiful city of Mundelein, really supports artists.”
In addition to a roster of professional artists, the Mundelein Arts Festival also showcased selected artwork by students from Carmel Catholic High School and Mundelein High School.
There were categories of prizes and both high schools each received scholarship money to award to students.
“We give Carmel Catholic High School and Mundelein High School each $1,000,” Lawrence added. “They (each school) choose which high school students they want to receive the awards, they break it up. We do this to encourage students in the arts.”
Mundelein Mayor Steve Lentz took part in the presentation of ribbon purchase prize awards to recipient artists.
“As a community, we’re committed to promoting the arts,” Lentz said. “That includes all art, visual, musical, writing, the whole spectrum.
“This festival features many different art types and it’s just important to have this to promote art in Mundelein.”
Purchase prize recipients included artists Ruth Wagner of Ringwood, Robert Hogan of Mundelein and Shawn Killackey, also of Mundelein.
The purchase prize themes featured art selected with a Vincent Van Gogh influence and the works will be placed on public display.
Hogan, a pop culture artist and painter, is influenced by Van Gogh, French post-Impressionist artist Georges Seurat, and pop artist Andy Warhol.
Hogan enjoys this festival because “it’s local.”
Wagner, a mixed media artist, uses recycled items in art and also paints. Two art pieces featured monarch butterflies with one painting selected for the green ribbon purchase prize.
“I might cry, it’s an honor,” Wagner said, of the surprise of finding out a butterfly work was selected for a purchase prize.
Wagner decided to paint monarch butterflies after a friend sent a video of the butterflies in action in San Juan Capistrano, California.
“I was kind of inspired from that to capture (monarch butterflies), they’re all moving and drying their wings…I managed to capture a moment of that,” Wagner said. “It was fun.”
Killackey’s artwork selected for a purchase prize is called “Van Gogh Style” featuring swirl strokes. The painting features a woman.
“I went through Van Gogh’s stuff and I realized he didn’t have any women, he did a lot of men or self-portraits,” Killackey said. “So I figured, ‘You know what? I’m going to throw in a woman on here.’
“And I did it all in his style,” Killackey said.
Something unexpected at the festival was the acrobatic appearance of cosplay character Spider-Man. A fan of Spider-Man was Axel Cabachuela, 4, of Mundelein.
“This (the festival) just brings the community together,” said Axel’s mother Sol Cabachuela. “I think it’s great for the kids.
“We look forward to it.”
Mary Szostak of Mundelein, formerly of Northbrook, left the event premises with several purchases.
“I enjoy talking to some of the artists and hearing about their background,” Szostak said. “It’s a nice different representation of all media.”
Learn more about the Mundelein Community connection at: https://mundeleincommunityconnection.org.
According to its website, the “Mundelein Community Connection (MCC) is a not-for-profit organization dedicated to the economic development, historic preservation and healthy community spirit of Mundelein’s central business district.
“Working together we provide an atmosphere where new and established businesses can grow and where families find the hometown they always wanted,” the website indicates.
Karie Angell Luc is a freelancer for Pioneer Press.
