ARTS
Reflections on Visual and Performing Arts By Michelle Dybal Arts Contributor
N
ow that the arts are fully open, and with hopes that it will stay that way, three artists reflect on what has transpired the past couple of years and what is happening now.
Visual Art
Visual artist and Dancing Krow studio and gallery owner Karen Schuman is a founding member of the Oak Park Arts District, which began in the mid-1990s. Schuman said she shares the gallery at 43 Harrison St., “with several talented artists in the area to showcase all of our work.” There are nearly 20 artists represented at the gallery. The past two years is not the first time Schuman has seen change. The 26-yearold studio/gallery, which had different names and addresses, “has morphed from a very active group of artists with crowded openings into a very intimate group of middle-aged to elderly artists, more interested in doing their craft than making sales,” she said. During COVID closures, these artists continued creating and displaying their work at the gallery. This led to photographing the art and posting it to social media (facebook.com/DancingKrow), which increased the artists’ audience and sales, Schuman
MARC STOPECK
Karen Schuman is a visual artist and owner of Dancing Krow Studio and gallery. said. New shelving was also installed in the gallery windows to show artwork and artists’ contact information to those walking by. As an artist, Schuman said, “I made good use of the quiet time.” She uses dyed and painted fabric, along with quilting, beadwork and crochet in her art. The techniques give “depth and dimensionality” and “define the subjects that invoke a mythical realm, often trees, women, water, …” Schuman said she is influenced by Peruvian shamanic teachings. “I hope that the space I have created continues its
mission of calling on everyone to find the artist within,” she said. “… My hopes for myself and my fellow artists is that, in spite of the turmoil the world finds itself in, that the creativity of our human spirits goes on and prevails, and we continue as a small force of nature in the art realm.” “It is the art that defines the society in the end,” she said.
Theater
August Forman is an Artistic Associate with Oak Park Festival Theatre (oakparkfestival.com). As an active member of the Chicago-area theater scene,
they received the Jeff Award in 2019 for Performer in a Supporting Role. They are also a playwright. Before the pandemic, Forman said, they pushed themselves beyond what they should have, and often felt exhausted. When everything shut down due to COVID, it “lit a fire to take a look at why I love theater and what kind of theater I want to return to,” they said. It also became a time to slow down and evaluate. “I’m a better actor for it,” they said. “I’m doing it because ARTS, continued on page 10
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