FPR_WJ_GarageGalleries_2023

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photo: Lin Beribak

Garage Galleries showcases art in non-traditional setting

On Saturday, August 26, 2023 from 12-6 p.m., Forest Park garages transform into galleries showcasing art of all types at Garage Galleries Forest Park, A Neighborhood Art Walk. Garage Galleries Forest Park, now in its 9th year, is a free, volunteer-driven neighborhood art walk, coordinated by Lin Beribak, Susan Cross, Andrea DiFebo and Rick Wagner from the Forest Park Arts Alliance. Residents throughout the neighborhoods of Forest Park will host local area artists in their garages to display their work in a casual, family-friendly, “art reception” atmosphere

This year’s event is the largest ever, with 87 artists in 32 garages across Forest Park. Each garage hosts several artists in all mediums,

including painting, photography, pottery, sculpture, mixed media, and jewelry. Most of the featured artwork will be available for purchase. There are also a few added attractions at several locations, including a Express Yourself – A Kids & Adults Painting Station, Chef Ashley Culinary Treats and Demonstration, and Smoky Joel’s Hot Dogs, Brown Cow Ice Cream, and a Hydration Station - Free Iced Team & Water. Each artist is featured on the Garage Galleries website with a photo of their work, description, and links to their websites or social media. “We have a great slate of artists for this year’s event, including many new artists,” states Beribak. “We expanded this year and still had a waiting list.”

“This free, family-friendly event is open to everyone and is a great way to see terrific art in a casual and welcoming setting at your own pace,” stated Cross.

“Our host garages are incredibly welcoming to the artists, and it’s a wonderful way to explore the neighborhoods of Forest Park,” adds DiFebo. “We are also very grateful for our supporting sponsor, Lauren Burjan @ Properties, and supporting sponsor O’Sullivan’s as well as Community Media for this special section on Garage Galleries.”

Attendees are encouraged to visit as many garages as possible, by car, bicycle or on foot. A downloadable and a printable version of the map of locations

and their artists is available on the website, https://garagegalleries17. wixsite.com/garagegalleries and printed maps will be available at each garage site. Visitors can also pick up printed maps at Centuries and Sleuths Bookstore, 7419 Madison Street, Forest Park.

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2023 Garage Locations

A list of garage locations, an online Google map, and information on the artists, is also available at the Garage Galleries website: www.tinyurl.com/GarageGalleries, and printed maps are available at Centuries & Sleuths, 7419 Madison Street, Forest Park.

1. 114 Elgin Avenue

Anthony Izzo | Kirby Longbrake

2. 122 Elgin Avenue

Hunter Bloom | Christina Cho

Janette Kazar | Rick Wagner

3. 220 Elgin Avenue

Mark Hadhazy | Forestt LaFave

Carla Riseman

4. 301 Elgin Avenue

Kristy Fleming|Joel Heinz|Natalie Ward

5. 529 Elgin Ave

Kathryn Budd | Peter Budd | Judy Steed

6. 433 Circle Avenue

Bret Juliano | Marcy Shannon

Elyse Townley

7. 435 Circle Avenue

Amira Aziz | Shannon Carrroll

Claire Rasmussen

8. 446 Thomas Avenue

Gretchen Jankowski

Dominique MacLean | Natalie Steinmetz

9. 432 Thomas Avenue

Rosemary Gange | Alex Ptak

10. 418 Thomas Avenue

Emily Pfaff | Ian Pfaff

11. 505 Thomas Avenue

Louise Brueggemann | Brenda Merle

Rafael Nieves

12. 541 Thomas Ave.

Rosemarie Dagostino | Cynthia Riccolo

Theresa Steinbach

13. 541 Beloit Avenue

Priscilla Putman

14. 540 Ferdinand Avenue

Cheryl Ann Spran | Nikki Way

15. 505 Ferdinand Avenue

Bridget Lane | Chuck Michalak

16. 509 Ferdinand Avenue

Lin Beribak|Kiera Pohl |Amethist Young

17. 7633 Jackson Boulevard

Gary Jackson

18. 625 Thomas Avenue

Doug Besser | Judith Deszcz

Randy Gallagher | Lynn Harris

Kristi Murray|Trish Walters|Pat Williams

Get Proactive with Large Trees

19. 609 Marengo Avenue

Karen Hoyer | Lynn Merel

Patrick Palsgrove |Pamela Seatter

20. 843 Circle Avenue

Cameron Wilson

21. 905 Circle Avenue

Kimberly Adami-Hasegawa

Andria Green

22. 904 Marengo Avenue

Nancy Gardner | Deana Rose

Kate Strong

23. 920 Marengo Avenue

Tamara Koransky | Carolyn Moore

24. 1040 Elgin Avenue

Nannette Abate

25. 1126 Circle Avenue

Pat Dougherty|Kerry Obrist|Ethan Rosa

26. 1046 Thomas Avenue

Ralph Earlandson | Tom Van Dyke

27. 1110 Thomas Avenue

Dima Ali |Gretchen Colavito|Jim Pareti

28. 1035 Thomas Avenue

Therese Angarone | Dawn Pavloski

Shannon Roman Gosciejew

29. 1120 Beloit Avenue

Rob Sall

30. 1129 Ferdinand Avenue

Julieta Aguilera | Gagik Aroutiunian

Clare McCarthy

31. 1101 Lathrop Avenue

Sue Bailey | Stacey Belmont

Carole Benson-Weinberg|Sue Senkowski

32. 1026 Lathrop Avenue

Lauri Dishman | Ted Gordon

Kat Tuesday

2022 Garage Location list & online Google map: www.tinyurl.com/GarageGalleries

Added Attractions!

Despite a recent surge in heat and humidity, we have had a few hints of the fall season coming upon us. That raises a question: what does a proactive landscaping approach look like this time of year?

The answer: plant large trees and evergreens.

Here’s why: the fall brings lower ground and air temperatures, resulting in rates of evaporation that decrease significantly. This allows more moisture to be retained over a longer period of time—a key fundamental to properly establishing a root system.

Also keep in mind that before the ground freezes, it is important to apply anti-desiccant sprays �Wilt-Pruf is recommended) to minimize the moisture loss to transpiration, as cold winter winds are able to pull moisture out of the still-living plant tissues.

When spring rolls around, as the ground unfreezes (along with the snowpack), there is moisture available to help kick-start your tree’s growth for the next season.

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Scott McAdam Jr.

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Dealing with illness, Gary Jackson finds solace in art

Returns to Garage Galleries as reputation grows

By TOM HOLMES

Contributing Reporter

If an article had been written about Gary Jackson at the end of August last year, the headline might have been “Forest Park resident’s sales at Garage Galleries total $2,500.”

The headline this year could be, “Local artist’s painting appraised at $27,000,” and the article might have a sidebar with the lead sentence, “Oh yes, he has myasthenia gravis, can’t hold a brush, so he paints with his fingers!”

Jackson will return to the Forest Park Art Alliances Garage Galleries this weekend.

The first chapter in the story of the 59-year-old’s rapid rise in the art world documents an unpromising beginning. Ten years ago he was diagnosed with myasthenia gravis. A Mayo Clinic website describes MG this way, “Myasthenia gravis causes muscles under your voluntary control to feel weak and get tired quickly. There’s no cure for myasthenia gravis. Symptoms can include weakness of arm or leg muscles, double vision, drooping eyelids, and problems with speaking, chewing, swallowing and breathing.”

Extremely depressed, he went on disability and moved from Forest Park in 2018 into a building for seniors in Houston, Texas. As you might expect, living in that environment caused him to be bored in addition to being depressed, adding insult, so to speak, to injury.

What happened next is a testimony to Jackson’s resilience and creativity. He impulsively stopped at a Hobby Lobby in Houston one day and, although he had never painted before in his life, bought some painting supplies. When he got home he discovered that the MG had weakened the small motor muscles in his fingers, and so he said to himself, “OK. If I can’t hold a brush, I will paint with my fingers.”

He moved back to Forest Park

and oil painting became part of his emotional and spiritual recovery. But he never expected to make money doing what he had come to love. He said one day he was hosting Poetry in the Park on Harrison Street and had set up some of his paintings. Then one day he was just outside the Park on Harrison St. where some kind of poetry reading was going on. He had set up some of his paintings, a woman stopped by to check them out and bought one for $250.

During the first six months he was painting, he sold his originals for “next to nothing.” “During the second six months,” he said, “I started selling 16x20 canvases for less than $20. Then I raised my prices to 50 bucks, and what people will pay now for prints keeps going up.”

Today one of his originals is valued at $27,000, and he has sold over 500 prints made from that one original. In the last 12 months the income from the sale of his art has been in the five-figure range.

Always a creative soul, Jackson is now painting on vinyl records he buys at thrift stores instead of on canvas. He did a show this month in Cleveland, the theme of which was Mental Illness.

For Jackson this chapter in his life is kind of a spiritual chicken and egg story. His trying something new in the Hobby Lobby store three years ago was perhaps a sign that he was on the road to recovery, but the art he is producing has also contributed to that same recovery.

“I now see life differently,” he said. “I was depressed. I was thinking about all of the things I could no longer do. One day I woke up, and God said to me, ‘You’ve spent your entire life overcoming things, so now you’re ready to give up? Stop worrying about what you can’t do and focus on what you can. Stop worrying about what was taken away from you and deal with what is left. Make that the best part of your life.’”

Gary Jackson

Centuries & Sleuths Bookstore

Nannette Abate

1040 Elgin Ave

Photographs of iconic Chicagoland locations adding a unique contemporary edge nannetteabate@gmail.com Instagram@nannette_abate

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Kimberly Adami-Hasegawa

905 Circle Ave

Typewriter greetings adorned with vintage postage

KimberlyAH.com

Instagram: @galaxiesafari Facebook: @galaxiesafari

Shannon Carroll

435 Circle Ave

Handmade fused glass creations inspired by nature. WhatShannonMakes.net/ fusedglass

Therese Angarone

1035 Thomas Ave

My work is stylized/organic, that comments on feminism, sexism, and other social issues. Follow on Insta @territhereseart

SEE

Gretchen C.

1110 Thomas Ave

Handmade jewelry for all occasions combining seed beads, crystals and gemstones with multiple bead weaving techniques.

Instagram - Facebook: gretchencstudio

www.gretchenc.com

Chrissy Cho

122 Elgin Ave

Wheel-thrown and hand-built ceramics and tie-dyed textiles made in Oak Park. @Studio_Chrissy Studiochrissy@gmail.com

Lin Beribak

509 Ferdinand

Abstract and realistic original watercolor paintings, GiftCards, and greeting card prints. LinBeribakArt.com | lberibak@att.net

Nancy Gardner

904 Marengo Ave

Nancy Gardner designs and makes her one of a kind ceramics in her Forest Park studio.  nancygardnerceramics.com

instagram@nancygardnerceramics

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RoseMary Gange

432 Thomas Ave

Abstract paintings and collages employing acrylic mixed media.

Instagram: camilleetfamille

Joel Heinz

301 Elgin Ave

Unique one of a kind hand built ceramics heinzkepots.blogspot.com instagram@heinzke

Karen Hoyer / Dot’s Recycling

609 Marengo Ave

Karen knits tiny birds to bring whimsy into your life. DotsRecycling.etsy.com

Mark Hadhazy

220 Elgin Ave

Hand painted watercolor art work. Plantable Cards, Bookmarks and paintings. Best way to reach me: markhadhazy@gmail.com

Tamara Koransky Art

920 Marengo Ave

Tamara creates mandala designs on furniture, wood, canvas and paper.

instagram: instagram.com/tkoranskyart

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Rafael “Unca Raffy” Nieves

505 Thomas Ave

Creating digital prints that celebrate Chicago and the Western Suburbs! www.rafnieves.com

by

IZZO 114 Elgin Ave

Electric•Colorful•sculptural•

Follow IZZO on Facebook and Instagram IZZOizzm or contact at izzoizzma@gmail.com

Alex Ptak

432 Thomas Ave

Original Still Life oil paintings Ptakstudio.com

Bridget Lane

505 Ferdinand

Enjoy the comfort of handmade mugs and tumblers, decor too. Facebook: Bridget Lane Potter | bridgetlanepotter53@gmail.com

garage galleries sponsored

Brenda Merle

505 Thomas Ave

Handmade beaded jewelry and artwork. Instagram: dayofvibrancy

Kiera Pohl

(Kiera P Handmade Jewelry)

509 Ferdinand Ave

Simple and classic jewelry made from 14k gold-filled and sterling silver metals. @kierapjewelry on Instagram

Priscilla Putman

541 Beloit Ave

Watercolor & hand-lettered paper goods & gifts for the simple, artful life. thesimplepalette.com

IG & FB @thesimplepalette

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Cynthia Riccolo

541 Thomas Ave

Creating colorful art for your homeArt by CDR, Artist and Printmaker www.instagram.com/art_by_cdr_/

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Deana Rose 904 Morengo Drive

Semi-precious jewelry that highlights the inherent beauty of natural stones.  www.deanarose.com

Rob Sall Photography

1120 Beloit Ave

Changing perspectives of our planet… one location, one story, one photograph at a time.  facebook.com/robsallphoto   www.robsall.com

Judy Steed

529 Elgin Ave

Hand cut stained glass with upcycled jewelry.

Facebook: Judy Steed

Amethist Young

509 Ferdinand

Abstract paintings and various photo prints instagram.com/amethistyart

Strong Wear/ Kate Strong

904 Marengo Ave

Practical hats with earflaps and style. strongwear.com instagram@strongwear.com

Rick Wagner

122 Elgin Ave

Abstract acrylic canvas paintings, Mixed media acrylic prints. rickwagner122@yahoo.com

Facebook@RAW Arts

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