ENJOY THIS SNEAK PEEK!! Blue Moon Gallery, located at 18620 Belvidere Road in Grayslake IL launches 2024 Art Season with 5th Annual Juried Exhibition & Competition featuring more than 47 pieces of bird-related art.
Blue Moon Gallery is re-opening after a winter hiatus on Saturday, March 23, with an Opening Reception from 6-9pm. The public is cordially invited to experience “It’s for the Birds” -- the gallery’s first exhibition of the year, a juried fine art exhibition and competition featuring 44 selected artists and nearly 50 pieces of art celebrating the avian world of beauty of wonder.
That evening the gallery will also launch its 2024 Collective Artists for the year. In the gallery’s call-to-artists, “It's for the Birds” as a fine art exhibition aimed to entice artists to visually explore many ideas around the exciting world of birds, including their immense beauty and diversity as a species, and various bird-related subjects such as nests, eggs, feathers, flight, and wings. Since birds symbolize freedom, new beginnings, perspective, communication, music, travel, and connections to the spiritual realm, the gallery also encouraged artists to delve into bird symbolism and how to interpret these ideas in two- and three-dimensional expression.
The world of birds is a common yet vibrant part of our everyday conversation so for inspiration the gallery also gave artists a long list of various phrases & idioms related to birds, such as: bird’s eye view, a little bird told me, fly the coop, birds of a feather flock together, lame duck, wild goose chase, the early bird gets the worm, get your ducks in a row, feather one’s nest, don't chicken out, empty nest, bird-brain, and so on. Finally, in response to the exhibition's title, the gallery also posed a thought question: what can we “do” then for the birds? Artists were encouraged to think broadly in their visual expression.
Over 120 pieces of art related to birds, created by regional artists from Illinois and Wisconsin, were submitted for consideration by guest juror, Scott Jay Marr of Palm Springs CA, a professional artist and retired Scenic & Costume Designer for the Chicago Lyric Opera. Over 25 different mediums were represented. Marr selected 47 pieces created by 44 artists for the exhibition.
“The response from artists has been breath-taking. The result is a fine art exhibition that is stunning in its beauty, captivating in its varied yet themed subject matter, exemplary in quality -- each piece is outstanding in technique and execution -- and where elicited emotions of joy, awe, humor, poignancy, and respect for artists, artistry, and these magnificent winged creatures truly do soar to the heights.” said Kendra Kett, Gallery Director.
The selected artists for “It’s for the Birds” are: Sanjukta Acharya, Maria Ananieva, Kristin Ashley, Maddy Asma, Matt Bellefeuille, Marcia Biasiello, Cynthia Boudreau, Sinead Carus, Paulette Colo, Rudy DeRam, Jane Ellefson, Jeanne Garrett, Allison Hausladen, Robert Hilger, Missy Isely Poltrock, Chuck Keller, Julia Kemerer, Kathy Kerner, Marie Luc, Terry Luc, Mike McGuire, Sarah McNabb, Christine Miller, Kristen Neveu, Julie Nykiel, Laura O’Connor, Tara Riley, Jaynanne Ridder, Amy Robillard, Aruna Sarode, Sandra Saxton, Carol May Scott, Linda Scholly, Phil Schorn, Mary Seyfarth, Barbara Skiba-Poniatowski, Kat Strack, Louise Villegas, Mary Voegeli, Marilyn Weisberg, Gail Willert, Kelly Witte, Jeff Wozniak, Debra Zare.
The gallery is hosting an Opening Reception on Saturday, March 23, from 6-9pm where visitors can see the exhibition, meet artists, and socialize. The gallery is located at 18620 Belvidere Road in Grayslake IL. Parking is free and more information is available at www.thebluemoongallery.com
Blue Moon is also launching its 2024 Collective Artists alongside “It’s for the Birds.” In this year’s collective, Juli Janovicz of Kenosha WI returns for her 3rd year with watercolor florals & abstract “lake effect” vistas of Lake Michigan. John Kirkpatrick of Libertyville IL returns for his 5th year with a new and exclusive collection of acrylic paintings featuring birds and butterflies. Ginny Krueger of Grayslake IL, is new to the collective this year, and is an encaustic and water media artist. She is presenting a wide variety of mixed media works including watercolor, encaustic paintings, and assemblages. Also new, Grayslake IL painter Matthew Padilla is presenting oil paintings featuring figurative geometric abstraction. Kendra Kett of Gurnee IL, artist and gallery owner, returns with her collection of painted “cellular” drawings.
The gallery will commence its regular weekend gallery hours starting Sunday, March 24, from 1-4pm, and weekends thereafter. Visit the gallery’s website for holiday hours.