Country Folk Art Festival stays true to its roots
Maybe you've crossed paths with Robin Reed, the new owner of the Country Folk Art Festival.
But the Robin Reed you know was creating her own work to sell at shows or running a faux painting business or devising all kinds of projects for Country Sampler's Decorating Ideas magazine in the 1990s or moving and restoring an old Lily Lake general store or selling antiques or doing the mom-with-five-kids thing.
Yes, that's the same Robin Reed.
These days one of her main pursuits is running fall shows for handmade arts and crafts, and she stages her first Country Folk Art Festival Sept. 23-25 at the Kane County Fairgrounds in St. Charles.
The show, which Reed purchased from the legendary Lee and Judy Marks of Glen Ellyn who ran it for 28 years, specializes in folk art, reproductions of antiques and traditional American crafts.
Reed knows artisans are nervous about whether the show's standards will be upheld.
“I always loved that show,” she said. “I think I bought it because I was afraid somebody else would buy it and do horrible things to it.”
She feels she is maintaining the integrity of the show, although visitors might notice works that are more primitive in style than in former shows. She gives the example of furniture made of barn wood or benches that are a little crooked.
“Some people call it comfort art or nostalgia,” Reed said. “I like folk art and I like antiques, and I like primitive antiques,” she said, dealing with the nuances long involved in defining what belongs at the Folk Art Festival.
There will also be a few antique dealers whose wares Reed thinks fit the show.
This show is traditionally smaller than many crafts shows, and Reed said there will be 40 some artisans, some with more than one booth.
Actually Reed limits all the shows run by her Art of the Heartland, Inc. to handmade items, usually with the craftsman in the booth. These are Heritage Fest, Sept. 17 and 18 in West Dundee; Autumn on the Fox during the St. Charles Scarecrow Festival, Oct. 7-9; and Christmas on the Fox, also at the Kane County Fairgrounds Nov. 26 and 27.
And there's a reason she's so adamant about this.
“Twenty-eight years ago when I started these shows, I was the mom home with five kids who needed a venue to sell my work. That's still what's in my heart. My daughter is a perfect example — trying to make some extra money.”
Her daughter, Allyson Campbell of DeKalb, knits and crochets scarves and fingerless gloves. And one of her sons-in-law, Ross Joy, who also lives in DeKalb, makes wooden toys and custom furniture.
Reed's husband, Keith, even bought a sawmill, so much of the wood Joy uses is from the family's land.
Reed's current creative medium is embroidery of pillows and other decorative objects, and visitors will see a lot of owls in her booth, a fondness she got from her late mother, Dorothy Garrison. She also decorates frames for reproductions of vintage postcards and other old Halloween and Christmas pictures.
The Reed family theme continues with everyone pitching in to do the “muscle work” when it's show time.
One of several artists who will return to display work at the Country Folk Art Festival is Nick Engelhardt of Arlington Heights, who draws nostalgic scenes with pen and ink then colors them — usually with watercolors.
“People always ask where the pictures are set, but they are all from my imagination. They remind people of New England or Door County.”
Engelhardt's work has been compared to the Americana artist Charles Wysocki, said his wife, Mary Anne.
Engelhardt, who spent a career as an illustrator, started his “fun” art drawing barns with pen and ink.
“I soon found out black and white barns are not the big thing,” he said.
Color makes his work more salable, he said, and he has found people are really interested in Halloween these days.
His pictures feature buildings, old ships, waterways and lots and lots of people.
While Engelhardt sells originals, the prints are much more affordable, starting as low as $50, and more for larger pictures and mats and frames.
If you go
<b>What: </b>Country Folk Art Festival
<b>When: </b>6-10 p.m. Friday, Sept. 23; 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 24; 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Sunday, Sept. 25
<b>Where: </b>Kane County Fairgrounds, Randall Road between Main Street or North Avenue (Route 64) and Roosevelt Road (Route 38), St. Charles
<b>Admission: </b>$8 Friday, $6 Saturday and $4 Sunday; tickets allow entrance the remaining days of show
<b>Online: </b><a href="http://www.artoftheheartlandinc.com/index.htm">Artofheartlandinc.com
<b>Call: </b></a>(815) 772-3279