Bartlett art group opens in new downtown storefront
Art heals.
That's how Linda Kay explains her painting, a mix of acrylic and molding paste she's calling "Oh, my heart" in Portuguese.
The Bartlett artist is clear it's not for sale. The piece is just for her.
"This is all the hardship in the background, all the hurt and pain I went through," says Kay, gesturing to the dark brush strokes. The fiery heart in the foreground - "This is the healing and all the lessons I learned."
The mom of two has learned to "look for the gifts in the really hard things" since her divorce. She's turned her gift - making something beautiful out of recycled stuff, she says - into a career on the suburban art show circuit.
She used to work out of her laundry room, but when Arts in Bartlett moved to a renovated, bigger space downtown, Kay and her friend, Jenny Vogt, a pastel painter, rented one of six art studios.
The volunteer-run nonprofit group recently opened in a 2,750-square-foot former hair salon, where professionals create, sell, exhibit and teach art.
This is no cold, stark white gallery. Arts in Bartlett leaders opted for an "industrial, chic" look, keeping the salon's distressed floors, high ceilings and curved walls. Darren Brady, one of the group's nearly 290 members and a jack of all trades, worked as the project's contractor for free.
His painting and his wife's photography of Chicago skyscrapers hang in a front gallery, joining handmade Christmas ornaments and jewelry. Curators plan to update that and a back gallery in early 2015.
A fundraising campaign has reached a goal of $2,000, and now Arts in Bartlett is trying to double that to pay for supplies, track lighting and other upgrades.
The move to Town Center, a mix of retailers and restaurants, marks the fourth time Arts in Bartlett has relocated. The group outgrew its last, 1,300-square-foot home, between a dentist and a law office downtown.
"It really expands our reach," says Cecilia Green, one of the group's original founders, of the new digs, 215 S. Main St.
The Bartlett International Chorus will practice in a community room, where bands can perform. Green also envisions open mic nights and movie screenings.
"Every successful downtown has some sort of entertainment venue," Green said. "Bartlett doesn't have that, so we're hoping to provide that in some small way."
Starting in January, Kay plans to teach crotchet, mixed media, painting on Yupo paper and social artworking, a popular class for parties in which friends finish paintings in one night and maybe sip a little "vino." Although she has taught kids, she prefers helping the grown-ups find their creative side at Arts in Bartlett.
"It's a professional place where we can present a lot of different arts, a lot of different disciplines," she said. "And we've got the space to really fill it up. I'm really pleased with the way it turned out."