Oakbrook Center hosts art to appreciate

If we can agree that art is in the eye of the beholder - and who are we to argue with clichés? - then there were lots of beholders Sunday at Oakbrook Center for the outdoor mall's 54th annual Fine Art Festival.

The weekend fest featured roughly 100 artists displaying their works for thousands of visitors in a juried show that truly offered something for almost every taste, from oil paintings and photographs to sculptures and leather works.

"We are enjoying this art fair and being outside," said Katie Sawyer of Aurora, who was browsing and buying artwork with her parents, Skeeter and Larry Aschinger of Aurora. "It's definitely good quality artwork here, better than most art fairs, and reasonably priced."

For visitors who were a little young to appreciate all that art work, there was a youth tent where kids could try their hands at a variety of crafts, working with clay and even coloring pages.