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Naperville Woman's Club fair showcases 110 artists

Lisle artist Susan R. Wilson's works have plenty in common with the great masters. Like them, she paints in oils.

But if you happen to find her creating a landscape or seascape outdoors as she's inspired by the vistas at the Morton Arboretum or other scenic spots, you surely won't see her dipping a brush into paints and applying them to canvas like those classical artists before her.

Wilson's style is uniquely hers - oil stick on birch panel.

"I've never come across any artist that does strictly oil stick," she said. "I like it because your hands are directly in the paint. There is no brush between you and the paint. I'm a fast painter. I want to see my vision on the easel and I want to see it fast."

Art lovers can see Wilson's work for themselves this weekend at the 59th annual Naperville Woman's Club Fine Art Fair, which features the work of more than 110 selected artists from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday and Sunday, June 23 and 24, at Naper Settlement, 523 S. Webster St., Naperville.

"It's the longest continually running art fair in Illinois," said Julie Cunningham, club past-president. "Originally, it was held in Central Park behind our building on Washington Street."

The philanthropic club's 85 members raise money for a variety of charities. The group owns the Old Stone Church, a Washington Street structure built in 1899 by German settlers and sold to the club in 1925.

In 1969, less than a decade after it started, the fair became a juried fine art fair and moved to its current location at the tree-shaded Naper Settlement museum village. For the second consecutive year, the event is being staged in June rather than in July.

"We moved it for a couple of reasons," Cunningham said. "It's just so hot in July."

The group also wanted to temporally distance the event from Fourth of July celebrations and vacations. The date change worked out well last year, Cunningham said.

"We had about 10,000 people attend last year," she said. "That was about a 35 percent increase over previous years."

Though the fair aims mainly to bring art to the community, it has a philanthropic mission as well, Cunningham said.

"We'll have our silent auction," she said. "We ask all of the artists participating to donate to the auction."

Proceeds will go to a social service organization, Cunningham said.

Meanwhile, ClaySpace, a Lisle ceramics studio, sponsors an "empty bowl sale." The studio's potters' cooperative makes bowls and donates them, with sales receipts bound for two area food pantries, she said.

In addition to seeing artists displaying work and demonstrating their methods, visitors can sample food from Belgio's Catering and take in a lineup of musical entertainment that includes Patchouli, the guitar duo of Julie Patchouli and Bruce Hecksel.

For children, the fair offers a free "Petite Picassos" art tent from Blick Art Materials, where young artists can create their own art projects.

With more than 110 artists on the grounds, including several artists from Naperville, the fair draws a variety of artistic styles and art works accomplished in a range of media - like Wilson's plein air oil landscapes and seascapes.

Wilson, who has worked exclusively with oil stick for 30 years, has painted outdoors in Italy, Cancun and in picturesque domestic locations such as the arboretum. Her work is displayed in homes and corporations in the U.S. and abroad.

She debuted at the art fair last year and said she'll return this year with a variety of paintings featuring brilliant colors depicting natural scenes.

"Everything is original, no prints," she said. "I do want people to own real art."

  The Naperville Woman's Club's Fine Art Fair - the longest continually running art festival in Illinois - returns to Naper Settlement this weekend. Mark Black/mblack@dailyherald.com, JULY 2016

If you go

What: 59th annual Naperville Woman's Club Fine Art Fair

When: 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday and Sunday, June 23 and 24

Where: Naper Settlement, 523 S. Webster St., Naperville

Admission: Free

Info: napervillewomansclub.org

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