Hanover Park -- budding arts enclave?

Hanover Park may never be an art colony like Sundance, Utah, or Taos, N.M., but it is becoming a gathering place for a budding art community.

For two years, area artists have flocked to an old country farmhouse tucked behind the Metra train station. There sits the Ontarioville Art Center, which features a diverse gallery and art classes.

It also houses the Ontarioville Art & Music League, a nonprofit group eager to parade the talent Hanover Park has to offer.

Members have organized its inaugural Ontarioville Fine Arts Fair, which will showcase 17 local artists from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Sunday.

"We hope this will make people aware that there's an art and music campus in town," said Anita Komorski, arts fair chairwoman and co-owner of the art center. "And people should know there are many talented artists in the area."

The participating artists all hail from the Tri-Villages and neighboring towns, and most have work hanging in the gallery. At the arts fair they'll showcase paintings, drawings, live drawing portraiture, furniture, wood, glass and mixed-media assemblage.

One of the featured artists is Mort Luby.

The Carpentersville resident will have Italian scenes for sale, always a popular seller. He painted some of his favorites while in small Tuscany towns like Sienna.

Luby, who works in watercolors and oils and stresses landscapes and figures, also has several Chicago scenes. As a member of the Plein Aire Painters, he sets up shop in various city neighborhoods every Saturday morning.

Luby says the Fine Arts Fair will be the perfect place for novices looking to decorate with something original, rather than a print from a discount store.

"People shouldn't be intimidated by the whole scene," Luby says. "My advice is to talk to the artist and if you see something you like, just go for it. It's not like going into some swanky place and blowing your egg money."

Like the gallery, the fair is designed to be affordable - nothing costs more than $600, and most pieces cost considerably less. And both offer easy access to the artists behind the work people buy.

Visitors can watch artists at work at the Ontarioville Art Center, where they have to put in one four-hour shift each month. People can also learn the stories behind the pieces, some of which come from a great distance.

Textiles and jewelry made in Hanover Park's sister city, Cape Coast, Ghana, are for sale. All the profit helps fund microloans for women entrepreneurs in the African city.

Linda Packham, president of Friends of Cape Coast International and wife of Hanover Park Trustee Robert Packham, brings back the goods from her trips.

Patrons can buy the work of Madam Addae, a village chief's nonagenarian wife and seamstress who uses traditional Ghanaian dyes to decorate fabric.

There are also items from the Girls Vocational Training Programme, a group of impoverished teens learning traditional arts so they can become economically independent. Packham brought back Batik, fabric that's been dyed using wax transfer and hand-knotting techniques, as well as jewelry made of hand-painted clay and ground glass beads.

They're reasonably priced, too. Expect to pay $40 for certain fabric, $30 for a set of 10 napkins and $15 per bracelet.

To make it more of a community fair, several nonprofit groups including the Chicagoland Dog Rescue and Pilgrims of Ibillin will be on site, as will local food vendors.

Entertainment will be provided by the Hanover Park Park District Dance Troupe and jazz standards from We II of the A & A Music Academy.

As chairwoman, Komorski hopes Sunday's fair will serve as a successful test run for a bigger and better event next year, which will coincide with Hanover Park's 50th anniversary.

"There really aren't any big events in Hanover Park," Komorski said. "It's kind of a bedroom community where people shop and work outside of town. This arts fair will be a first."

If you go

What: Ontarioville Art Fair

Who: Village of Hanover Park and the Ontarioville Art and Music League

When: Sept. 16, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Where: Jubilee Park, Ontarioville Road, three blocks west of the train station, Hanover Park

Cost: Free

More information: Contact Kim Benedix at (630) 372-4218

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Daniel White/dwhite@dailyherald.com

The Ontarioville Fine Arts Fair will feature jewelry made by girls in Hanover Park's sister city - Cape Coast, Ghana.

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Daniel White/dwhite@dailyherald.com

Carpentersville artist Mort Luby's painting "Somewhere in Italy" hangs at the Ontarioville Art Center. He'll have several Italian scenes for sale at the inaugural art fair Sunday.

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Daniel White/dwhite@dailyherald.com

Anita Komorski exhibits textiles made by 95-year-old Madam Addae of Cape Coast, Ghana, at the Ontarioville Art Center in Hanover Park.