Photo shop to give artists a window of exposure
A downtown merchant has teamed with several local artists to showcase both the artists' work and his wares and services.
John Bakker, a professional photographer and owner of Foto Direct, Inc., 129 W. Prospect Ave., is now using his store window to showcase the work of a different area artist each month and his store gallery to showcase the work of four artists through January.
The artist for October is Joan Roberts of Mount Prospect. Her acrylic painting depicting a pineapple is titled "Welcome" and it is prominently displayed in the store window.
Foto Direct is a full-service shop which does everything from printing artwork and photographs on canvas to photo restoration to photographing weddings and taking portraits. They also sell digital cameras, rechargeable batteries and media cards. It has been in Mount Prospect since May 2006.
"I had done some work for a local artist, Barb Gonyo, and she had seen the gallery of my work and my son, Dan's, work that we have in the shop," Bakker said.
"We started discussing ideas and came up with the 'artist of the month' idea to give the local artists some exposure and to give us more exposure, too," he continued.
Gonyo discussed it with some artist friends and the monthly displays kicked off with a well-attended afternoon reception featuring four artists and their work on Sept. 30.
The plan calls for the window to feature the artwork of Gonyo in November. In December and January, the artists of the month will be Bonnie Roberts of Mount Prospect and Richard Kallstrom of Park Ridge, although Bakker is not yet sure in which order. Bonnie Roberts works in oils and Kallstrom does pen and ink drawings.
Bakker says that he is also willing to speak with and view the work of other interested artists in the community.
"We are hoping that other merchants would like to follow in this endeavor to show local talent," Gonyo said. "We all appreciate the yearly art show, but a year-around event would be helpful to both the artists and the merchants."
Fall book sale: Autumn has arrived and it is time for the Friends of the Mount Prospect Library's fall book sale. The sale begins Friday (for members only) and continues Saturday and Sunday at the library, 10 S. Emerson St.
Three rooms in the library will be chock-full of books for the sale. The large meeting room will feature 25 cents books and the smaller room will showcase the individually priced "Better Books." All other hard-bound books, paperbacks, DVDs, video and audio tapes plus many children books will be displayed in the Friends Book Sale room on the parking lot level.
The "Members Only" sale will be held from 6:30 to 9:30 p.m. Friday. If you are not a member but you want to get in on the best selections, annual $5 individual memberships will be available at the door. Family memberships will also be available.
The sale for the general public will run from 9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Saturday and from noon to 4:30 p.m. Sunday.
For more information, call (847) 253-5675.