'Art Around Town' program decorates Naperville businesses
Editor's note: We misidentified the artist whose work is displayed at Elate Salon in Naperville. The artist is Kim Sowa.
The works of more than 15 artists are displayed at several Naperville businesses through a revamped program run by the Naperville Art League called Art Around Town.
The paintings and photographs enliven the walls of a salon, a music store, a diner and shared hallways in a downtown office building, where they're ready to catch the eye of workers or customers who pass by during this phase of coronavirus precautions and remote work.
The art is for sale through a partnership among the art league, artists who join for a fee and participating businesses, who join for free to show artwork that rotates every few months.
The art league took the COVID-19 shutdown this spring as an opportunity to revitalize the multisite art sale, which had run for about a decade without an official name. The league's Linda VanderKolk said members internally called it “offsite exhibits,” since the pieces are displayed elsewhere than the league's gallery at 508 N. Center St.
The new name better serves, VanderKolk said. “The simple 'Art Around Town' is pretty clear.”
Participants include Kim Sowa, whose photographs and fine art pieces “dedicated to connecting nature and the human experience” have been up since early this month at Elate Salon at 1823 Wehrli Road in Naperville.
Sowa, of Aurora, said she has “a hard time putting myself out there,” so the opportunity to work with the art league to find a willing site to display her work seemed worthwhile.
“I think it helps the business to bring people's eyes in a new way toward their business,” Sowa said. “And it also helps artists, so it's a nice collaboration.”
Pete Ellman of Ellman's Music said he enjoys the Art Around Town partnership from a business perspective. For the past two or three years, he has been displaying pieces by a different artist every few months on a wall near the private lesson rooms in his store at 508 W. 5th Ave.
Up now are five natural scenes painted by Lee Ann Zirbes of Plainfield. They are set to remain at Ellman's through early August.
When Zirbes' paintings first went up, the background was a plain white wall. But while his store was closed except for instrument repairs, Ellman said, he had the wall repainted a shade that happens to correspond with Zirbes' scenes.
“This blue really sets off the paintings,” Ellman said.
A music store seems an appropriate place for a visual art display, given the creative connections between the two professions.
“I like to promote them,” Ellman said about Art Around Town artists. “Hopefully, because we're in the arts and they're in the arts, we get people interested.”
Other Art Around Town sites are Lucky Penny Diner at 1224 W. Ogden Ave. and the second- and third-floor hallways at Main Street Promenade Business Center at 55 S. Main St.
To join the program as an artist or a business, visit http://www.napervilleartleague.com/art-around-town.html or contact the Naperville Art League at Naperartleague@aol.com.