How to get your senses reeling at Kaneland fine arts festival
When the Kaneland Community Fine Arts Festival opens its doors on Sunday, April 19, at Kaneland High School, visitors will be invited to look, touch, hear, see, smell, taste, and participate fully in an amazing choice of arts experiences. The Fine Arts Festival was created as a way to expose all people in the community to the fine arts in as many forms as possible. The admission is free, and the event runs from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m.
For more than 10 years, the Kaneland Community Unit District 302 in western Kane County has sponsored this free annual Fine Arts Festival, bringing visual arts, poetry, theater, music, and all disciplines of fine arts to the community at no cost to attendees. Student work will be presented along with a juried fine art show. Performances will take place in the new fine arts theater on campus, and the cafeteria will be transformed into the less-formal Arts Pavilion setting for additional performances, workshops, and refreshments for purchase from the high school's culinary arts kitchen. Workshops in glass fusing, drum making, Aztec dancing, and etching, are only a few of the hands-on activities offered. Face painting, caricatures, and a "Spontaneous Folk Ensemble" (bring your instrument, or just sing along) are other activities which welcome participation by attendees of all ages and experience levels.
"We are very proud to be able to include a number of Kaneland High School graduates in our professional artist lineup again this year," said Bonnie Whildin, art specialist at Kaneland John Stewart Elementary School. "Christine Marie Heath, a vocalist working in musical theater and on opera stages from Broadway to international, will appear at the Fine Arts Festival on Sunday. And playwright Nic Wehrwein, another Kaneland graduate whose work has won national acclaim, will present a new work performed in readers' theater format featuring Kaneland alumni. Also a Jazz Combo led by Kaneland alumni Carolyn Jakes, and visual artists Amy Jahr and Mary Beth Lies - whose art is used in this year's festival poster."
One of just a handful of such fine art festivals sponsored by school districts in Illinois, the April 19 event is actually the culmination of months of arts experiences at all grade levels throughout the district. In every building in the district, the Kaneland faculty works with K-12 students for hands-on learning in visual arts, poetry and literary arts, music, dance, and theater, and a limited number of workshops and artist-in-residence activities are planned in the high school. Through these long-term, sustained efforts, the district strives to bring higher quality art education in our schools, and to act as a means for students and their families to come to a better understanding and appreciation of a fine arts education.
The Kaneland Community Fine Arts Festival is funded by grants from the Kaneland Foundation, the Dunham Fund, Kaneland Parent Teacher Associations, the Illinois Arts Council, and through donations from local corporations and individuals.
Kaneland High School is at 47W326 Keslinger Road in Maple Park. For information on the full schedule and array of options available, visit www.kaneland.org/shared/fineartsfestival/.