Artists shine at Schaumburg's weekend festival

Of the 20 photographers who exhibited their work over the weekend at Prairie Arts Festival in Schaumburg, one of them stood out.

Dwight Lohman of Carpentersville was the only shooter to win an award at the fest, picking up a Merit Award for his mostly black-and-white shots that featured details from abandoned farmhouses and one-room schools in southern Illinois and Kansas.

The two-day festival drew thousands of people to the Robert O. Atcher Municipal campus in Schaumburg, where they soaked up the peaceful park setting as much as they did the varied work by local and Midwestern artists.

"It's a wonderful day to be outside," said shopper Doreen Boisen of Schaumburg, who picked up a framed photo as a gift for her daughter.

Lohman's booth stood midway between the municipal center and the small lake on the campus, with its graceful swans and weeping willows surrounding its banks.

"On my little road trips, I purposely look to get lost," said Lohman, of where he finds his haunting shots.

Upright pianos turned up in at least three of the photos, looking as if they were the last things standing in the crumbling buildings, taking the viewer back, perhaps, to a happier time.

"I like small town America," Lohman added, "and I hope my shots keeps some of these places alive."

Another Merit Award winner was artist Elaine Paulson of Deerfield, whose nature-themed pottery drew the interest of the festival judges, Kryssi Staikidis and Michael Barnes, both associate art professors at Northern Illinois University.

Her sculpted vase that resembled a paper birch tree and a planter that looked like a sitting log, drew patron Annette Domino of Woodstock to come back to the festival to find Paulson's collection.

"It's all so unique," Domino said. "Each piece is so different, I just love it."

Mark and Robin Holmes of Arlington Heights come every year and their home is filled with original artwork from the festival.

"Now we just look for something that catches our eye," Robin Holmes said. "It's such a nice variety here, and we love the setting."

Roxane Benvenuti, Schaumburg's special events coordinator, said that with the weekend's good weather, they expected to draw more than 5,000 people, though without charging admission they could not confirm that number.