See art amid nature at Graue Mill festival

Down by the old Graue Mill, alongside Salt Creek, a group of artists will gather this weekend and combine with the area's natural beauty to create a portrait of a serene, laid-back art fair.

At the Graue Mill Fine Arts Festival, there's no music, no sideshow except the gentle burble of the creek and the rush of wind through the trees. And that suits the artists and guests just fine, said Sandra Brubaker, one of the festival's three lead organizers.

About 30 artists — most local — will take part in the festival Saturday and Sunday, June 6 and 7, at the Oak Brook museum site. Food will be for sale.

“Come and enjoy your sandwich by Salt Creek,” Brubaker said.

Brubaker said the juried festival will include oil paintings, charcoal drawings, pottery, wearable art, photography and jewelry.

“We limit the number of jewelry artists so it's not a total jewelry show,” she said.

Glendale Heights photographer Bill Hottinger will exhibit examples of his black-and-white photographs and his color shots. Nature is a frequent subject of his photographic works.

“Nature is my God and my church,” Hottinger said.

Hottinger has been shooting photographs since the mid-1990s. He was formally trained at the College of DuPage about 15 years ago.

“It immensely improved my ideas of composition and working in a series of images,” Hottinger said of his schooling.

Hottinger said photos shot in black-and-white accomplish vastly different effects from full-color images.

“Black-and-white is all about subtlety and nuance. They have a high drama to them,” he said.

The environment at Graue Mill, a gristmill built by German immigrant Frederick Graue that opened for business in 1852, is similarly subtly dramatic, Hottinger said.

“It's really a nice place to have a fair,” he said.

Brubaker said she was part of the group that started the annual fair in 2002, when the Graue Mill celebrated its 150th anniversary.

The fair is a fundraiser for the Graue Mill and Museum, which includes the mill and the Graue House. The house has undergone several remodeling projects and renovations, most recently in 2002, said Brubaker, former executive director of the site.

“The outside of the house looks exactly like it did when the miller lived there,” she said, adding that the interior was previously too radically altered to restore it to its 19th century form.

There is no admission fee for the Fine Arts Festival. Funds are raised through fees charged to the artists, Brubaker said.

“We also had a couple of generous underwriters,” she said.

The mill site is a popular destination for area school field trips. Brubaker said hundreds of students visit each year to learn about the mill, its role during the Civil War and its use as a “station” for the Underground Railroad.

Brubaker said several artists will display their wares inside the Graue House while others will set up on the lawn. The festival will go on, rain or shine.

Graue Mill Fine Arts Festival

<b>When:</b> 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday and Sunday, June 6 and 7

<b>Where:</b> 3800 York Road, Oak Brook

<b>Cost:</b> Free

<b>Info:</b> <a href="http://www.grauemill.org">grauemill.org</a> or (630) 655-2090