Imagination blows rain away at St. Charles art show

On a gray, rainy afternoon, Melvin McGee's bright paintings demanded attention from passers-by at the St. Charles Fine Arts Show.

The Wisconsin artist likes whimsical surrealism, featuring cartoonlike animals and other creatures. “Urban Sprawl,” an oil-on-canvas, plays on the famous “American Gothic” painting. This time, the elderly farm couple stands in front of a serpentine mass of automobiles and highway ramps.

“Everything is so developed,” said McGee. He grew up on a dairy farm in Waukesha County, Wis., but credits a stint in the Marine Corps with teaching him about the need for discipline, which helped him develop an art career.

He was one of the artists displaying works at the 14th annual show and sale in downtown St. Charles. The festival continues from 10 a. m. to 5 p.m. Sunday. The booths are south of Main Street (Route 64), mostly along South Riverside Avenue (formerly First Avenue), Walnut Avenue and Second Avenue. An attraction called Studio Row is west of the Fox River, on First Street.

The rain didn't matter much for the bronze sculptures by Bob Wilfong of Clarkston, Wash., although Bob and his wife-artistic partner Jo were certainly soaked as they explained their wares to visitors.

“We don't worry too much about it, except for lightning,” Bob Wilfong said of the weather.

This was their first time showing at St. Charles. They usually spend the first three months of the year showing in Florida, then a couple of months in the Midwest and a few in Colorado before returning home in the fall. “As we get closer to home, he gets antsier and antsier” to sculpt, Jo Wilfong said. Bob also writes poems that accompany many of the pieces.

The demonstration by potter Jim Barbagallo of Raku Gold Pottery fascinated Mason Wellhausen, 6, and Alair Wellhausen, 7, of St. Charles. Particularly Mason, who listened intently as Barbagallo explained how to shape the piece and why a potter has to have clean hands. Mason peppered the artist with questions and observations.

“Could you make this less interesting? Because I can see this would be a really expensive hobby,” their mother, Ruthie Wellhausen, joked to Barbagallo.