With art shows canceled by pandemic, Grayslake arts community goes virtual

Seven months after the pandemic forced the Grayslake Arts Alliance to first dabble in online commerce, it is launching a dedicated web store for members to sell their work.

Alliance leaders hope the effort will help make up for having to go since January without an in-person art event.

While the group probably would have created an online store eventually, alliance President Ernest Schweit said, it almost certainly would not have happened so soon if not for the pandemic.

"We probably would have been happy as little clams to keep having only in-person shows," Schweit said. "The virus definitely hastened the process."

When the web store launches today, it will feature about 480 pieces from the 60 members of the alliance, a group that includes painters, authors, illustrators and stained glass makers.

Jennifer Evans, an alliance member and the owner of Lake Villa-based Periwinkle Art Studio, said it will be key for artists to be careful when photographing and describing their art for the website.

"My viewpoint is that art is an emotional purchase. You see it and it connects with you and you have to have it," said Evans, a mixed-media artist.

Now that artists have lost the ability to interact one on one with people, they need to make sure prospective customers can connect with their art online, Evans said.

Schweit, a photographer, said the alliance first put up a small online store to replace MayFest, the group's signature summer event. That online sale, which was available for only 24 hours on May 2, netted more total sales than the in-person event in 2019, he said.

"Those online figures are probably the strongest so far, probably because the overall economy has slowed down due to the pandemic, and art sales, online and in-person, have followed suit," Schweit said.

In the time since, the alliance has occasionally had an online store up for smaller events, such as a series of art walks where work from alliance members was displayed in downtown Grayslake and available to purchase online.

Schweit said he hopes that once the country comes out on the other side of the pandemic, the alliance will be able to resume in-person shows and have a much stronger online presence.

The web store is at grayslakeartsalliance.org.