Art lovers who flock to Elmhurst Art Museum’s annual Art in Wilder Park each year will find a new attraction has been added for this year’s 29th annual event, May 2-3. There will be an Emerging Artist Pavilion where carefully-selected, talented young artists will display and sell their work.
Liz Chilsen, manager of exhibitions and collections at the Elmhurst Art Museum, credits executive director and chief curator Allison Peters Quinn with coming up with the concept.
Chilsen said Quinn wanted to “expand opportunities for young artists and give them a leg up in terms of being able to make a living from their work.” She said the pavilion will offer the young artists a chance “to get their name out there and get their work out there.”
The Art Museum is currently working with two schools on this project, Elmhurst University and Northern Illinois University, and are waiting to hear from a third. Faculty members at those schools are recommending students to be included, Chilsen reported.
Five students from each school will be included in the Emerging Artist Pavilion, which will most likely be in a tent. The Elmhurst Art Museum will not be taking a percentage of the money the students earn by selling their artwork.
Chilsen praised the contribution of Dawn Kramlich, assistant professor of painting and drawing at Elmhurst University. “She has been a really good partner in reaching out and working with us,” Chilsen said. “She assigned her student classes to produce work based on the exhibition. She’s a super enthusiastic partner.”
Kramlich is confident about the impact the pavilion will have on the students included.
“This is a really exciting opportunity for them to present their work to the public in a way that they haven’t necessarily before,” she said. “This can lead to potential collectors purchasing their work. But more importantly, it’ll give them an opportunity to network where they are interacting with the other student artists around them in the pavilion but also the professional artists who are represented in their own booths at the fair.”
She added that it will boost their confidence by seeing themselves in “that professional context.”
Kramlich said in selecting students to be included at the pavilion she worked with Andrew Sobol, department chair and associate professor of graphic design at Elmhurst University, and Joshua Johnson, assistant professor of printmaking and foundations.
The three conferred to determine selection criteria for the artists. Those included, “the artistic technical skill and the artistic conceptual skill,” Kramlich said. They were also seeking art majors and art minors who are “incredibly driven,” she added. And thirdly they considered “their degree of commitment to their education and their artistic practice.”
The chosen artists from Elmhurst University are Fatimah Farooqi, Ohana Jeron, Natalie Sanchez, Zoey Sperando and Skylar Stevenson.
“I think this is a really wonderful opportunity for our students to be able to share their work with the broader public,” said Jessica Labatte, director of the School of Art and Design at Northern Illinois University. “Elmhurst Art Museum and the Wilder art fair seem like a really wonderful opportunity to get the students out from DeKalb into a new venue. They do great programming at the Elmhurst Art Museum so I’m excited to have my students be able to see the shows that are up there, too.”
To choose artists for the Emerging Artist Pavilion, Labatte said, faculty members in studio and design were asked to recommend senior students who have portfolios ready to go.
Labatte praised the Elmhurst Art Museum and its executive director Allison Peters Quinn, noting that “She’s been an important person in the Chicago art scene for a long time. Having the students have exposure to the audiences that they bring in will help the students have audiences for their own work. Also, having this on their resume is a really wonderful thing for a young artist who’s just emerging from their degree and starting their career.”
Chilsen said the intention for the Emerging Artist Pavilion to return in subsequent years. “If it’s successful, we’ll continue it,” she said.
She indicated that they will know if it’s successful “if the students feel like they got good exposure. If they sell some of their work. If they have good conversations. If they feel like that’s a way for them to connect with the community and kick themselves off on their career.”
The 29th Annual Art in Wilder Park, produced by the Elmhurst Art Museum in partnership with the Elmhurst Park District, is from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. May 2 and 3 at 175 S. Cottage Hill Ave. in Elmhurst. Admission is free. Information is at 630-834-0202 or elmhurstartmuseum.org.
Myrna Petlicki is a freelance reporter for Pioneer Press.
