BLOOMINGTON — Art is all about imagination. Barb Wells said children can use their imagination when working on an art projects, and they don’t have to follow all the steps exactly to order. And kids were indeed letting their imagination run wild during Inside Out: Accessible Art’s annual art fair Sunday at the Miller Park Pavilion in Bloomington.
“We are simply amazed,” said Ujjal Bhowmik of Champaign of the fair as he watched his son Adipto Bhowmik, 6, make a red-colored paper doll. The boy's sister Anuprova Bhowmik looked on. Ujjal Bhowmik said they drove on Sunday from Champaign to visit Miller Park Zoo and were surprised to find the free art fair nearby.
By only an hour into the three-hour fair, at least 200 attendees had arrived for crafts and family-friendly fun, including face painting. Other partnering organizations included the venue’s host, the City of Bloomington’s department of parks and recreation; Illinois Art Station; Threshold to Hope; Brightpoint; the Boys & Girls Club of Bloomington-Normal; the Bloomington-Normal Garden Club and Illinois State University’s Horticulture Center. Wells, a supporting member of Inside out: Accessible Art Cooperative, said people of all ages were welcome to complete some the art projects, which were each timed to take just a short visit to finish.
The event was free to attend, but donations to the IOAA, a nonprofit artist’s cooperative, were welcomed. The other organizations apart from IOAA were invited as long as they did an art activity, Wells said. Wells, who was also a lead organizer of Sunday’s free art fair, said they’ve run the event for eight years to fulfill the cooperative’s mission of providing community service.
The cooperative also offers classes and displays art at its gallery at 200 W. Monroe St. in downtown Bloomington.
Four tables were staffed with IOAA’s artists and volunteers. Wells said they offered “wacky waving,” a craft making flowers from coffee filters, drawing tables and more. Pointing to a station for making paper “palm puppets” on a stick, she said all the paper dolls are put together their same, but participants “can be creative as they want to be.
” “They get to use their imagination,” continued Wells. Adelina Yepez, 7, of Bloomington draws her first name on a decorative bookmark as her mother, Alondra Ortega, watches. Nora Zaring, director of Threshold to Hope, said they had “good, little artists” coming to her project table.
Zaring, and Threshold to Hope’s children’s art program director, Mare Darling, helped kids decorate bookmarks at Sunday’s fair. Darling said art projects help kids explore new creative outlets and express their individuality. Char Radtke volunteered Sunday at an IOAA table offering a foil tooling art project.
After designs were impressed into the thin foil, works were mounted to a backing board. “We’re proud of them," said Radtke when a reporter pointed out how the works were being framed with backing boards. She also said it’s nice to see kids complete projects on their own, and possibly discover a new interest.
Artists of all ages try their hand at impressing creative designs Sunday onto thin foil sheets set atop old editions of The Pantagraph during Inside Out: Accessible Art’s annual art fair Sunday at the Miller Park Pavilion in Bloomington. Shown at center is Rujuta Durwas, 20, of Bloomington. Rujuta Durwas outlined floral shapes on her foil tooling piece.
The 20-year-old from Bloomington who will study as a junior at Loyola University this fall said the fair is “really beautiful.” “A lot of kids really love getting involved in town because of things like this,” Durwas said, adding First Fridays helps get the word out, too. She said she’s been involved with IOAA since she was a little girl because her mother has been doing henna work with the art cooperative.
Durwas also said the connections and skills she’s built with IOAA are still helping her on her college journey, even while she’s studying fields of science. “Taking that with me to college has provided me, like, a sanctuary (from) all the stress,” she said. Floral designs are tooled onto thin foil Sunday in this art piece created by Rujuta Durwas, 20, of Bloomington.
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