Blue Moon Gallery to host last event of year

GRAYSLAKE – Blue Moon Gallery is hosting an Artist Reception and Holiday Cheer Party for “We Make Life Beautiful,” its last exhibition of the year, from 6 to 9 p.m. Dec. 16.

The event is free and open to the public.

This group exhibition features new and recent artworks from 14 of the gallery’s Affiliate Artists who show their artwork year-round on the Blue Moon website and who are an important part of both the gallery’s and the local surrounding area’s creative community.

Blue Moon affiliate artists enter their artwork into local, regional and national shows, teach art classes and give frequent artist talks, are active in numerous art guilds, maintain memberships in a wide variety of galleries, and consistently receive recognition and awards for their visual art. This exhibition shows off each artist’s preferred mediums with each piece retaining its unique individuality while being part of a larger cohesive presentation of diverse works.

“We Make Life Beautiful” offers viewers a rich visual experience offering a wide variety of mediums, including collage, found object, colored pencil, encaustic, photography, acrylic, watercolor, gouache, cold wax, embroidery, scratch art, montage, monoprint, linocut and graphite. Figures, landscapes, still life, and abstract compositions also show off the artists’ creative visual expression. Over 25 pieces all under 24 inches are presented.

The participating artists are Tony Armendariz (Palatine), Kristin Ashley (Lake Bluff), Joan Bredendick (DeKalb), Frank Fitzgerald (Lindenhurst), Jeanne Garrett (Arlington Heights), Samira Gdisis (Racine), Christine Graf (New York), Mary Neely (Waukegan), Laura O’Connor (Grayslake), Jaynanne Ridder (Lake Barrington), Les Scott (Gurnee), Rebecca Stahr (Grayslake), Colleen Steenhagen (Kenosha), and Sally Wille (Glenview).

“We are so proud to work with each of these fine art professionals and to share their talent with you as we cap off a terrific 2023 in this colorful, diverse, and noteworthy group exhibition aptly named ‘We Make Life Beautiful,’” gallery director, Kendra Kett said in a news release. “We will have our warm and welcoming fire pit going and will be serving wine and light refreshments. We hope everyone will take a break from holiday stress and come out to see beautiful, interesting and unusual art in a friendly atmosphere and meet our wonderful artists.”

The gallery will also feature new art from the gallery’s 2023 collective artists who have been showing their art year-round in the gallery this year. Patrons can meet John Kirkpatrick (Libertyville), Kathleen Heitmann (Buffalo Grove), Kendra Kett (Gurnee), Michael Litewski (Zion), and Juli Janovicz (Kenosha) and explore their artwork in acrylic, oil, watercolor, colored pencil and mixed media.

The gallery is located at 18620 Belvidere Road in Grayslake. For more information, visit www.thebluemoongallery.com or text/call 224-388-7948. Parking is free.

The gallery also will be open from 1 to 4 p.m. Dec. 17 for gallery hours. The gallery will be closed throughout the holidays and will reopen for one more weekend: from 1 to 4 p.m. Jan. 6 and 7 until temporarily closing for a winter break. Blue Moon Gallery will reopen in March 2024.