The North Park Art Walk: Art and Amazing Weather Equals Bliss

The skies were clear and the fall weather was amazing, as residents took to the streets of Bryn Mawr and Kedzie to enjoy the North Park Art Walk. One of the artists in the gallery, Dana A Salmorin, a junior at North Park University was excited about her experience, "the Art Walk as a whole is amazing. It's something you don't see a lot often. Also, this time of the year is perfect for something like this. The weather is good and allows for more people to come out."

Artwork from emerging visual artists, such as Ju Sung Kim, Moon Kim, Sung Ho Kim and Grace I. Park were available for sale. "There was a good turn out, the art walk is great for the community. It causes people to come down and check out the storefronts and discover new places, especially NEIU students. Since it is a commuter school, often times [students] go from school to home and don't always have the time to wander around the neighborhood" said Todd Andrew Irvin, an NEIU Senior.

Children and adults alike were able to take part in kite making and kite flying workshops, as well as creating outdoor murals. Cathleen Cramer of Loyola Academy said, "The gallery contains various artists from Loyola Academy […] the turnout was good, and the variety of medias represented was good.  It's great to see everyone from elementary age children, to college age students here."

According to the North Park Art Walk website (www.northparkartwalk.org) "Storefront and warehouse galleries displayed and sold new pieces from 40 invited local professional artists plus work from Northeastern Illinois University, North Park University, Chicago Korean-American Art Association, Chicago Mosaic School, Loyola Academy, St. Hilary Elementary School and local residents." Kids R' Art was one of the ways that the Art Walk was made interactive for children in attendance. Headed by Darius Dennis, of the NEIU Math Department, children had the chance to express themselves as well. " I think that this is great idea and it's a great way for people to see art they've never seen before," said Dennis.

This was the second year for this autumn festival and this year's curator was Sun H. Choi, co-curated by Yong Hyun Chung and Jung Pyo Hong.