By CINDY LADAGE
Illinois Correspondent

SPRINGFIELD, Ill. — The weekend of May 21-22, the farmers’ market in Springfield served as a draw for the Art of Illinois Wine Festival and Old Capitol Art Fair. The downtown market opened May 18 and will continue until Oct. 29.
The market sets up on Adams Street between Fifth and Second, not far from the Springfield Lincoln sites. It offers a wide variety of fresh produce, cheese, baked goods, plants, spices, meats and other specialty items. The farmers’ market is available to central Illinois residents and those enrolled in the Women Infant and Children (WIC) program. The market offers the chance to enhance one’s diet with fresh fruits and vegetables.

Open Wednesdays and Saturdays, the market during the third weekend of May shared with the wine tasting event and art fair. Downtown was filled with artists profiling all types of media: jewelry, sculpture, photography, glassware, pottery, wood, metalwork, oils and watercolors. This annual show brings visitors from all over – central Illinois and beyond.

The fair serves as a chance for visitors to buy original art, and was developed to contribute to the community’s cultural, social and economic growth. The Old Capitol Art Fair is over 40 years old; it was initiated in 1961 by then-executive director of the Springfield Central Area Development Assoc., William Montague, and the first event was May 26, 1962.

A couple who has been coming to the show for several years are Kim and Katherine McClelland from Galena, Ohio. Working with Scrimshaw and on fossil materials and polymer resins, they create fine art. The art of scrimshaw stems from a nautical engraving art indigenous to America.

Kim McClelland explained, “Sailors on board whaling ships ‘scrimmed’ designs on whale teeth and bones using a sharp tool. (It actually was coined ‘a thrifty waste of time.’) Ink or oil and soot were then rubbed into the cuts and wiped away to reveal the incised image. Tree of Life still uses this basic process.”
The couple offers hanging as well as wearable art. Their website at www.treeoflifeartworks.com shares, “After finishing his art degree, Kim first discovered scrimshaw by making their wedding rings from antique piano keys. Working with organic materials such as shed antlers and fossil ivories dating back thousands of years, plus sculptural-casting resins, our process insures each hand-cast resin artwork has the exact fidelity of our original. No endangered animals visit our art studio.”

Another artist who caught attention was James Downey, a glass artist. His blown/fused glass business is Prairie Fire Glass, located in downtown Monticello, Ill. The artist offers tours where visitors can watch the art of traditional glassblowing; he can be found online at www.prairiefireglass.com

Another company called Of Nature creates jewelry and art. Each item consists of an actual piece of nature covered in copper, and the business advertises: “None of our pieces are mass produced nor do we use impressions made from molds. Each one of our pieces is unique and handmade.”
Its website is at www.ofnature.com

For information about next year’s Old Capitol Art Fair, call 217-524-1723. The fair is always the third weekend in May.