Sugar Creek Forges On Today and Tomorrow

The annual Sugar Creeks Arts Festival is proceeding, even in the midst of this record-setting heat wave. (You can see they were thinking ahead when they designed this year's poster, since it looks sizzling hot!) The good news is that it continues tomorrow, when the temps are supposed to be decidedly better.

This juried art festival, which includes more than 135 arts and crafts vendors from across the country, takes place on the streets of Uptown Normal, on North Street between Fell and the Circle, and on East Beaufort Street between the Circle and Linden. Free parking is available in the College Avenue and Uptown Station parking decks.

The 2012 line-up of artists includes people from as far away as Florida (photographer R.C. Fulwiler) and Colorado (ceramics artists Gint and Regina Sabaliauskas) as well as a lot of Illinois folks. Local favorites like painter Fernando Cornejo, photographer Alan Cring, glass artist Brock Eddleman, photographers Philip and Glenda Gangler, photographer Ryan Karns, painter John Madison, painter Michael McNeil, fiber artist Marcia Nagy, graphic artist Susan Palmer, painter Gina Perillo, sculptors Amanda Pierce-Ghahramany and Melanie Hunter, and jewelry artist Sue Pulido, are also on the roster.

The event also includes entertainment, with the Sugar Creek Cloggers, Bend, Bloomsday Reunion and Sister Groove scheduled for today, and the Brian Choban Jazz Quintet, Small Potatoes, and the Sally Weisenburg Band performing tomorrow.

The Sugar Creek Arts Festival is organized by the McLean County Arts Center, the Town of Normal and radio station WGLT.

Great Opportunity to Get Your Art Up!

It totally makes sense that the McLean County Arts Center is looking for art. But this time, they're looking for art to display at the brand-new Uptown Station, the Multimodal Transportation Center right in the center of Uptown Normal. This competition, which promises to pay artists for their work (out of a budget somewhere around $100,000) in addition to the joy of seeing that work displayed inside the station, is only open to McLean county residents, but choice of material or kind of art is wide open.

That's the Uptown Station you see under construction at right. As planned, there will be plenty of space for art in this 68,000 square foot, four-story structure. McArts tells us how the space will be used: "The first floor of the facility will accommodate Amtrak and BNPTS ticketing and office space, waiting areas, a food court, retail, and general community information. The second and third floors will accommodate Town of Normal municipal offices. The fourth floor includes public meeting space and the Town Council chambers for the Town of Normal."

McArts lists specific requirements at the link, including digital images of the work proposed and a resume that offers the artist's professional achievements and exhibitions. Although no subject matter is specified, just the location of the artists, a slice of Bloomington-Normal life is what I'd want to see on the walls of the station while I wait for my train if I got to choose. And because I know some fabulous photographers, I'd love to see some photographic art make the cut.

(Don't worry. I don't get to choose. The panel of judges is Doug Johnson, Executive Director of the McLean County Arts Center, Natalie Goken Wetzel, co-owner of the Pod, "an eclectic specialty art and gift boutique" located near the Children's Museum in Uptown Normal, and Slate Grove, an artist and MFA candidate at Illinois State University who works in glass. They sound a lot better qualified to pick art than me!)