ArtRageous! Oak Park: Come Experience a 10-day Celebration of Art Oct. 2-11

Would you enjoy a spooky performance of “Dracula” presented by award-winning storyteller Megan Wells or like to create a gorgeous hot glass sculpted paperweight? Maybe you would like to meet a Pulitzer Prize-winning author, or visit a variety of artist studios or take a Beautiful Bungalow House Walk tour? You can experience all this and much more at ArtRageous! Oak Park Oct. 2 through Oct. 11.

This Village-wide celebration will showcase Oak Park as a destination for people in the Chicago area and beyond to experience the arts – a place to see art, create art, meet authors, enjoy music, dance, theater and many other forms of artistic expression.

“In this 10-day festival, Oak Park will offer 4.5 square miles of inspiration,” suggests Pamela Penney, owner of Pamela Penney Textile Arts on Harrison Street and one of the organizers of ArtRageous! Oak Park.  “We host a huge array of galleries, classes, performances, literary events and more in a very concentrated area. ArtRageous! Oak Park will be an effort to get this message out to the wider Chicago community.”  Find more information about ArtRageous! Oak Park events at the ArtRageous! Oak Park website.

In addition to the business districts, including Downtown Oak Park, the Oak Park Arts District, and Roosevelt Road Business Association, the Oak Park Art League and the Oak Park Area Arts Council have been involved with the early planning sessions. Wonder Works Children’s Museum and the Frank Lloyd Wright Preservation Trust, along with the Oak Park Convention and Visitors Bureau, are also participating.

Among the 50 events already planned will be  the Oct. 2 Kick-off Party in the Oak Park Arts District on Harrison Street with music, entertainment and food, an Oct. 4 reading by 2009 Pulitzer Prize-winning author Elizabeth Strout from her newest novel, Olive Kitteridge, at the Oak Park Public Library, an Oct. 6 book signing by  Patrick F. Cannon, author of the upcoming book,  “Frank Lloyd Wright’s Unity Temple: A  Good Time Place,” at Unity Temple,  and an Oct. 10 adult vocal tech workshop presented by the Oak Park Concert Chorale.  Go on a Studio Art Walk and enjoy the work of 17 working artists.

On Oct. 2-4, studios and businesses in the Oak Park Arts District (OPAD) will offer 30 unique classes during the Arts Retreat Weekend.

October is National Arts & Humanities Month — ArtRageous! Oak Park is Oak Park’s opportunity to showcase the wealth, breadth and depth of the arts in our community.

Come be ArtRageous with us!