Dozens of artists and artisans from all around the Midwest gathered in downtown Park Forest for the 69th annual Park Forest Art Fair on Saturday, Sept. 20 and Sunday, Sept. 21. The artists included Flossmoor acrylic painter Cheryl Osby, Olympia Fields jewelry maker Debra Glenn and Homewood mixed-media artist Jenn Johnson.
The annual event is organized by the Tall Grass Arts Association, a nonprofit organization that also operates an art gallery in downtown Park Forest. It is the oldest art fair in the South Suburbs, according to Tall Grass Arts Association Board President Mae Brandon, and it’s always on the third weekend of September.
“We’re very supportive of our local artists, but it’s always good for people to get an opportunity to see a variety of art in its various forms. And for those artists in other Midwestern areas, we’ve become part of their tradition too,” Brandon said.
This wasn’t the first time Osby, Glenn or Johnson were Park Forest Art Fair vendors. They returned this year to showcase new and old pieces and chat with attendees about arts and crafts.
Many of Osby’s acrylic paintings are figures and portraits of Black women.
“The strength and the backbone of the Black woman have had to hold up the family and hold up the society,” Osby said. “For a long time, Black women weren’t recognized as being beautiful. And there are so many beautiful Black women that I want to highlight.”
Osby had a painting of an elderly Black woman sitting at a dining table with a coffee mug and a tea kettle. She was staring intently into space with a somber yet inquisitive expression. Osby said the painting was inspired by her late mother and the daunting changes that can happen near the end of someone’s life, such as the death of a spouse.
Another of Osby’s paintings depicted a group of women’s silhouettes, one of whom had her fist raised to the sky. She said she painted this because the world needs more female leaders.
“It’s what messages you think are important,” said Osby, a retired Chicago Public Schools art teacher, describing how she views art. “But instead of speaking it, you speak with the paint brush.”
Glenn had over a hundred handcrafted, polymer clay-based, one-of-a-kind earrings for sale. The earrings came in various painted colors and carved shapes, both abstract shapes and real-world figures, such as seashells and horseshoes.
While Glenn makes other jewelry, she estimated that it’s about 90% earrings. She previously worked as a seamstress, but she said she’s loved earrings since she was a child.
“I think about earrings all the time. Even when I’m out in public and I see a certain shape or whatever, and it’s like, ‘you know, that might be an interesting shape for an earring,’” Glenn said. “Or even a certain color or even combining certain things.”
Glenn sells her earrings as DAK Inspired Jewelry online and at other art fairs and public events, including Homewood Art & Garden Street Fair, where she said she’ll table next year. “DAK” stands for Debra A. King, her maiden name.
Johnson, who tabled at the Park Forest Art Fair in 2023 and 2024, had a new piece for sale. It was a mixed-media piece, based on a landscape photo she took at Glacier National Park in Montana. It was primarily an acrylic painting, but the rocks and trees were three-dimensional, made with modeling paste.
“It’s interesting seeing people coming back year after year who bought things from me before,” Johnson said, explaining why she enjoys the Park Forest Art Fair. “It’s like checking in on your old friend.”
