Blue Moon Gallery to host reception June 21

GRAYSLAKE – Blue Moon Gallery announced its Big Summer Show opens June 21 with a reception from 6 to 9 p.m. The public can view several exhibitions of fine art created by Chicago-area artists, enjoy wine and live music and socialize around the gallery’s firepit.

The event is free and open to the public.

“We are really excited about our Big Summer Show,” Blue Moon Gallery director Kendra Kett said in a news release. “We are featuring several solo shows from award-winning local artists from throughout Chicagoland including painter Jan Schrader (Naperville), scratchboard artist Les Scott (Gurnee) and multi-disciplinary artist Michael Litewski (Zion), plus a group exhibition titled ‘Artistic Dialogues’ showcasing a wide variety of encaustic artwork created by member artists of the esteemed encaustic art group FUSEDChicago. We’re also hosting a one-night-only pop-up show outside (weather permitting) featuring supersized paintings of trains created by Waukegan artist Tom Pedersen and a tabletop show by Dave Clausen of Hainesville displaying the exquisite world of woodturning, including vases, bowls and platters.”

FUSEDChicago is an organization of artists in the Midwest who share an interest in encaustic, a method of making art using pigmented wax fused to a surface by heat. The “Artist Dialogues” exhibition illustrates the expansive possibilities of the encaustic medium. Artists were asked to submit two pieces that speak to each other using two encaustic techniques (painting, accretion, photo transfer, monotype, etc). The exciting results are twofold: a dialogue between the artist and the viewer and a dialogue between the two pieces, which can be interpreted as stand-alone or as a diptych.

Participating artists are Helen Dannelly, Bob Fesser, Paula Hiller, Laura LaRue, Cindy Lesperance, Jane Michalski, Carol L. Myers, Michele Thrane and Neli Tzintzeva.

The gallery also welcomes solo artist Schrader whose original abstract paintings reflect three major influences: mid-century and contemporary architecture, Asian art, particularly Zen minimalism, and jazz music. Schrader uses heavy textures with metallic and high gloss paints to create interesting surfaces that change in appearance as the light in the room changes too.

Scott returns to the Blue Moon for his fourth exhibition, bringing with him a new collection of fresh, vibrant, colorful and highly detailed scratchboard compositions. Scratchboard art stands out because of the artist’s ability to create intricate details and textures through the process of removal. Scott is a master scratchboard artist of more than two decades and a member of the International Society of Scratchboard Artists.

The gallery’s only summer pop-up show this season features Pedersen, who is known for his supersized canvases of brightly colored trains, which he will be sharing “on the bricks” June 21 at the Blue Moon. Wine will be served and Brian Garoutte (Grayslake) of The Background Memory will perform live ambient music. The gallery’s firepit will be going, which makes for lively socializing and getting to know artists and new people in the community.

The gallery’s resident artists Litewski, Dave Clausen, Juli Janovicz (Kenosha) and Kett (Gurnee) also will be sharing new artwork at the opening reception.

For more information, visit thebluemoongallery.com.