Blue Moon Gallery celebrates 2 years

GRAYSLAKE – Blue Moon Gallery celebrates its two-year anniversary this month.

Since opening in April 2019, the gallery has had the privilege of working with about 80 regional artists, extensively promoting their creative vision and artwork with featured artist and juried group exhibitions, online galleries, gallery hours and COVID-19-safe in-person events.

Blue Moon Gallery has connected these artists to patrons and art lovers.

“We are thrilled that artists of all kinds have been part of the Blue Moon family these past two years, including oil, acrylic, watercolor and pastel painters, metal sculptors, jewelry designers, woodworkers, collage artists, illustrators, photographers, printmakers, mixed media and assemblage artists, and encaustic and oil/cold wax artists,” Kendra Kett, director of the Blue Moon Gallery, said in a news release. “We are so pleased that the Blue Moon can offer a friendly, nonintimidating forum for the community to connect with beautiful art and get to know local artists.”

Despite the pandemic, the gallery has had steady attendance at its COVID-19-safe events and a strong sales history assisting patrons at all levels of collecting art to make purchases they feel good about.

“We are always excited when we can help a patron find a work of art they truly love and will derive happiness from once they hang it in their home,” Kett said. “There is nothing better than the joy that original fine art brings to a home. We have found that experiencing and interacting with interesting and colorful art was a welcome respite for so many during this past year in particular. Our patrons were eager to refresh their home environment with new art during a time when being at home became more and more important and necessary.”

The gallery offers patrons opportunities to meet regional artists during weekend gallery hours from 1 to 4 p.m., as well as at their opening receptions for new exhibitions on the fourth Saturday of every month from 6 to 9 p.m.

Blue Moon Gallery has become a popular destination for high-quality fine art in Lake County. The gallery ships artwork to buyers nationwide and to date has shipped to 18 states. The gallery made its first international sale to Germany in early 2021.

Blue Moon Gallery is celebrating its two-year anniversary with new exhibitions featuring Gurnee scratchboard artist Leslie Scott as one of two guest artists. Scott is one of Illinois’ most prominent scratchboard artists and has been executing this age-old art form for nearly two decades. His exemplary collection of 18 scratchboard compositions has a strong graphic design sensibility and delightful, accessible subject matter for all audiences.

Frank Korb, a painter and sculptor from Burlington Wisconsin, also is a guest artist for the gallery’s anniversary event. Korb is exhibiting a collection of 18 works including abstract paintings on paper and canvas and both wall-mounted and tabletop sculptures. His intense, highly colorful pieces explore the relationship between color, shape, line, texture and space on the picture plane.

The gallery’s five 2021 Collective Artists (Leisa Corbett, Bob Nonnemacher, Michael Litewski, John Kirkpatrick Jr. and Michael Bellefeuille) also will be exhibiting new works including paintings, assemblages and metal sculptures. These artists show year-round at the gallery and present evolving collections of works in impressionism, abstract expressionism and modern/contemporary genres.

The gallery will be open to the public from 1 to 4 p.m. on Saturday and Sunday through May 9. Masks and social distancing are required, and group size may not exceed 10. Visit the Blue Moon Gallery Facebook page for details and updates or visit www.thebluemoongallery.com/.