For over 50 years, the Old State Capitol Art Fair in Springfield has been the crown jewel of art in the Midwest, featuring artists from neighboring states and across the country. This weekend, art collectors and enthusiasts will gather to admire hundreds of art pieces while enjoying live music and food from local shops during this two-day event.

In 1961, the first ever Old State Capitol Art Fair was held. The original organizers wished to highlight the social, cultural and historical aspects of Springfield to promote city pride and solidify Springfield as a model capital city for other cities across the nation to take note of.

Today, the art fair is an annual event, which serves to bring the city together through art and culture and provides individuals the opportunity to purchase original art. Located on the Old State Capitol grounds, the fair takes over downtown Springfield, outpouring onto surrounding streets and sidewalks.

Over 100 artists attend the fair each year to display and promote their artwork. Each artist brings their own unique style and specializes in different categories of media including acrylic, wood, photography, ceramics and more. Since 2011, the art fair has also featured an interactive display that allows attendees to help recreate a piece of artwork from one of the fair’s featured artists.

Visit the Old State Capitol Art Fair on Saturday, May 18 from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. and Sunday, May 19 from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. to take part in the event.

For more information, visit the Old Capitol Art Fair’s website.

Happy viewing!

Winnie Godfrey is our April Artist of the Month. Originally from Philadelphia, Godfrey was raised on Chicago’s south side and earned a bachelor of science in art and a master of fine arts from the University of Wisconsin. She also studied at the Art Institute of Chicago and the University of California.

The timeless tradition of floral painting inspires most of Godfrey’s work, but she developed a unique style that depicts floral subjects in an eye-catching, modern way. She utilizes light, color and composition techniques to make photorealistic paintings and presents her subjects with a fresh approach to depicting shapes, texture and the translucency of flowers.

Although her artwork primarily consists of oil-based floral paintings, she is renowned for her work in other figurative subjects, including a series inspired by the indigenous Mayans in Guatemala. Each painting illustrates a different village and costume in a sequence of 14 life-size oils titled “Mayan Procession.” While she often uses oil paint, Godfrey includes a variety of mediums in this series, such as textiles, photos and “alfombra” or carpet made of colored sawdust.

Are you looking for something fun and free to do this month?

Museums across the state are offering free admission to Illinois residents.

As long as you show proof of residency, you get free admission!

Todd Snyder is our March Artist of the Month. He is a nationally recognized fine artist from East Peoria and has worked as a professional oil painter since 1986. Snyder earned an associate degree in commercial art from the Rocky Mountain College of Art and Design in Denver, Colorado and has since lived in central Illinois.

The multitude of paintings Snyder produced throughout his career depict local urban landscapes and architecture in magical realist style reminiscent of the German New Objectivity painters of the early 20^th century. He combines elements of surrealism with his subject matter to fashion his own style of “industrial surrealism” in all of his work.

According to Snyder, his paintings are synthesized productions of his imagination, which include a combination of heavy industrial machinery, cityscapes and images of his immediate surroundings. He aims to create ambiguity and tension in his illustrations in order to reflect the surreal nature of our world and leave the viewer with a fragmented, unresolved story about what they are seeing.

It’s Chicago Theatre Week and you can celebrate by attending a show for $30 or less. Originally launched in 2000, the annual Chicago Theatre Week serves up value priced tickets for productions at dozens of theaters across the city.

Last year’s CTW hit record ticket sales as more than 20,000 tickets sold with more than 500 performances displayed by 78 participating productions. Sponsored by the League of Chicago Theatres in partnership with Choose Chicago, more than 50 theatres will participate this year during CTW. The goal is to increase and represent theatre as a vital industry throughout Chicago.

Be sure to visit and attend theatrical showings this week at theatres such as The Chicago Theatre, which is known to be the first large lavish movie palace in America and was the prototype for all others. Opened on Oct. 26, 1921, this beautiful movie palace was constructed for $4 million and built in French baroque style. This seven-story building has 3,600 seats and is more than one half of a city block wide and consists of a vertical sign that displays “C-H-I-C-A-G-O” at about six stories tall. Throughout it’s time, The Chicago Theatre presented the best live and film entertainment with an array of the world’s brightest stars and greatest productions that have graced the stage, which includes Allman Brothers Band, Blues Traveler, Kelly Clarkson, Harry Connick Jr. and others.

For those seeking to make Theatre Week purchases, each theatre’s own ticket offers and ticketing system/box office details will be listed on the Chicago Theatre Week website at chicagotheatreweek.com.