Each year at the Mundelein Fine Arts Festival the Kirk Players award the top new artist the Kirk Players Emerging Artist Award with a $500 prize!   This year's winner was Ashley Neary of Red Lantern Leatherworks!

https://www.redlanternleatherworks.com/
https://www.instagram.com/redlanternleatherworks/

Ashley Neary is a leather worker living in Viroqua, Wisconsin.  With a specialty in customized haberdashery and a background in millinery, Ashley’s work reflects the consistency and aesthetic that is a product of classically executed technique. 

Ashley is passionate about leather as a medium because of its strength and timelessness, yin and yang meeting in flexible durability.  In honoring the skin of another being, it is her hope that this work embodies transformation as an act of veneration.

The Annual Mundelein Fine Arts Festival is sponsored by Mundelein Community Connection in September. A juried art festival that will showcase the talents of over 45 fine artists and craftspeople who work in a variety of media.

The two-day event will be held at Kracklauer Park in downtown Mundelein in September annually and features top-notch artists, local musicians, and tasty food.