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 Tina Baldwin of Message in a Milkweed!
The name, Message in a Milkweed and the tag line, "spreading seeds of hope through art and education", comes from the title of a family art activity Tina started in Spring of 2020 when she and her students were quarantined due to COVID. Robin created and hid ceramic “milkweed” art pieces in Lake County Forest Preserves and posted photo clues on social media to create a scavenger hunt. She recreated the project again in spring of 2021. Tina is the art teacher for Park Campus in Round Lake, teaching grades K-8. "I love to work in a wide variety of mediums. My focus right now is combining traditional, hand printmaking methods with technology like 3d printing and laser cutting", Tina stated. Tina expressed "I am blessed to be able to donate 100% of the proceeds from sales of my art to The Creatory. The Creatory, NFP is a 501(c)3 organization providing maker education opportunities and working to open a community makerspace in Lake County". For more information on Message in a Milkweed and Tina, please see her Facebook page here, and website here: 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 will feature top-notch artists, local musicians and tasty food. |