McHenry County News FRE
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Volume 6 Issue 26
WOODSTOCK CAR WASH N O W O P E N
• 3 Heated Bays • Brand New Vacuums • Automatic Wash Now Open • 7’ High and Large Enough for Dually Pickup Trucks
218 Fair Street, Woodstock, IL
June 23, 2016
(Behind McDonalds)
239731
Plein Air painting on display By Anne Eickstadt CORRESPONDENT
Twenty-five artists have accepted the challenge of the 3rd Annual Woodstock Plein Air Festival. It is a week long, outdoor painting contest sponsored by the Old Courthouse Arts Center on Woodstock’s Historic Square running from May 21 to May 28. Artists entering the competition are required to paint a scene from somewhere in Woodstock. They are to paint from real life – working from photographs is not allowed. “It’s really difficult when you are outside,” says Lynnette Garcia of the Old Courthouse Arts Center. “Everything’s changing - movement, light.” “En plein air” or “plein air painting” is from the French for “open (in full) air”. It is used to describe, in particular, the act of painting out of doors, “where a painter reproduces the actual visual conditions seen at the time of the painting.” Painting outdoors has always been popular with painters but it became far more so when paints in tubes were introduced in the 1840s and painters no longer had to mix their own colors to work with. In May, 2016, twelve painters succeeded in completing the 2 1/2 hour Quick Paint challenge. They completed and signed a painting
and had it framed and ready for hanging within 2 1/2 hours. Eric Zigowisz of Huntley intended to enter the Quick Paint challenge but was still painting when I came across him on the Square in midafternoon. He entered his artwork in the main Plein Air competition instead. All of the paintings from this event are currently on display in the Welles and Gould Galleries. They will remain on display until the end of June. A few of the artists visited sites in the rural area around Woodstock. Many artists remained in town. The Opera House is a popular subject and a number of paintings are of places and objects on the Square. The Woodstock Farmers’ Market is represented as well as some of the shops. Tom Trausch of Trausch Fine Arts in Woodstock is the judge for this year’s Plein Air Festival. He will be leading a two day workshop for anyone interested in advancing their painting skills at Starved Rock State Park and Matthiesen State Park on October 19 to 20. The cost for this instruction is $150. “If you are new to plein air painting, I will take you through a step by step approach,” Trausch says. Please call either 888-678-1667 or
See PAINTING, Page 2 ANNE EICKSTADT PHOTO McHenry County News
Eric Zygowicz working on his entry for the 3rd Annual Woodstock Plein Art Festival.
Vintage music rules the weekend By Anne Eickstadt CORRESPONDENT
As usual, the 41st Annual Antique Phonograph & Music Box Show & Sale opens to the public on Saturday morning with the National Anthem played on an antique music box. At 9:00 am on June 11, 2016, the entire room hushes, many salute and others place their hands on their hearts as the group pays respect to our country and the large flag displayed on the wall. The moment the song ends, crowds rush to find antique music boxes, crank phonographs, original parts and their favorite venders. They crow in victory in finding rare bits and pieces for repairing a machine, gloat over locating hardto-find wax cylinder and vinyl records and tin music box disks. Well-built cabinets and finely crafted machines put pleased looks on their new owners’ faces. From parts and pieces to ‘fixerupper’ machines, from well cared for, mint condition machines and collectibles, they can all be found here at the original, largest and longest-running antique music show in the world. Year after year this weekend-long show continues to draw people from all over the world, including Korea, Japan, Australia, New Zealand and the Netherlands. It attracts experts from Canada to Texas and from coast to coast across the United ANNE EICKSTADT PHOTO McHenry County News The 41st Annual Antique Phonograph & Music Box Show & Sale drew hundreds of people to the Wild States to Donley’s Wild West Town in the tiny village of Union, IlliWest Town in Union, Illinois.
nois. The venders at this show are experts in the field of antique music machines. A number of them have written books which are the definitive say in the realm of antique music. Victrola, Edison crank phonographs, Columbia and Brunswick may be somewhat familiar to some of us. Nipper of “His Master’s Voice” fame may be familiar to more people. [Just as a side note, the owner of the world’s largest collection of Nipper dogs is a regular attendee at this show.] If you are looking for a specific phonograph, needle or part, these are the people to talk to. “The show is a way to find parts and machines,” says Charley Hummel of the Edison Institute. “I will do it as long as I can.” One booth at the show is surrounded in black. Its contents are a small portion of the extensive collection of the late Edward Boker. “Mr. Boker was a collector with a discriminating eye and a taste for the finer things in life who amassed a collection that boggles the mind,” says Randy Donley. “At auction will be over 400 phonographs, music boxes, more than 200 pieces of vintage lighting, enough wood pedestals to fill a large truck, a vacuum cleaner collection, parts, literature, and over 40,000 records.” This booth is both a tribute to Mr. Boker and a preview of the
See MUSIC, Page 8