Annual fair in Geneva ‘truly about the art’

For many people, art fairs and summer just seem to go together, which is why Geneva resident Lisa York decided to visit Third Street in her hometown on Saturday.

“I’ve come many times and I’m sad when I miss it,” York said of the Geneva Arts Fair, adding that she has lived in town for 39 years. “As far as what I come for, it varies. Some years, it’s art – wall things and sometimes it’s the yard art like this year and sometimes it’s glass – but I always look forward to it.”

The Geneva Arts Fair, which ran in the city’s downtown Saturday and Sunday, has been held for more than two decades.

First launched in 2001, the 2023 version included 124 juried artists, a number that officials said “is about the same as last year.”

“Before COVID we had many more (artists) but after the pandemic, we started having less to give the artists more distance between their tents. The artists as well as the patrons liked having things spread out just a little bit more, so we just kept doing that,” said Laura Rush, communications director for the Geneva Chamber of Commerce which put on the show.

Mediums this year included at least two dozen categories such as paint, glass, jewelry, paper, digital, ceramic, fiber and many more.

“If it’s an art category or medium we pretty much have all of it,” Rush said of this year’s show. “In terms of artists, we use an art show coordinator and I’m guessing that 75% of the artists are returning and the other 25 percent are new.”

Artists, Rush said, “come from north to south, coast-to-coast” and believes that, despite there being a lot of art fairs in the area, Geneva’s is unique.

“It’s truly about the art. We don’t have food trucks, we don’t have music, we don’t have vendor booths, it’s truly about the art and I think that the artists really like that,” she said. “That’s the focus when people come. I think we get a lot of Geneva people but every year we pick up a new advertising option and I’m sure that that brings people from all over and if somebody is following an artist they may travel to come.”

One of the returning artists at this year’s show was Jesse Kunerth of Pittsburgh, who said he was participating in his third Geneva Arts Fair.

“I’ve been doing caricatures for 15 years and full-time doing art festivals for eight years,” he said. “I do music people, actresses, politicians. I’m inspired by what inspires me with pop culture. I find a photo as a reference.”

Kunerth admits the subjects of his sketches vary depending on who’s big in the culture at the time.

“Some of the big ones over the years have been Anthony Bourdain and Dolly Parton,” he said. “Usually, I can do some of the smaller ones in a day. The bigger ones take a week to two weeks. A good weekend for me would be to sell like 50 prints.”

Candy Bradford and her husband Mark of Aurora on Saturday said it was their first visit to the fair having seen it while they were driving by.

“We’ve never seen it before and we thought this would be a fun thing to do on a Saturday afternoon,” Candy Bradford said. “As far as mediums we like it’s probably ceramic and paper. We like coming to Geneva for different events.”

“We have very specific tastes that aren’t mainstream,” Mark Bradford added. “One of our things, we like supporting local.”

Alexa Sonne of West Chicago was also a first-time visitor and said she “was looking forward to bringing my boys so they could check out all the cool art pieces.”

“I usually like paintings while my boys like the sculptures and the metal,” she said. “The boys really enjoy this. They’re into it even though they’re small. I’m browsing and I might buy some jewelry.”

David Sharos is a freelance reporter for The Beacon-News.