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Artisans

   
CERAMICS

Karen Avery

 

Avery is a potter who is passionate about making stoneware both beautiful and functional for your home and garden. She is the Art Director and an Instructor at Stirling Hall Art Center in Lake Forest, and previously served for nearly two decades as the Ceramic Director at Lillstreet Art Center, where she still teaches intermediate/advanced ceramics classes. Learn more about this Artisan.

ARTWORK

Catherine Daniels

CDanielsDesign

Daniels has pursued her craft professionally for 15 years, having studied at The University of Chicago, Evanston Art Center, and Northshore Art League. She has a studio at The Fulton Street Collective, a Chicago Shakespeare in the Parks community partner. She is an oil painter who creates art on canvases in an abstracted-realism style, as well as limited-edition prints. Learn more about this Artisan.

ACCESSORIES

Elizabeth Flauto

Elizabeth Millinery

This Chicago-based independent theatrical crafts studio makes hats and masks (the fun type) for theater, opera, and dance in Chicago and beyond. Nationally, the studio has worked on the hats for 5 Hamilton companies (including Broadway), and a variety of other regional and summer theaters, operas, dance companies, and tours. Learn more about this Artisan.

ACCESSORIES + HOME DECOR

Nicholas Harazin

Kindred Woodworks

As an actor in and around the Chicagoland area, Harazin has been in six Chicago Shakespeare productions, from Henry V to several Short Shakespeare! tours. He has also been a woodworker for many years now. His artistry ranges from custom bed frames to tables, floor-to-ceiling shelves, cutting boards, and earrings. Learn more about this Artisan.

 

 

HOME DECOR

Maggie Hofmann

Paisleyandglue

Inspired by the simplicity of the Chicago Flag, PaisleyAndGlue creates holiday pieces that celebrate the experience of living in such a vibrant city. Hofmann’s talents as a theatrical costume maker have often been featured on our stages—most recently in SIX (Aragon, Boleyn & Cleves), the Witches of Macbeth, and the royal finery for King Charles II in Nell GwynnLearn more about this Artisan.

ARTWORK

Dail Kirkpatrick

Dail Kirkpatrick Art

Kirkpatrick is an abstract artist and educator working in a variety of mediums, currently in residence at Fulton Street Collective—a Chicago Shakespeare in the Parks partner. She explores how color impacts and interacts with emotion, and hopes to create a connection with the viewer that sparks their youthfulness, vibrance, playfulness, and curiosity. Learn more about this Artisan.

ACCESSORIES

Noelle Klyce

Hook Me Up Design Co.

Hook Me Up, Design Co. offers personalized yarn work items, including scarves, hats, and ear savers. Klyce has been a self-described “Yarniac” since joining the Knitting and Crocheting club in high school. She shares: “To crochet is to converse with, love on, yell at, smile upon, and shake your head at humanity.” Klyce is a frequent Chicago Shakespeare in the Parks collaborator and has performed for three years as a featured artist at Tuley Park. Learn more about this Artisan.

ARTWORK

Emma Lyons

 

Lyons loves all things that bring beauty and wellness into people’s lives. She does her best to contribute to this by creating colorful, whimsical, and encouraging art that ranges from figurative to abstract. Her primary medium is acrylic paint, but she also enjoys working with resin to bring practical beauty into daily routines and objects. Lyons is passionate about the theatre, and alongside a team of artists from Fulton Street Collective, led the set design efforts in the Chicago Shakespeare in the Parks 2021 touring production DREAM: A Community Reimagining of A Midsummer Night’s Dream. Learn more about this Artisan.

 

 

JEWELERY

Maria Clara Ospina

Kawami Jewelry

Maria Clara Ospina is a Colombian/American actress located in Chicago. She is proud to be representing the work of artisans in Colombia through her company Kawami Jewelry. Kawami was founded in early 2020 with the mission to promote art value in her country while enhancing the confidence and beauty of people. Learn more about this Artisan.

CERAMICS

Robin Power

 

A Chicagoland native, Power received her BFA from The School of the Art Institute, Chicago. Her primary areas of study were Figure Sculpture and Drawing. She currently teaches Ceramic Figure Sculpture and Hand-building at Lake Forest’s Stirling Hall Art Center, a home to both adult and youth art programs.

JEWELRY

Taína Ramírez

Atabey

Ramírez is a youth Afro-Indigenous/Latinx creator who makes and sells intricate and original apparel and accessories. A talented musician, her performance credits include the New Year’s Jazz Performance at Harold Washington Library, the After School Matters’ Latin Jazz Showcase, and the Bomba and Afro-Caribbean Jazz percussion programs at Segundo Ruiz Belvis Cultural Center. Alongside an ensemble from SRBCC, Ramírez made her Chicago Shakespeare stage debut as a percussionist in the Chicago Shakespeare in the Parks 2021 touring production DREAM: A Community Reimagining of A Midsummer Night’s Dream. Learn more about this Artisan.

CERAMICS

Travis Shupe

Ceramics by Travis

A local Lighting Designer, Travis first started working with clay as a junior in High School. It quickly became a passion of his, and has provided him with an artistic outlet ever since. He enjoys spending time at the ceramics studio turning lumps of clay into handmade functional vessels on the potter’s wheel. Travis focuses on the utilitarian side of ceramics and loves seeing his pieces being used day to day. Learn more about this Artisan.

 

 

CERAMICS

Michael P. Skiersch

Skiersch Studio

After many years as a commercial illustrator and advertising executive, Michael Skiersch is now an exhibiting and teaching artist. Michael currently holds faculty positions at LillStreet Art Center in Chicago and Stirling Hall Art Center in Lake Forest. He teaches tile making, mold making and slip casting. Michael has also spent many years working locally on theatrical set design and set construction. Learn more about this Artisan.

HOME DECOR + JEWELRY

Jen Smith

JenSmithGlass

Smith has led production departments in theaters across the country—including Chicago Shakespeare. She traded in all of her 80’s plastic and started using glass in all of her jewelry design. Wanting to create one-of-a-kind pieces, she took a Glass Fusing class to make her own pendants. That decision grew into the beautiful art she makes now. Learn more about this Artisan.

HOME DECOR

Brittany Taylor

Black Luxe Candle Co.

After experiencing the loss of a loved one, Taylor knows the importances of investing in oneself to heal, decompress, and transform. A professed “self-care advocate” and recent participant in the Greater Englewood Chamber of Commerce’s Business Development Cohort, Taylor created Black Luxe Candle Co. Featuring an array of luxurious fragrances, handcrafted in small batches on Chicago’s south side, Taylor invites you to take a deep breath, and inhale wellness and pure joy. Learn more about this Artisan.

JEWELRY + ACCESSORIES

Beth Uber

Betherella

Inspired by the unique charm of vintage buttons, Uber creates one-of-a-kind handcrafted items, including earrings, necklaces, wallets, and hats. A gifted theatrical costume maker, Uber’s handiwork has been seen on our stages in Roxanne’s billowing gowns for Cyrano de Bergerac, sizzling showgirl attire for Gypsy, the kings of Henry V and Henry VIII, and more. Learn more about this Artisan.

 

 

ARTWORK

Nikki Way

 

Way is a maker of paintings and prints, working in mediums ranging from oil-based ink, to hand carved linoleum, to vinyl stickers. Much of her work is inspired by and related to the native plants of the Great Lakes area. Way was connected to Chicago Shakespeare through West Town’s Fulton Street Collective. Learn more about this Artisan.

GIFT BOXES

Cass Westover

Homegrown Wrappings Gift Company, LLC

After nine years as an integral collaborator and leader of Chicago Shakespeare’s Props department, the resilience of artists and small businesses inspired Westover to set out to build a company that would highlight amazing, homegrown products all year round. Her design and crafting skills, as well as a passion for eco-conscious choices, make these gifts feel good—both giving and receiving. Learn more about this Artisan.

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