57th Street Art Fair gives the city ‘access to the artists’

Oscar Matos Linares has been exhibiting at the 57th Street Art Fair longer than he can remember.

The event returned for its 78th year in Hyde Park on Saturday, bringing more than 160 artists together to show pieces, including glass, jewelry, leather, photography, printmaking, painting, sculpture, wood, ceramics and fiber art.

Despite being one of the oldest juried art shows in the Midwest, the focus of the event remained on the community — with 30 of the artists hailing from across Illinois.

“It takes the full narrative about Chicago, especially for the South Side, it helps to change the mentality people have of it from the outside,” said Linares, who has lived in Woodlawn for the last six years. “They don’t see the beauty of the South Side, and one of the things I think this show does is change that.”

People strolled between vendors’ tents, food trucks, an entertainment area for kids and a stage featuring local blues artists. Photos of crystalized Malört taken through a microscope were just feet away from paintings of the Loop and metallic sculptures of animals.

The fair has come a long way from its first iteration in 1948 when founder and artist Mary Louise Womer took to the streets of Hyde Park to showcase the work of other local artisans — largely students at the Art Institute of Chicago and the Institute of Design downtown — by stringing up their work between fence posts and trees.

But now in a world where online shopping has made artists superficially more accessible, the fair offers something else, according to Lee Tomlinson, who has been on the organizing committee for 25 years.

“[Internet shopping is] impersonal,” Tomlinson, a 40-year Hyde Park resident, said, comparing the experience to seeing a band perform live versus listening at home. “[The fair] gives you access to the artists. … Even the best stereo system in the world still has you looking at a wall.”

Sara Bigger, 60, has been going to the art fair for more than a third of her life. The University of Chicago staff member walked out this year with a pair of earrings for her friend’s birthday, and has previously subtly suggested certain artists and pieces to her spouse that she wanted for future gifts.

“He takes a hint very well,” she said, with a laugh.

The “hang-over-your-sofa-art” is what’s kept bringing her back, she said, and a statement that’s very literal to her. A piece she bought there in 2006 still adorns a large wall in her home.

“I don’t want [my home] to look like anyone’s Airbnb. I want it to look like my home,” Bigger said.

Though beyond that, she said it was a gift to the community to have the event so close to home, especially with the parking difficulties that come with the fair and University of Chicago’s commencement landing on the same weekend.

“It’s a great experience to walk through and see neighbors and meet artists,” Bigger said. “I love that I don’t have to leave my community to go to a high-quality art fair.”

The two-day festival continues 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Sunday with more music, art and food despite continued unhealthy air quality caused by Canadian wildfire smoke.