If you were in downtown Riverside this past weekend, it would have been hard to miss the white tents that took over Guthrie Park and the surrounding area south of the Riverside train station.
Featuring live music, food and numerous artists peddling their creations, the annual Riverside Arts Weekend festival was in full swing by Saturday morning, attracting residents to enjoy the weather and poke around vendors’ tents filled with their own art.
Charlotte Zia, the president and treasurer of the event’s board of directors, said the work for each year’s arts weekend begins in October of the previous year.
“We have a committee. It’s not just me. We’re trying to build it out so that we have people of all sorts of different expertise, but everybody’s a volunteer,” she told the Landmark. “We decide on what we want to do different and [how] to improve upon it starting in the fall, and then we just dive in. Most of the work happens from January to now.”
Zia said she started as a volunteer during the event before becoming part of the planning committee around 2018. Then, starting in 2021, she came on as the head of the organization, leading the effort each year to pull Riverside Arts Weekend off without a hitch.
This year, the event featured more artists than ever with about 75, Zia said. Other new additions this year included a tent for authors to sign and sell their books in place of visual art.
Every year, the group collaborates with the Riverside Art Center, she added, for a children’s art activity.
“We like to say, they’re 365 days a year, and we’re elevating the arts for the weekend,” she said. “We also do a community art project each year. We do something that’s very Riverside, and we invite members of the community to lend their artistic talent to whatever the piece is. This year, it’s oars, like paddles.”
In previous years, instead of oars, they’ve asked residents to paint wreaths, planters, birdhouses, bikes, benches and even statues of coyotes or swans, Zia said.
For some artists, like leatherworker Angela Erickson, this year’s Riverside Arts Weekend was their first. Erickson said was approached by one of the members of the organization to participate.
“She picked up my card from a different event. She sent me an email last year and then sent me it again this year,” Erickson said. “I think it’s pretty awesome that it’s in a park with trees, and there seems to be a very good, diverse collection of artists. I haven’t got to walk around, but from what I’ve seen, there’s not a lot of repeat styles.”
Other artists, like Brian P. Horan, have been coming to Riverside Arts Weekend for years. Horan, who sells what he described as reverse hand-painted photography — that is, he takes photos and digitally removes the color from all but one focal point, like a tree’s vibrant leaves — said he’s been coming each year since 2012.
“This was actually my first show after my return back to Chicago. I started this in Florida. In 2012, I wanted to try [coming] back home for a year, and this was my very first show,” Horan said. “There are several websites that have art shows and the application processes. I was like, ‘OK, Riverside, I know the area.’ My grandparents lived in Brookfield, so I’ve been coming to Brookfield all my life.”
Artist Erin Brie, who has been attending for about five years to sell her pieces repurposing old textiles, said she initially wanted to participate due to her love of Riverside.
“I love the historic nature of it. I have a master’s [degree] in historic preservation and restoration from the Art Institute … It blends both things I love. I get to sit here and look at that beautiful building in this nice park. That was a main reason that drew me,” she said. “Also because it’s a locally run art show. I do some corporation art shows, those are expensive.”
Zia said her favorite part of Riverside Arts Weekend is being able to interact with all of the artists, new or returning, in one place.
“I window shop for two days, and then I dive in at the last minute when I have time,” she said. “We always try to have a whole variety of music. We always try to push the envelope a little bit. Part of our goal is really to give more exposure to the arts.”
