We Don't Just Have Heart, We've Got Art

When my husband and I first moved out here to Oswego from our up-and-coming Chicago neighborhood, we just assumed that we were leaving behind the cultural diversity and arts community we had taken for granted. We certainly didn’t miss it during our first several years here. We were fully immersed in the baby vortex—too busy nursing, changing diapers and slinging Cheerios to notice.

Once we came up for air, I started to look around for the arts activities that I love and that I hoped my kids would enjoy. You can imagine my pleasant surprise when I learned that Oswego has an annual art fair, a music and art academy, and even a few community theatre groups. Even more exciting was the discovery that a regional arts center was in the works, right here within the boundaries of our town. I quickly got involved.  It would seem that, in our rush to select a suburb while I was seven-and-a-half months pregnant, we happened to hit the jackpot when it comes to an emerging arts community.

Now, I want to emphasize the word “emerging”. It’s not as if you could survey the Western suburbs and the majority of people would associate Oswego with the arts. We definitely have some work to do. But there is a lot to get excited about here. That’s what prompted me to start writing about it. What better way to generate awareness and interest than a blog?

Please know that this isn’t going to be the ‘who’, ’what’, ‘when’ and ‘where’. That’s already well covered by our local news outlets. Instead, I want you to get a perspective on our arts scene from the eyes and ears of a former dancer, a little girl just starting to discover what she wants to do, from students who get to work with professional artists, an art teacher who loves his or her job, and more.

Soon you’ll begin to have a appreciation for the arts in the everyday—from the little girl who dances to imaginary music around her mother’s shopping cart to the guy jamming to Zeppelin in the car next to you at a stop light.

Famed actress and acting teacher, Stella Adler, said that “Life beats down and crushes the soul and art reminds you that you have one.”

My hope is that I can awaken the artist or art lover lying dormant within each of us. That way, we can all begin to appreciate the growing arts “scene” we are so lucky to have in Oswego, and its impact on our children, ourselves and our community.