Dreams & Bones.

What a whirlwind!

Artnog came, and then it went. What's Artnog, you ask? This combination art show, Christmas cheer and delicious eggnog party began last year when the talented Matt Tinken brought together a large group of people to create innovative, beautiful music, art, and food to fill Chicago with joy. A good friend and I were co-curators of the art featured, and it was one of my favorite experiences I've had thus far with my pals at Missio Dei. Sadly for us, last summer Matt and his lovely wife Sarah moved to Pasadena, California so he could attend graduate school.


This year, my friend Tre' and I approached the leadership of Missio Dei and asked if we could (attempt to) carry on Matt's legacy with Artnog. The truth is.. we are greatly inspired by the beauty of creativity as it lives in each of us, and we wanted to see more of it! We love to see what comes out when artists create.. and sometimes, even when they create out of worship to the Lord (though that was not the purpose nor the majority in our show!).


You know what came of the show? Some of the most beautiful work I've seen created in Chicago. We had such a solid group of artists participating: Andy Luce, Andrew Bouverette, Matt Schwerin, Josh Rains, Frances MacLeod, Kyle Letendre, Ayla Kindle, Alyssa Ray, Susannah Lancaster and Matthew Jorgensen.



I couldn't have been more pleased with what they brought to the table.



And that's not all...


We were surrounded by tons of people, all who would stop and put their faces close to the pieces, even reaching out to touch them {causes a shudder in every curator's skin.. but don't worry, we loved the excitement so we hid our shudders..}. It brought joy to my heart to see some of our shy-er artists stand behind crowds of people leaning in close to their work. How great that must have felt. :)



We were almost surprised by the turnout at artnog -- there must have been over 150 people there flowing in and out between 7 and 10pm. People enjoyed gingerbread men, santa hat brownies, spiked and non spiked eggnog, among tons of other goodies. They crowded the photo booth upstairs. They photo bombed each other.. and had contests for funniest use of the typeface-mustaches.




We couldn't have done this without all of the help we received: Sarah Schmidt, Mike Brown, Tre Henry - y'all are rockstars. Anthony Barlich & Laura Stoll for providing the photo booth fun. All of our volunteers who bar tended, hung coats, swept, cleaned, and helped out in other ways - you're great! And all of the artists, we couldn't have done this without you!

Last weekend was the big preparation for next week's Artnog: an art show filled with merriness, cheer, and delicious baked goods.