Geneva Arts Fair Features Artist Elizabeth Kindig’s Work

South Third Street in downtown Geneva will host the Geneva Arts Fair, a juried event this weekend. The fair highlights fine artisans from across the nation and will run from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. on both Saturday and Sunday, July 25-26. The Geneva Chamber of Commerce has more details available on their website at www.genevachamber.com.

Among the featured artists is Geneva painter Elizabeth Kindig, known for her still life and landscape masterpieces. Her work will be showcased in front of the Kane County Historic Courthouse, located between James and Campbell streets. Kindig uses oils, acrylics, and pastels, blending colors and abstraction to reflect her childhood memories.

“I often play with color and abstraction to evoke my memories of the farm where I grew up,” Kindig mentioned on her website.

She has developed a niche in painting by focusing on still lifes featuring family heirlooms. Growing up in a farmhouse where her father and grandfather once lived, she explored the history connected to the objects found there.

“In my still life work, I seek to honor those heirlooms often tucked away in an attic,” she explained. Kindig has since expanded to accepting commissions, painting heirlooms for others. One client commissioned her to capture a grandfather’s Standard Oil work coat, complete with hand-sewn details.

“I really wanted to capture those hand-sewn details,” Kindig shared.

Originally from Indiana, Kindig settled in Geneva two years ago with her husband Ross Adams and their 7-year-old daughter, Maggie. Her recent works can be seen in front of The Little Traveler at 404 S. Third St. She left a career as a middle school humanities teacher to focus on her art full-time, driven by her family’s history and the visual beauty of farm life.

“My family’s history on the farm and the visual elements of cornfields inspire me,” she said.

Linda Girardi covered this story as a freelance reporter for The Beacon-News.