Festival of Fine Art Features Dana Reed Designs

Dana Reed, a local metalsmith jeweler, started creating handmade pieces more than twenty years ago. What originally started as a hobby, quickly evolved into an artisan business featuring mixed metal jewelry. Reed has been a regular at Amdur Productions Art Festivals for more than ten years and has built quite a following of her work along the North Shore. She will be participating in the Festival of Fine Arts, hosted by The Art Center Highland Park and produced by Amdur Productions, June 22 and 23 along with 100 other juried artists. Reed’s participation at the Festival this year is special since she will not only be exhibiting as a Highland Park artist, but also as a Highland Park business owner.

In May of this year, Reed opened Dana Reed Designs in Highland Park’s thriving Ravinia Business District. The gallery doubles as a workspace for the artist and provides just the right opportunity to work close to home while also being able to stay connected with loyal collectors of her work. In addition to Reed’s own signature mixed metal jewelry, the gallery will showcase a curated collection of several other artists’ work.

“Opening a gallery and workspace in Highland Park felt like a natural evolution for my business,” said Reed. After years of participating in Amdur Productions’ art festivals, my husband and I had fallen in love with Highland Park. It was the community, The Art Center, the schools and my collectors that made it an easy choice to move here a few years ago. Opening the gallery was the next step in the brand’s growth.”

The Dana Reed Designs showroom is open Tuesdays through Saturdays from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. and stays open late on Thursdays for “Food Truck Thursdays.” However, you won’t find Dana at the gallery this weekend. Instead, she will be exhibiting at The Art Center Highland Park’s Festival of Fine Arts from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Saturday and Sunday. A suggested entrance fee of $5 per person will support The Art Center Highland Park.

Reed’s handmade artisan jewelry is an effortless marriage of sophisticated minimalism with a hint of urban edge. “I’m not a trend follower. I love black and gold because it is timeless, but I’m inspired by different cultures, nature and art. I like to combine exotic cultural elements with art deco influenced geometrics and ultrachic textures,” said Reed.

Festival attendees can look forward to being inspired by more than 100 artists and youth artists while shopping at The Festival of Fine Arts. There will also be great food and drinks from Drift, Judy’s Pizza, Mediterranean Cuisine, and Taquizas el Poblanito. Live music on Saturday will feature Brad Cole and Jeff Libman and on Sunday, live music continues with Ron Steta and Edgar Gabriel.

“The Festival of Fine Arts brings together a strong community of artists and art lovers on the North Shore at the onset of summer,” said James Lynch, Executive Director of The Art Center Highland Park. “Highland Park is a wonderful example of a neighborhood that supports the arts through its organizations and special events. We are proud to work with Amdur Productions to produce this wonderful Festival and delighted to welcome Dana Reed as a new gallery owner to Highland Park.”

For more information about Dana Reed Designs visit danareeddesigns.com. For information on the Festival of Fine Arts or Amdur Productions, please email info@amdurproductions.com, visit amdurproductions.com, as well as Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, or Pinterest.

Dana Reed Designs

Dana Reed creates handmade jewelry for the person who wants to set themselves apart by wearing jewelry that is unlike any other. Reed is known for her signature mixed metal pieces using 14k gold, sterling silver and other precious metals. For more information on wholesale jewelry or where to purchase Dana Reed Designs, visit the website at www.danareeddesigns.com or visit the gallery at 599 Roger Williams Avenue in Highland Park, Illinois.

About The Art Center Highland Park

A not-for-profit visual arts organization since 1960, The Art Center Highland Park (TACHP) provides a visual arts education to Highland Park and its surrounding communities, assuring access to the arts for all ages and cultural interests. This vigorous community-centered organization inspires everyone from tots through seniors to achieve and transform their world through more than 450 art classes offered annually in photography, oil and acrylic painting, watercolor, pastel, mixed media painting, ceramics, jewelry making, metalsmithing, digital arts, fiber art, mosaics, assemblage and more. For more information visit theartcenterhp.org

About Amdur Productions

For 36 years the Highland Park, Illinois-based Amdur Productions, a nationally acclaimed arts festival production company, has organized and directed many of the country’s most prestigious juried art festivals. Shows produced by Amdur include many in the Chicago area, such as the Gold Coast Art Fair, the Port Clinton Art Festival, Millennium Art Festival, Chicago Botanic Garden Art Festival, and in Milwaukee, the Third Ward Art Festival. Many Amdur Productions’ events are rated in Sunshine Artist Magazine’s “Top 100 Best Fine Art & Design Shows” and Art Fair Calendar’s “Best Art Fairs.” For a complete list of art festivals visit www.amdurproductions.com