"Meet Illinois Artisans" at the Chicago Water Works Vistors Center   

Janet Broida Jewelry

Darien, IL
I like to think that my designs are sophisticated and classic, but with an eccentric bend. My designs are not preplanned and do not come from any preconceived ideas, rather I design as I go along. My jewelry incorporates vintage found objects with semi-precious gems and stones and brass and metal components.

Pam Biesen Jewelry
Frankfort, IL
Pamela Biesen makes wearable art in the form of bracelets using vintage, antique and new buttons, beads and parts. My love of history, art, treasure hunting, and collecting these tiny objects has produced the piece you have just purchased. We may not know the actual path each button has taken but they all reflect our collective past.

Susie Ryan Ceramics
Metamora, IL
Susie Ryan is a ceramic artist producing functional and decorative pottery and handmade tiles. Many of her designs are inspired by plant forms and by textures and patterns observed in nature. Pieces are made from white stoneware clay and decorated with stains, oxides, underglazes, and/or glazes.

Irena Siwek Drawing
Chicago, IL
I don’t create art; I draw. It is an adventure in which I seduce myself. It’s an experience, a pleasure that has no equal. It is not a total apex of happiness, but a journey without an end, a ride with endless possibilities, where good and bad are found in human existence. Drawing increases my heart beat, which seems to in turn compose music for my illustrations.