Enhance your Mental Health and Well-Being in the Arts District

Enhance your Mental Health and Well-Being in the Arts District

May is Mental Health Awareness Month and many of the local shops and businesses within the Arts District offer services for enhancing mental health and whole body, mind, and spiritual wellness.

From therapy and counseling to studios specializing in Reiki, meditation, dance, and language learning, along with unique gyms focused on holistic health rather than just toning—many of the businesses here are united by a vision to help individuals achieve wellness.

Check out many of the local businesses in the Arts District to enhance your Mental Health and Well-Being.

Natalie Walsh

Natalie Walks guides clients to identify and release what’s no longer serving them in order to move forward to live a life filled with passion and purpose, shining their inner light on their own life as well as those around them!

Tip from Natalie Walsh: Through our lives we take on the weight of grief, limiting beliefs, physical, mental, and energetic blocks from traumas, past “versions” of ourselves which we become attached to, even when that version is no longer feeling good or bringing us joy! I help clients to clear that and welcome new abundant energy into their bodies, their energy, their homes, their work, and their relationships so they can live the beautiful, purposeful, peaceful life they were put on earth to live! Learn more about Natalie Walsh.

Mosaic Counseling & Wellness

Mosaic believes that there is room for growth in all of our lives. They understand that the fit between therapist and client is essential to success as healing occurs within relationships. They practice from an insight-oriented, collaborative, and individualized approach to meet the unique needs of clients. They offer services for children, adolescents, adults, couples and families. Mosaic therapists work with clients to co-create an empathic and accepting space where they can feel safe while also feeling challenged to work towards change.

Tip from Mosaic: Take a moment for yourself today with the gentle art of journaling. Amidst life’s hustle, it’s important to pause, breathe, and reconnect with your inner world. Carve out some quiet time, grab your favorite notebook, and let your thoughts flow freely onto the page. Nurture your mind, one entry at a time. Learn more about Mosaic.

Purple Sun Arts

“Raise Your Vibration” is the theme at Purple Sun Arts. Visit the shop to see a delightful collection of Cicada inspired paintings, artwork, and jewelry that will inspire and help you raise your vibration. The shop offers an immersive arts experience for those who seek purpose and meaning.

Tip from Purple Sun: Try out Cosmic Smashbooking™ and Cosmic Coaching™ with Dr. Ann Viernes, founder of Purple Sun Arts. Her workshops and transformational life coaching sessions helps clients create more purpose and meaning in their lives.

Fifty First Street Studio

Fifty First Street is a shop and studio for people interested in fostering a creative lifestyle. The studio offers workshops for all ages to learn new visual art skills, find connection with themselves and others, and expand the boundaries of their own creativity.

Tip from Cassie, owner of Fifty First Street: Pop in and check out the ceramics + goods in the store. She encourages you to them in your hands and feel the weight of each piece. These items are meant to be used and loved. Consider a workshop to expand the boundaries of your own creativity! Learn more about Fifty First Street.

Learn More about Health and Wellness in the Arts District

 

Register for a Summer 2024 French class with l’Institut français d’Oak Park!

Register for a Summer 2024 French class with l’Institut français d’Oak Park!

Summer is a great time to start learning French or progress from your current level by taking a six-week French class with l’Institut français d’Oak Park! Registration opens on Monday, April 29 for classes that will take place from June 11 through July 17 in the Oak Park Arts District.

Start learning French with Le Débutant or build your French vocabulary, conversational fluency, and comprehension with Le Touriste, Le Globetrotteur, or Le Découvreur. Visit our website for session details and course descriptions.

For more information, subscribe to our email list, visit http://www.frenchinstitute.net or follow l’Institut français d’Oak Park on Facebook and Instagram.

Save the Date for What’s Blooming on Harrison Street Festival – Saturday, May 18

Save the Date for What’s Blooming on Harrison Street Festival – Saturday, May 18

What's Blooming on Harrison Street Festival 2024

Oak Park’s Largest and Favorite Spring street festival is in Full Bloom!

Since 1999, Harrison Street between Humphrey and Culyer is transformed every May with Booths including an art fair, crafter booths, local business booths, food vendors, children’s carnival rides, an art auction, craft beer garden, and entertainment stage for the WHAT’S BLOOMING STREET FESTIVAL.

Showcase your Art, Talent or Business at the Vendor Fair

Unleash your creativity and shine bright at our Vendor Fair! Whether you’re an artist, maker, or a budding entrepreneur, this is your chance showcase your craft to a vibrant community of enthusiasts. We are now accepting Art Vendors, Food Vendors, Community Booths, and Art Auction Submissions for the What’s Blooming. Complete the form by Saturday, April 6, to be included in all the pre-event promotion.

Save the date and gather your friends and neighbors for What’s Blooming

Get ready to enjoy the Oak Park Arts District’s signature event with over 5000 people expected to attend. What’s Blooming is a day filled with amazing artisans and makers tents, fun, food, music, and good neighborhood vibes from 11 am to 7 pm.

As the sun goes down, the tunes crank up, and our craft beer garden keeps the good times flowing until 9 pm.

You don’t want to miss it!

Highlights from What’s Blooming!

Jamilla Yipp Photography

Jamilla Yipp Photography

By Kelly Pollock, feature writer for The Buzz Cafe

Jamilla Yipp has honed her craft as a photographer for fifteen years. Now, after four years in the Oak Park Arts District, she is moving to a new space just down the street. When Jamilla first considered moving her business out of her home, she wanted to be on Harrison. “I live on Taylor and I wanted to be able to walk to work and to be available to my kids. The Arts District was where I wanted to be. And now this new studio is in my dream location.” Jamilla is excited to be moving to the heart of the Arts District and hopes to have the new Jamilla Yipp Photography studio up and running at 136 Harrison Street in January.

Growing up on the southside of Chicago, Jamilla took an interest in photography at a young age. Then when she and her husband had three children in less than four years, she felt that she wouldn’t make enough money at a traditional 9-to-5 job to justify putting them in childcare every day. So she became determined to turn her passion into a career. “I told myself that this hobby had to become something real or these kids weren’t going to eat,” says Jamilla.

While she had always loved photography, she wasn’t a professional. Jamilla contacted her wedding photographer and asked her if she would take Jamilla on as an apprentice. She agreed and Jamilla spent the next eighteen months learning everything that she could. After that, she focused the first five years of her business on wedding and newborn photography. But weddings were exhausting and took up her entire weekend and Jamilla realized that her true love was photographing newborns.

“When I first started my business, I told myself that I would never shoot families because it didn’t seem like me and then it became my niche,” Jamilla laughs, “I found that I liked shooting families over weddings.”

But being a lifestyle photographer has taken a toll on her body and Jamilla is now looking to transition to more branding and corporate work. “I will still keep working with my families, but I’d like to supplement that with more corporate clients. Families are wonderful, but my 40-year-old knees can’t keep chasing toddlers through parks. After fifteen years, I have a ton of injuries. During outdoor shoots, you’re carrying equipment, you’re bending, lifting, and lunging. People don’t realize how physical it is.”

The years of the pandemic have also taken a toll on Jamilla. She moved into her first studio in 2018 and spent the next year working in the space and fixing it up. Just as she got to the point of being ready to promote it more, it was 2020 and COVID hit. “I paid for a space for two years for a business that was going nowhere.” Jamilla survived by using her savings to pay the bills and because of a corporate client who still needed work done during the pandemic. Finally, in 2021, lifestyle photography picked up again and this year, “I am finally breathing easier,” says Jamilla.

Jamilla has seen a lot of changes in the industry since she started fifteen years ago. “Newborn photography was just becoming a thing,” says Jamilla. “Anne Geddes was the one who started the trend. Her style was really posed babies with props. That’s how I started, but about eight years ago when my fourth child was born, I transitioned to the way that I shoot now.”

Jamilla describes herself as a hybrid photographer. “I tell people that I’m not 100% posed and I’m not 100% lifestyle. I’m both. I pose my clients, but then I have them interact so that it comes off as a lifestyle picture. I’m a coach. I don’t leave my clients to their own devices.”

In her newborn shoots, Jamilla believes in baby-led posing. “I still wrap newborns, but if a baby fights the wrap, then I will only try a specific pose one more time. I’m not going to force a newborn into a pose because that can lead to injury. At the end of the day, the baby is in charge of the session.” Although she no longer does birth photography (“too stressful”), Jamilla does do Fresh 48 sessions in the hospital that capture a newborn in its first few days of life.

When asked about the explosion in lifestyle photography in the years since she started her career, Jamilla points to the shift from film to digital photography as a major factor. “When DSLR cameras became more accessible and affordable, women could tap into that. And because a woman is more willing to let another woman photograph her birth or her newborn, lifestyle photogaphy took off. And women photographers are now a huge part of the industry.”

To see a gallery of her work, visit www.jamillayipp.com.

Jamilla Yipp Photography is located at 136 Harrison Street and Jamilla can be reached at 773-320-7558.

Spreading Her Wings on Harrison Street

Spreading Her Wings on Harrison Street

By Kelly Pollock, feature writer for The Buzz Cafe

After more than 30 years as a professional artist, Tia Etu of Whatever Comes to Mind Studio feels like she has finally arrived. “Of course, I want to arrive higher than this,” she laughs, “But 2021 has been a good year.”

Growing up in the Chatham neighborhood of Chicago, Tia had a troubled childhood. “My mother was mentally ill and I was on my own a lot. Sometimes I was sent to live with relatives. Once in junior high, I had done something wrong. I was sent to the office where they asked me to draw a picture of Mickey Mouse for the bulletin board. They liked my drawing and from then on, art is the thing that kept me OK. No matter what, I had this thing that I was good at. And people praised me for it,” says Tia.

When she was a senior in high school, Tia’s counselor got her a scholarship to the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. “College hadn’t even crossed my mind. But that’s how I wound up really serious about art.”

Wanting the best for her biracial son is what brought Tia to Oak Park in the 1980’s. “I didn’t want him in an all-black neighborhood or an all-white neighborhood, but I knew in Oak Park that he would fit right in,” says Tia. At that time, the Oak Park Arts District did not exist as it does today. “There was a live/work space available at 11 Harrison Street and I applied for it. I was surprised when I got it, but it was great space. Unfortunately, I struggled to make a living and then the building was sold and I had to move.”

It was only about 10 years ago that Tia returned to the Arts District when she opened her current studio at 27 Harrison Street. “The first couple of years it was a struggle, but then I started getting more commissions. And it kept growing and growing. And now I’m finally getting to a place of being respected enough that I haven’t looked for one job that I’ve had recently. They have all come to me,” says Tia.

Earlier this year, Tia had a mural unveiled at the Walmart at 4650 W. North Avenue in the Austin neighborhood of Chicago. The mural is called “Generations” and was selected as part of the Walmart Community Mural Program. It features the iconic “Pink House” that has been a neighborhood landmark for more than 30 years.

More recently, Tia completed her largest and highest-paying mural to date. It’s located at 810 Beloit Avenue in Forest Park and took her about three weeks to complete. “The owner of the building wanted something with movement that was colorful and playful,” says Tia. The result is “Imagine” and depicts three goldfish swimming against a background of clouds.

Closer to home, Tia has been brightening the front of her studio at Humphrey and Harrison with a floral sculpture garden. “I started the first garden because nothing would grow there and so I decided to make some flowers out of metal. Now things grow like crazy,” laughs Tia. Her newest addition is a bright orange flower made out of a “Road Construction Ahead” sign. “I had the sign for several years, but I finally cut it and got it ready. I always wanted a flower made from a reflective sign and I couldn’t be happier with it.”

Looking to the future, Tia would love to complete a building-size mural. “The idea scares me to no end since I have problems with heights. But before I leave this earth, I would like to do one huge mural.” She is also hoping to bring her metal flowers in larger-than-life form to the Morton Arboretum.

Although Tia works in a lot of different mediums and has a lot of different styles, “they all look like me,” she says. “That’s why my business is called ‘Whatever Comes to Mind.’” To see more of Tia’s paintings, drawings, murals, sculptures, and jewelry, visit Whatever Comes to Mind Studio at 27 Harrison Street. She can be reached at 708-299-2878 or through her website at www.whatevercomestomind.com.

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