Attendees spent the festival hand painting Japanese carp shaped flags called Koinobori to symbolize children and family, creating mandala circles which are used in both Hindu and Buddhist practices as a representation of the universe and taking in performances by the Flying Fairies Chinese Dance troupe.
Weekend mornings at Fountain Square are usually quiet, but Saturday was an exception. By 10 a.m., dozens of white tents lined the block from Davis Street to Grove Street with vendors busy setting up their booths for the third annual Umbrella Arts Festival, a celebration of Asian art, performance, food and crafts. Overcast weather did.
In an alley off Grove Street, between Sherman and Chicago Avenue, you’ll find an offbeat artists’ space called Studio 3. Why “Studio 3?” Because the two
Evanston social worker Janice Fleckman knows the pain of losing a loved one. When Fleckman was overwhelmed with grief over her mother’s death, she said she turned to painting to cope. “It was my way of expressing the loss,” Fleckman said. “Art is so good for expressing loss. I realized that it could be healing.
When Melissa Raman Molitor, a first-generation Filipino-Indian-American, moved to Evanston in 2011, she saw little recognition for the city’s Asian, South Asian and Pacific Islander American community. “There have been no spaces or organizations that specifically support or offer resources for the ASPA community in Evanston,” Molitor said. So when she heard about Evanston’s new.