ArtWalk Ravenswood

In 2015, the Ravenswood ArtWalk was finally blessed with good weather, and this festival deserves good weather. The ArtWalk was originally conceived to promote the various businesses along the Ravenswood Avenue corridor, the area stretching mainly from Lawrence Avenue to Irving Park Road. Visitors can tour businesses and artists’ studios that are typically not open to the public.
I spent 2 ½ hours strolling up and down Ravenswood Avenue on Saturday. I visited artists — many of them had treats and beverages set out for visitors. I visited a small bakery that specializes in Argentine treats, and enjoyed something that looked like a moon pie but tasted much better, stuffed with guava. I visited a company that provides personal training, including learning how to do medieval combat with swords!
A parking lot along the route was set up with food vendors and beer tents. There were five food trucks parked there, and you could get pizza, asian food, and other varieties. I thought that was a nice touch.
Near the south end of the route, there were several booths set up where you could purchase woodworks, clothes, a whole variety of artistic goods.
In short, this festival gets better every year. It’s a wonderful way to spend a few hours on a September afternoon.

Great experience! Great event! I am definetly a fan.

Nice work, including many smaller, affordable pieces. LOTS of studio’s to visit along a long strip of Ravenswood and surrounding streets.

i actually thought the ravenswood artwalk was nice. the majority of it is along the train tracks so we just walked along and stopped into some studios.
while planning my wedding this past year and meeting two invitations people and my photographer on ravenswood, i was surprised how many artists, designers, photographers were all located in one stretch.
the artwalk was a bit hit and miss in terms of the art but there were a few standouts, including a favorite design, starshaped press and ork.
we left with an awesome chicago poster that we got for free from starshaped and some good design ideas.
i’d like to spend more time there next year and perhaps go to the opening night festivities.

Bring your hiking boots!
This festival might be great if it was just in Ravenswood, the neighborhood. If there were just a few blocks of artists close together on a closed street within an actual sane walking distance, that is.
In reality, however, this festival stretches along Ravenswood, the street, all the way from Roscoe Village, through the entirety of North Center, and then into Ravenswood, the neighborhood — approximately two miles. To actually see every vendor would require four miles of walking or more (as some were down side streets), not even counting the stairs. There was a free trolley but I only saw it once in the two hours I was there so it didn’t seem like a feasible alternative.
Throw in brown line construction (in an ordinary year, this festival is off the Addison through Damen stops) and this was more than a walk, it was a WALK! Or from the look on a lot of people’s faces, a forced march.
And the worst part was? It’s actually more of an open house for artists than an arts festival. Many of the participating artist spaces which display are actually there on a normal day. Hence the huge distances (it seemed like no «established» artist wanted to share their space with a booth). And some of these venues didn’t bother to be open or were as hard to access (i.e. doors locked with no instructions).
There were a few spaces which threw open their doors to multiple artisans and these were worthwhile (though keep in mind that much of this fair is collector art and not crafts like many of the west side art festivals). One or two even served food — though trail mix would have been more appropriate than the usual cheese and crackers.
Occasionally there would be a vendor in the street selling interesting things. But then there’d be a block or so of completely vacant space after. Ravenswood Avenue when it’s completely rebuilt might be great to show off. But as of now it was still depressingly post-​industrial for huge stretches.
I could only imagine this festival if it wasn’t a nice day.