Visionary is proud to host local artists’ work in store, alongside eyewear from independent frame lines.
We want to tell you about them and have you experience their art firsthand. Pay us a visit and see…while helping you see even better with our top rated doctors and opticians!
You know him, you love to be styled by him. Our very own Brian Estep is a multi-media artist and drag queen based here in Chicago. His creativity extends from drag and special effects makeup to drawing and acrylic painting, but doesn’t want to stop there. He finds inspiration in television, film and even optical design. He brings his artistic vision to all of our window displays, and we are proud to have several of his paintings adorning the walls inside!
Current Featured Artists:
Marina Walinski
Marina is selling handmade glasses loops at our Andersonville location. Her designs include beautiful crystal stones, precious metals, and draws inspiration from nature like oak and ginkgo leaves. They make a perfect stylish broach for you, and a sweet gift for friends and family! Come check them out!
From Marina: I’m an Andersonville resident and metalsmith with a passion for creating beautiful things that fulfill a purpose. I first started learning metalsmithing at Indiana
University Bloomington in 2018, and have been creating at Lillstreet Art Center since 2021.
In summer 2023, I saw an Instagram video talking about pins from the 1950’s that were used to hold reading glasses while not in use. I instantly knew that I wanted something like that to help with the constant summer shuffle of normal eyeglasses and sunglasses as I went inside and outside throughout the day. Because I was inspired by my sunglasses, I based my first design on the sunsets and sunrises over Lake Michigan that I’ve experienced growing up in Michigan and as an adult in Chicago. After I made my first pin, I started making more for friends and family. I discovered that I loved the challenge of making something both beautiful and useful, and of finding the connection between organic and geometric shapes.
Drew Eurek
Drew Eurek is an artist from Northern Illinois, who works in abstract expressionism using oil paint and charcoal on canvas, as well as, graphite on paper. He has actively studied and painted for 20 years. His work plays with color and form and is layered to show his progress from start to finish. Childhood experiences, as well as, inspiration from other local artists are incorporated into his work to create a unique and exciting approach to each painting. Each piece strives to evoke emotion and familiarity from the viewer. Playing with shape and form, Drew’s work imposes joyful overtones with dark or deep subtext. His overall goal is to push the abstract and inner expressionism into a type of communication or feeling yet also appealing to core human sexuality and attraction.
In addition to the beautiful work currently featured here at Visionary, he also has pieces available for sale on his website DEurek.com.
Intermittent Featured Artist:
Aaron Wooten
From Aaron: I picked up painting about ten years ago as a hobby. I paint cityscapes, political cartoons, portraits, pretty girls and nudes. I’ve been featured in The New York Times, Chicago Reader, Art & Beyond and a number of other national and international arts magazines and journals. I have contributed to the Chicago area art scene for nine years.
My work focuses on the theme of nostalgia. I do this in a number of ways. With my cityscapes and figures and portraits I reflect on photos of the past, bygone styles, dead celebrities and with the use of vintage maude colors. By working with acrylic on canvas I allow the roughness of the paint and the grids of the canvas to show through.
The theme is a bit of a post-aesthetic one. My work deals with memories of temporary constructs rather than grand narratives. The content is one of “happenings”. That is, my work consists of captured events that are taking place and are simply taken out of time of a Proustian nature.
My hope is to feel beauty that is removed from intent. Like a Kantian sublime my work gathers distinction and indeterminacy.
Visit us in store to see his works in person (one is permanently housed in our Loop location), or see them on his website: aaronrwooten.com
Thank you to our artists for being true Visionaries!
