For years, my winters looked nothing like the person I actually wanted to be. This is the story of how one weekend in Chicago quietly changed that, and how it eventually became a fair that now does the same thing for thousands of people every February.

A Winter Without Light

Fourteen years ago, I wasn’t living. I was simply existing.

There were days when I couldn’t bring myself to get out of bed. The weight of seasonal depression settled over me like a heavy blanket, making even the smallest task feel impossible. If there had been a fire, I’m not sure I would have had the strength or desire to move. Winter was the hardest. The gray skies seemed to mirror how I felt inside: numb, exhausted, and without purpose.

While many people find joy in the holiday season, Christmas was never something that lifted my spirits. I needed something deeper. I needed a reason to get out of bed. I needed something that would give my life purpose during the darkest months of the year.

Then everything changed.

A Moment of Hope in Chicago

After visiting a high-end indoor art fair in Chicago, I experienced something I hadn’t felt in a very long time: hope. I was surrounded by creativity, beauty, and people who poured their hearts into their work. I left thinking,

What if I could bring this feeling home?

That single moment became the beginning of For the Love of Art Fair.

Finding My Own Art Therapy

Most people see For the Love of Art as an art fair. I see it as my therapy.

I didn’t have a name for it at the time. Looking back, it was its own kind of art therapy, a form of healing I never expected to find inside a convention center every February. Creating this event each year is what carries me through the winter. It gives me purpose. Knowing that nearly 50 talented artists are counting on me to create an exceptional experience motivates me to keep moving forward, even when life feels difficult. Their creativity fuels my soul, and together we create something far bigger than an exhibition. It’s an experience of creativity, color, and joy!

What Art Therapy Really Means

Art therapy is often talked about in clinical terms: a licensed therapist, a structured session, a formal treatment plan. That is a real and valuable path, and I don’t want to speak over it. But there is another, less formal kind of art therapy healing that happens outside any clinical setting at all. It’s the kind that shows up when a piece of art stops you mid-step, or when you pick up a paintbrush for the first time in twenty years and remember what it feels like to make something with your hands.

Both versions matter. What happened to me in that Chicago convention hall wasn’t a therapy session. It was still healing, and I think that’s true for a lot of people who walk through our doors every February without ever calling it that.

Our Mission: Inspire. Educate. Ignite.

Our mission has always been simple: Inspire. Educate. Ignite art in all lives.

We inspire people to see the world differently. We educate visitors about the incredible talent and countless artistic mediums represented. And we ignite a love of art in people who may have never realized how deeply creativity can touch the soul.

What Visitors Experience Every February

Every February, when the days are still cold and the skies are still gray, people walk through the doors of the South Bend Century Center and are surrounded by color, music, conversation, and beauty. For a few hours, they forget about winter. They connect with artists. They discover something that moves them. They leave feeling lighter than when they arrived.

Local musicians play somewhere near the entrance. The smell of coffee drifts between the booths. Kids stand on their toes to get a better look at sculptures, and strangers strike up conversations with artists they’ve never met over a painting that caught their eye. None of it feels rushed. That unhurried quality is part of what makes it work. You can read what other visitors have experienced in our visitor reviews.

There’s a specific kind of relief in that shift, walking in from a gray, frozen parking lot and suddenly standing in a room full of color and light. Visitors often describe it the same way: like sunshine breaking through the clouds for an afternoon, even in the middle of February.

Art has the remarkable ability to heal.

How Art Heals the Artists, Too

If you spend time talking with the artists at the fair, you’ll hear story after story of resilience. For many of them, the studio is a sanctuary, a place where anxiety quiets, grief softens, and creativity takes over. The act of creating becomes meditation. It becomes peace. It becomes healing.

It isn’t only the visitors who leave changed. It’s the artists who spend all year making the work worth walking in for. That’s part of what creating art can offer, for the person making it just as much as the person taking it home.

Bringing a Little Art Therapy Into Your Own Life

You don’t need a fair to try this for yourself. Visit a local gallery on a quiet weekday afternoon instead of a busy weekend. Try a medium you’ve never touched, clay, watercolor, collage, even if the first attempt looks nothing like what you pictured. Ask an artist about their process instead of just their price list.

These are small entry points into the same thing that changed my life. The act of creating, or even just paying attention to what someone else created, can loosen something that words alone can’t reach.

Art Didn’t Just Change My Life

My story is only one of many.

For me, art wasn’t simply a hobby or a business venture. It became my medicine. It gave me a reason to get up every morning. It transformed some of the darkest years of my life into a mission that now brings hope and inspiration to thousands of others.

Art didn’t just change my life.

It helped save it.

If art has ever pulled you through a hard season, or if you’re an artist whose work has become its own kind of healing, we’d love for you to be part of this year’s fair. Apply Now – For the Love of Art Fair Call for Artists.