When the 43rd Sugar Creek Arts Festival opens in Uptown Normal this weekend, Bloomington artist Gina LaMonica will bring a collection of steampunk-inspired objects built with vintage hardware, upcycled cardboard and plastic, and discarded toys. The accompanying Pexels photo is illustrative stock imagery; it does not depict LaMonica’s artwork. The official festival map lists her business, Upcycled Curiosities, at booth B97 in the 3D mixed-media section. The festival runs Oct. 3 and 4.
LaMonica’s path to that booth began with a return to art after a long break. Her grandmother taught her to paint when she was young. Years later, a friend persuaded her to take a general art class. The assignment let participants choose what to make, so LaMonica started with colored pencil. She drew a fish and then a skull in the steampunk style she already liked. Her own artist site dates her return to making art to 2022.
A Halloween exercise gave her a reason to move beyond the page. The class was making papier-mâché pumpkins, and while the other participants chose witches, LaMonica wanted to make something different. She fashioned what she called a “steam pumpkin,” a steampunk-inspired piece that WGLT reported was her first experiment in three-dimensional art. The form stuck: she has continued to build objects rather than limiting herself to drawings.
Steampunk combines Victorian-era aesthetics with imagery from the age of machinery. LaMonica told WGLT that she is drawn to the gears, vintage look and warm metallic colors, along with leather textures. Upcycled Curiosities uses repurposed metal hardware, cardboard and plastic, as well as discarded toys. Her own artist site describes her practice as steampunk assemblage made from found and reused materials.
The pieces have taken forms including a fish in a bowl, a robot and a miniature house, examples shown in WGLT’s profile. LaMonica said she feels she can express her creativity best through three-dimensional work. She returned to art through an open-ended class, then moved into a form she could build and arrange in space.
LaMonica first sold her creations at Bloomington’s Cogs and Corsets steampunk festival. The event ran for nearly a decade before going on an indefinite hiatus in 2026. She has since focused primarily on art fairs, WGLT reported, and recently received a “Best Newcomer” award at Springfield’s Fine Art Fair. LaMonica describes art as a hobby and said she does not rely on it for income.
Sugar Creek is a familiar event for LaMonica, who grew up in the Bloomington-Normal area and had attended as a spectator for years. She was first accepted as an exhibitor in 2025. In her interview with WGLT, she said she was surprised to be selected and called it the busiest show she had attended. She also said she earned two or three times what she typically earned at other fairs. Those are her recollections of last year’s event; they do not predict what this weekend will bring. WGLT reported she plans to bring plenty of steam pumpkins and other spooky wares this year. The festival shifted from summer to fall in 2021 and has taken place in October since.
The current festival is organized by the McLean County Arts Center and is free to attend. The official schedule lists Saturday, Oct. 3, from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., and Sunday, Oct. 4, from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. in Uptown Normal. The program includes more than 100 artists, musical performances and art-making demonstrations, according to WGLT and the festival’s organizers. The event began in 1983 with 16 artists selling from their car trunks.
At booth B97, LaMonica will return to a fair she once experienced from the visitor side. The details of her work trace a small creative progression: a fish and skull on paper, a pumpkin built in three dimensions, then a body of steampunk objects made from salvaged and repurposed materials. Her story is a reminder that a renewed creative practice can take an unexpected shape, and that a local artist can find a place in a community event she has long known as an audience member.
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