WINTER 2004

Executive Director's Report

Dear Friends,

This is a bittersweet issue of SPOTLIGHTS. The centerfold is a tribute and farewell to Martin Ryan, a founding member of the Northwest Cultural Council, who passed away this fall. I'm pleased to announce that our Board of Directors warmly welcomes his wife, Ann, to our Board.

Ann, a registered nurse, worked in the psychiatric field for ten years, then moved into the business world. As a nurse consultant for Mitchell International, she evaluated, planned, and budgeted the medical equipment purchases for more than 100 hospitals in the United States, Canada and Mexico. We look forward to working with Ann, as she enthusiastically endorses the programs Martin began, as well as developing others that reflect her special interests in the arts.

During January and February, we have an interesting exhibit that shows how far crocheting (see cover photo) has come from the little doilies our grandmothers made for candy dishes and antimacassars to cover chair headrests. Both the Kimball Hill and NWCC galleries will be filled with unusual works from the traveling exhibition "Rhythm of Crochet" by the Crochet Guild of America. We are especially pleased to host this exhibition, since the founder of the guild is a Rolling Meadows resident, Gwen Blakley Kinsler.

At the opening reception, authors and artists Gwen Blakley Kinsler and Naomi McEneely will speak about their research and interest in the art of crochet, and will sign copies of their books. Members of the guild will be present to explain techniques and teach you to crochet. Please join us for this unique event.

On Thursday March 4 from 4:00-6:00 and Saturday March 13 from 1:00-3:00, NWCC "Kids Meet Art"™ presenters will be demonstrating the programs they offer students in their classrooms. Artwork, completed by students who have benefited from "KMA"™, will be on display. All parents, grandparents, students, principals, teachers, and PTA members are invited to attend. If you have never experienced a "KMA"™ event, this will be an interesting and enjoyable learning experience.

I look forward to welcoming you to the gallery exhibitions in this year.

Warmest Regards,

Kathy Umlauf

The Northwest Cultural Council gratefully acknowledges the corporations that have purchased artwork exhibited at their sites during the 2002 Corporate Gallery Program.

Corporate Purchases for 2002

Assurance Agency, Inc. Joanne Epke's paintings "Two Bridges" and "Downtown Triptych"

Buffalo Grove Fitness Center Deanna Goldberg's photograph "Barn Reflections"

Elmwood Park Library Bert Coon's sculpture "North Face Summit."

Northern Trust Bank Betty Morley's watercolors "Carmel Mission" and "To the Beach"

Northwest Community Hospital- Laura Wasilowski's Art quilts "Berry Pot" and "Watering

Wellness Center Can"

Unilever Dick Gunther's photographs "Grand Canyon"

"Peach Rose," and "Fraternal Twins"

Zurich US Chris Graham's etching "Imagined Figure IV", Carol Floate's sculpture "Wooden Bowl", and

Cheryl Quick's photograph "Fall Into Winter"

Applause Applause for our Corporate Gallery Artists.

Most of NWCC's Corporate Gallery artists are in demand to display their work around the suburbs and in the city in professional juried exhibitions. In the last few months:

Pam Lowrie, Frank Tumino, Ellen Roth Deutsch and Paula Fisher exhibited in Verses, Volumes and Visions: Art and the Written Word at the Northbrook Public Library. . .Arlene Sue Gianni has exhibited at the 20th Anniversary Exhibition of Manhattan Arts International in New York. She has a solo exhibition at the Chicago Cultural Center's Renaissance Court Gallery, February 20th through March 30th. . . Ingrid Dohm continues as a featured artist at the Look Gallery in the four Marshall Field stores in the Chicago area. The Look Gallery maintains 17 galleries in the Midwest. . . Bert Coons and Cheryl Quick had pieces in Blues, Jazz, Dance . . . That's Chicago! at Gallery 415, an exhibition juried by famed Chicago Imagist Ed Paschke. . . Jean Devaud, Nancy Rayborn and Frank Tumino had work in the Vicinity 2003 exhibition at the Norris Cultural Arts Center in St. Charles. . . Didier Nolet had 30 works displayed at the Chicago Botanic Gardens in Glenco in a show called Didier Nolet: A Second Look. He currently has a one-man show at Perimeter Gallery, 210 W. Superior in Chicago, January 9 to February 9, 2004. The College of Lake County in Grayslake will give him a one-man Show February 27 to April 4, 2004. . . 15% of the professional artists exhibiting at the Chicago Open 2003 last October were either current or past NWCC artists. Participating were Ellen Roth Deutsch, Rita Dianni-Kaleel, Joanne Epcke, Arlene Sue Gianni, Barbara Goldsmith, Jeanine Hill-Soldner, Cheryl Holz, Robert J. Krawczyk, Didier Nolet, Sheila Oettinger, Bonnie Peterson, Frank Tumino, and Christine Witnik. . . The College of Lake County used one of Joan Robertson's colored pencil drawings on the front of the prospectus and the invitation card for Recent Works 2003. Joan won a Judge's Mention at the CPSA Chicago Chapter 103 10th Anniversary Invitational at the Prairie Center for the Arts in Schaumburg. . . Frank Tumino's "Marriage Feast of Alexander the Great" was awarded an Honorable Mention in the Elmhurst Artists' Guild 57th Annual Fall Members Show. Frank also exhibited at the 18th Annual Juried Art Exhibition at the Lubeznik Center for the Arts in Michigan City, IN. . . Photographer Elizabeth Buchanan has recently exhibited at the Pilsen Open House: The Curated Show in Chicago, Orleans St. Gallery: Mixed Media Exhibition in St. Charles, and at the Nicolet College Gallery: Northern National Art Competition in Rhinelander, WI. . . Sculptor Sheila Ganch recently exhibited in Connections, a two-person show at Lake Point Tower where she sold three sculptures. She will appear in Human at The Illinois Institute of Art February 6 to March 26. . . Jean Devaud won an Honorable Mention at the Dupage Art League show Metamorphosis in Wheaton. . . Pam Lowrie exhibited at DePaul University's Naperville October and November 2003. . . Bob Krawczyk exhibited in DigitalSplash 2003 at the Rockaway Center for the Arts in NY, and the Digital Art Competition at the Beecher Center for Technology in the Arts at The Butler Institute of American Art in Youngstown, OH. . . Barbara Schneider completed an art quilt commissioned for the US Fish and Wildlife Service, Division of Bird Habitat. Two of her pieces were also shown at the Katie Gingriss Gallery in Milwaukee, WI in conjunction with the Gee's Bend exhibit at the Milwaukee Art Museum.

In Memory of

Martin J. Ryan III

August 18, 1931 - October 7, 2003

Martin was a founding member of NWCC and participated in the Council at every level. He was our Treasurer, President, and Prose and Poetry Editor for these pages in SPOTLIGHTS, and brought many local poets to our galleries, giving them the opportunity to read from their works to appreciative audiences. He worked diligently in our KMA™ program teaching high school students how to write poetry.

We are grateful for his time with us; he is sorely missed.

Kathy Umlauf

As we sort through the maze of emotions that your death evokes within us and in your words try to "get to the heart of the matter" we inevitably feel your sweet kindness. We feel the love and caring of a strong yet gentle man, who continually sought to touch the hearts and souls of all those around him. We feel a man of dignity and respect, who had the courage of his convictions and would seek the truth wherever it might lead. We feel your inspiration and want to make you proud.

NWCC Board Member Larry Moats reflects on the character of his best friend.

We rejoice in the life of Martin Ryan and give thanks for the great gift he was to all of us. Martin J. was my mentor and my friend. I admired him- I admired him for his outrageous wit; for his wonderful way with words and with people; for the courage with which he faced the adversities of his life and for his good and generous heart.

Mary Jo Willis honors her mentor.

Martin writes to his beloved wife Ann.

Ann's Poem

I watch the sunrise alone
With you asleep in the other room
Adding that dimension to my life
I would falter to live without.

Unlike some lovers
We need not always touch to know,
Years of trust make us secure
(Though we're aware complacency
Is stalked by loss.)

So this is your poem
A love poem if you like,
To catch a little of what we are
To one another a room apart,
Awake and sleeping in a rising sun.

Martin speaks to his sons.

Dear Christopher and Eric,
This is just a letter of appreciation to both of you as a way to tell you how proud of both of you I am. I kept thinking I would do this later but as both of you know later can be never; besides car crashes, senility and altzeimers, one never knows. On the other hand, as the poet Theodore Roethke said, "the stethoscope tells what everyone fears, your likely to go on living for years."… your mother and I feel very lucky to have children, now men who have become such loving successes as husbands, fathers and providers in a world of some woe and great chaos. For you both to have done that is more than enough reward for any sane parents. And unlike some parents we don't take credit for that - all we did was love you both a lot and do what we could…Quite simply this is a letter of love and appreciation for both of you from myself who is quite lucky to be your father and grandfather of your own great children.

Love, Dad

Martin ponders mortality.

Long Boat Key

Red hibiscus in January
Soft seas and bright skies,
The Cuban orchid tree raining
A fragrance on the land.

There is always an ache to beauty
As if just beyond it (or in it)
Lay eternity and answers for our lives.

Moments like these in a world
Of sometimes woe are precious
Yet, inexorably, with the earth's
Quick circumference of the sun
We grow old and so each of us finds
Their own answer to mortality
Or fails but still is mortal
And must go.

May the grace of beauty
Bridge our change of state
From human to divine or
Back to dust again (whatever
The will of all creation is)
Grateful for what has been.