Spring 2007

Executive Director’s Report

Dear Friends,

The Council has organized a day trip to a fabulous private museum, Crab Tree Farm. The site showcases the Arts & Crafts Movement, the forerunner of Art Deco and Frank Lloyd Wright’s Prairie Style.

About the Museum

In 1905, Mrs. Scott Durand moved her successful business, Crab Tree Dairy, from Lake Forest to a large 250 acre farm in Lake Bluff. When the old farm buildings were destroyed by fire in 1911 she hired noted Chicago architect, S.S. Beman to design state-of-the-art dairy buildings for the farm. Grace Durand also hired celebrated landscape architect Jens Jenson to design the grounds around the dairy buildings and the farmhouse. The current owners of the property reside in the home that architect David Adler designed in 1926. The farm and dairy buildings have been refurbished and decorated with the owners’ collections of original furnishings from the Arts and Craft Movement.

About the Collection

Walking into the rooms carries you back to an era that sought comfortable, inviting surroundings for a congenial family life. “The notion of a harmonious, unified, well-designed and crafted interior” was central to what Stickley called the “Craftsman Ideal.” The collection includes beautiful textiles, decorative art objects, paintings, prints, fine furniture, photographs and books designed and made by Gustav Stickley, Harvey Ellis, Charles Rennie MacIntosh and others. The attention to detail of the objects will please you, while the docents’ stories will charm you. A visit to Crab Tree Farm is an education in the philosophy of the Arts and Crafts Movement in America, an opportunity not to be missed.

Itinerary

Friday, May 18, 2007.
9:00 meet at the Northwest Cultural Council galleries, enjoy breakfast and view the Council’s current exhibition.
Travel in a comfortable coach bus to the museum.
Tour museum buildings in groups of 10-12 with knowledgeable docents, many who are artists and have worked on the reproductions on display.
Lunch at a lovely northshore venue
Return to NWCC before 4:00pm

If you wish to participate, please send your check for $70.00 to NWCC, 5999 New Wilke Road, Suite 307, Rolling Meadows, IL 60008. The museum will accommodate only 45 visitors. All checks will be marked with a date of receipt and there will be a waiting list in the event of cancellations. Because of generous underwriting from Century Solutions LLC, Kimball Hill Homes, and Cornerstone National Bank and Trust Company, three of NWCC’s Board Members, a significant portion of the attendance fee will be a tax deductible donation to the Council. For further details about Crab Tree Farm visit our web site at www.northwestculturalcouncil.org

When you visit NWCC’s website to learn more about Crab Tree Farm be sure to view the work of many of our Corporate Gallery artists, and other interesting items. We are constantly updating our website with current information about NWCC’s Art Galleries, poetry workshops and readings, and our “Kids Meet Art”™ program. We appreciate your comments and suggestions.

Looking forward to our May trip.

Sincerely,

Kathy Umlauf

P.S. Several NWCC Corporate Gallery artists are members of the Institute for Continued Learning affiliated with Roosevelt University, at their Schaumburg campus. The organization has scheduled a Jane Austen Seminar for June 21, 2007. If you’d like further information, please call Mary Fioretti at 847-619-7288.

A Workshop to Remember

An Artist’s View by Nancy Rayborn

When I saw the watercolor painting of hollyhocks on the magazine cover, it took my breath away. Leo Smith, a Texas artist was offering workshops that summer and I knew that I had to be there.

My husband, Randy, and I selected the workshop offered in Cloudcroft, New Mexico as the location which best suited our vacation plans and a few weeks later we began our journey. Before leaving, however, I stopped at the local library and picked up a recording of the book “Lonesome Dove” by Larry McMurtry. This turned out to be the perfect introduction to the west as we recognized all of the characters from the book in the various Texas restaurants along the way.

Cloudcroft is up in the mountains just beyond White Sands – an awe inspiring drive. This is a seriously western town with 4-wheel drive pickups parked in front of every storefront. Upon arrival in the class, I learned that I was the only student not from Texas or New Mexico…now, this was an adventure!

When Leo entered the classroom, I was surprised to see an elfin type man with red hair. The strength of his paintings had led me to expect something other than this slight, gentle fellow. Ah, but looks can be deceiving, as he soon demonstrated with his strong palette and sureness of stroke.

His lectures took us to areas I had never been exposed to before – “simultaneous contrast” was explored – the phenomenon of a vibrating effect caused by an afterimage when certain colors are placed next to each other. We also explored “spatial divisions,” such as banding -- a method of breaking down landscapes into narrower or progressively wider stripes created by parallel lines or random bands placed at varying distances from each other. A week of such revelations was mind-boggling.

Near the end of our week together, Leo climbed up on the desk and crossed his legs. He proceeded to quietly talk about the challenges we all face as artists and some of his personal experiences. One of his theories struck home with all in the class. He warned us that all people are jealous of artists for the following reason: We are able to close out everything around us as we create -- people do not understand this internal world and they don’t like to be shut out of it.

The final day of class we were treated to an exquisite hollyhock painting, whose beauty elicited gasps from the twenty-two artists gathered around. We were stunned not only by the dramatic image but also by the generous spirit of this gifted artist and teacher.

Sadly, I learned the following year that Leo had died from AIDS complications. His fellow artists joined together two nights later for a final farewell to this gifted, beloved man. The gallery walls were hung with the beauty he had created and when balloons were released after the gathering, they carried long, white silk ribbons filled with messages honoring the man who had inspired us all.