Winter 2007

Executive Director’s Report

Dear Friends,

We are pleased to announce the addition of two new galleries to our Corporate Gallery Program. On Wednesday, October 18 we opened the gallery at the Buehler YMCA in Palatine. Deanna Goldberg and Eric Meyer¡¦s photographs are being exhibited. It is a splendid opportunity for our artists to introduce a large cross-section of residents to fine art. The 18,000 YMCA members make approximately 30,000 visits per month to the center. Our gallery is in the entrance corridor, through which all members arrive and leave. The goal of the corporate galleries is to make art an everyday part of people's lives. I think this YMCA site truly fulfills that mission.

In addition, we are bringing our "Kids Meet Art^TM" programs to the YMCA kids on Friday afternoons in February and March 2007. Seven sessions are planned for kindergarten through second-graders and seven for third-to fifth-graders.

Adult sessions on memoir writing and assembling hand made books with photos and stories will also be offered during the winter. We are honored to have the privilege of touching a new and ever-expanding audience with NWCC's artistic offerings. It has been a pleasure working with Executive Director Laura Brown and Operations Director Mark Purcell to establish these programs.

"The Buehler YMCA is very excited to host a corporate gallery with the Northwest Cultural Council. This is an opportunity to bring the ARTS to our members. The Gallery will create a place in which Buehler families can share and relax in. We are also very excited about bringing the ARTS into our program offerings. This is a great complement to our current services," commented Brown.

On November 2 the gallery at the Greater Woodfield Convention and Visitor's Bureau (GWCVB) will open and Pamela Lowrie's interesting mixed media pieces will be the exhibit's focus. The GWCVB's membership includes hotels, restaurants and retail establishments. Given the gallery's high profile location within the building, not only will GWCVB members see the art, but so too will travelers from around the world who frequent the building to gather information and brochures about the region.

The newly-appointed GWCVB President Fran Bolson has been enthusiastic about establishing a gallery at their site. We are thrilled to be a part of this vibrant community and grateful to Fran for her recognition of the Council's work.

Fran Bolson in the GWCVB office said, "It is inspiring to have original artwork right in our workplace. The pieces provide a creative diversion from our normal routine and tasks."

Please visit the NWCC/Kimball Hill Galleries between January 16 and February 27, 2007 and attend the artists' reception for Artpak Impressions on Sunday February 11, 1-3 pm. These six painters work and exhibit as a group. Together they have created a diverse, yet complementary, body of work. They paint in a representational/impressionist style, in oil, acrylic and mixed media. This exhibit allows us to fulfill another part of our mission "...to cooperate with existing arts organizations..."

Look for our announcement of a bus trip in May to an incredible private museum.

Warmest regards,

Kathy

Arts Commentary

By Dr. Dennis L. Weeks, Dean of Liberal Arts, Harper College

In A.D. 121, Marcus Annius Verus, better known as Marcus Aurelius, was born in Rome. When he died in A.D. 180, he was an Emperor of the Roman Empire and the author of a book, titled Meditations. He wrote this volume during the last ten years of his life when he was fighting in the Danube and Asia Minor.

What I like best about the Meditations is that in the book, Aurelius gives credit to those people in his life who inspired him and taught him valuable lessons. For example, he credits his grandfather, Verus, as teaching him good morals and the government of his temper. Good morals and governed temper, hmmm. That made me think about societies and if a society should be directed by good morals and subject itself to good temperament. I believe that a morally good and well tempered society is not only possible, but it is a requirement in our increasingly complex world.

I believe we should be moral and even tempered. How do we know when a society has these two qualities? How do we know what is rogue and what is not? For me, one of the clearest measures is in the art of a society. Socialist Realism was the hallmark of the Russian state art from 1932 until about the mid 1980s. Hitler’s Germany and Chairman Mao’s China also made use of Socialist Realism to drive home the point that the State was supreme and that social consciousness was what the art depicted. Most of us can recall the workers in these societies memorialized in heroic sculpture, painting, and architecture. Even in the United States, through the WPA, artists painted, sculpted, and built state art, not in the philosophy of the Socialist Realism, just in the heroic style. Most WPA paintings and murals are of factories and workers all striving to make clear America was on the road to recovery after the Great Depression. Seemingly, many countries have turned to such realism as an artistic expression of cultural hopes and dreams.

But what of art that shows nationalism in a different light? I remember my first trip to France. I had seen pictures by Jacques-Louis David, the 18th century French painter, in art books. When I visited the Louvre in Paris, I thought that I might see one of David’s works. As I wandered from room to room, I came into a hall that had a series of David’s work including The Coronation of Napoleon and Josephine. This work, like most of David’s paintings, is heroic in subject and size. It is twenty by thirty feet! Here was before me a nation expressing its identity with the same enthusiasm as state- directed realism in the 20th century.

Other painters have done the same thing with their art. For example, Francisco Goya’s The Execution of the Third of May, 1808 is a depiction of French troops under Napoleon executing Spanish prisoners. The painting was one of the early examples of protest art against war and its atrocities. Eugene Delacroix’s Liberty Leading the People shows the July Revolution that led to the establishment of a French constitutional government in 1830. This painting was not so much a protest as it was a celebration of change coming from war.

What then is the result of this trek through art? Can we say that Socialist Realism is art in the same way that to work of David, Goya, or Delacroix are? No, I do not believe that we can make that assumption because Socialist Realism is propaganda and what the modern philosopher William H. Shaw styles as “cultural ethical relativism,” the view that whatever a culture says is right is right. For a country, through its art, to enforce upon its citizens a pre-determined set of values is not art. On the other hand, the Realism of David, Goya, and Delacroix is art because it allows the viewers to make up their minds about the subject.

I started this reflection with a reference to the Meditations of M. Aurelius and posed the question could a country be even tempered and moral. I find the answer to be affirmative if the country depends upon its people to draw their own views and to react in rational ways reflective of Aurelius who sought to lead a deliberate life, learning to take the best from his family and friends and to sidestep that which was patently wrong and reactive. I wonder if we might say and do the same for ourselves? We could do far worse than to look back almost two-thousand years for the answer.

Why I teach in the “Kids Meet Art”™ Program

by Mary McKane

Science and Art may seem at opposite ends of the academic curriculum. Actually they have a lot in common. They both start with an idea. Both deal with trying to solve a particular problem. Materials are selected, various approaches may be used eliminating the unsuccessful ones, conclusions are drawn, setbacks can occur. New ideas may emerge in the process for further exploration. With degrees in biology and art, I am interested in using both disciplines.

Students learn in different ways. Some learn more effectively doing projects that are hands on. Others excel with abstract concepts. Most appreciate knowing how subject matter affects their lives; why it is important to them. By bringing the science behind the art to the classroom, students may see art in a whole new light. The projects described below offer different ways to integrate the arts into the curriculum through science or geography and history.

One program, Optics, explains the biology of seeing. Starting with how the human eye works, students get a basic  understanding of the parts of the eye. This is combined with information on how the mind works, building on fundamentals learned in infancy. Students are fascinated by optical illusions. Numerous examples of optical illusions are presented and explained using this scientific information. Images, which had been previously mystifying, are now understood. An optical illusion art project (spinner) concludes this presentation to middle and jr. high school students.

Color is one of the most exciting aspects of much art. What is color? How and why does it occur? Where do the colors in paints come from, both now and in the history of art? How do artists use color? Have they found various combinations that work well together? Why is this important to students outside the classroom as well as in it?

A series of presentations is available for grades 1-6 on the science of color. The primary grades study the relationship between the rainbow and an artist’s color wheel, as well as the difference between colored light and colored pigments. Student participation is paramount in understanding the difference. The other grades start with a discussion on energy and the electromagnetic spectrum. Students learn the relationship between color wavelengths and those of such things as x-rays, television or cell phones. Their projects deal with a scientific analysis of inks using paper chromatography, or a discussion of stained glass and the construction of medieval cathedrals followed by making a stained glass window using cellophanes, or the discussion of a particular artist and his use of color followed by hand printing an image in his style.

The 6th grade presentation explores the geography of where certain pigments were found throughout history and how these have been used to make colored paints for artists. The sources for the colors of the color wheel plus black, brown and white are located on a world map. Samples of various materials are viewed to see the color in their raw states, whether from insects, marine life, plants, or rocks. The location of a paint source influenced its cost, so economics is touched on as well. Color theory is explored. Students choose a color scheme to do an abstract design from those presented. Interdisciplinary courses are being offered on college campuses more and more. One subject can offer insight into another. I hope these presentations open students’ minds to some of the possibilities at an early age.

"The projects describe different ways to integrate the arts into the curriculum through science or geography and history."

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CONGRATULATIONS AND THANKS

To the 32 artists that have been in the Northwest Cultural Council’s Corporate Gallery Program for a total of 116 years. As professional artists, many of them display their work in a variety of venues, oftentimes receiving awards and honorariums. A list of some of the awards they received in the last year follows. Congratulations for the recognition you have received, Thank you for your loyalty to the Council, and for sharing your art with the corporations, libraries, and other not-for-profit organizations that are a part of the Council’s Corporate Gallery Program.

Awards, Exhibits….

Deirdre Fox:
Work purchased by the Art Institute of Chicago, Joan Flasch Artists Book Collection, 2006. Artists Residency awarded by Columbia College Chicago Center for Book and Paper Arts, Summer 2006. Emerging Artist Showcase, Honorable Mention Selection, Cosmopolitan Bank and Trust (in conjunction with Chicago Artists Month), Chicago, IL October 2005

Frankie Johnson:
Honorable Mention ($250) in the Plein Air Painting Competition in Cedarburg, WI, 250 paintings were submitted. Frankie’s painting sold for $600 in silent auction. Juried into the Oil Painters of America National Show in Montana in April 2006 Juried into the Oil Painters of America Eastern Miniature Show in Maryland in September 2006

Barbara Schneider:
A wearable art vest – “San Sui Zen Garden” will be in the Blooming Botanical exhibition that is part of The Fine Art of Fiber at the Chicago Botanic Garden in Glencoe, IL. November 2-5, 2006. Upcoming solo exhibition at The Raue Center for the Arts in Crystal Lake, IL. May 3, 2007-June 26, 2007.

Eric Hill:
Art education awards received by Eric and his students since the beginning of 2006 *KidSpeak: Disability, Art & Culture, 3 published artworks by students, Chicago Public Schools, Dept. of Disabilities* Chicago Artists Month - Beyond Teaching I, II, & III (14 Chicago Public School Art Teachers exhibit artworks at 3 Chicago locations during the month of Oct. at South Shore Cultural Center, Cafe Mestizo, Casa Michoacan. (Cafe Mestizo & Casa Michoacan exhibits are also a part of 18th Street Pilsen Open Studios on Oct. 21 & 22) * The School of the Art Institute of Chicago – Bare Walls, November. * Illinois Art Education Association - Membership Show. * Chicago Teachers Union - “Young Artists Awards 2006” Da’Ovan Brown a 2nd grader at Parker Community Academy was one of twenty students from CPS to win this award. Creative Pitch Grant for Art Supplies (Eric was interviewed by Harry Porterfield from Chicago’s ABC 7.) * Chicago Public Schools - “Kids Tech Expo” (5 Parker Community Academy students won 3rd Place. Eric facilitated the sculptural component in this contest.)  * Englewood Lions Club - International Peace Poster Contest (Cortez Gardner 8th grader won 1st Place in the regional contest)

Erik Kopidlansky:
Curators Choice Award from Winter Around the Coyote 2006

William Dunn:
Exhibit at Fast Frame in Arlington Heights. Art featured at a concert “Pictures at an Exhibition”

Frank Tumino:
Will be exhibiting at the “One of a Kind Show” at the Merchandise Mart in Chicago in December.

Tony Armendariz:
Painting juried into the Pennsylvania Watercolor Society’s 30th Annual Exhibition and into the North East Watercolor Society’s 27th Annual Exhibition. Painting on display at the Scholl Museum (Rosalind Franklin University) in North Chicago along with other works from the Lakes Region Watercolor Guild. Solo exhibit of his work at the Chicago Public Library/Edgewater branch.

Claire Vogt Wally:
Solo exhibition of 21 Impressionist style paintings in the Arts and Humanities Gallery in La Playa Plaza, Port Charlotte, Florida, during the month of October. Exhibit of paintings, including life drawings in the Visual Arts Center’s Goff Gallery in Punta Gorda, Florida during November.

Robert Kwas:
Painting selected for The Transparent Watercolor Society of America for its annual national exhibit at the Elmhurst Art Museum, March-July. Four paintings selected for the Norris Cultural Center’s “Watercolor ’06,” February-April in St. Charles. Elmhurst Artists’ Guild Spring Members Show– First Place. Naperville Art League Members Show – Merit Award. Exhibit at the Frame Warehouse in Oak Park, IL. August-October

It’s All Relative

October 1 to October 26, 2006
Reception Sunday, October 8, 2006, 1-3 pm

The Northwest Cultural Council shares its gallery space with select art groups each year, thus fulfilling a portion of our mission …to provide opportunities for all people to attend cultural events close to home…to cooperate with existing arts organizations. Since many such groups are not located in the Northwest Suburbs, these exhibits give local people interested in the arts an opportunity to view work they may not be familiar with as well as providing new exposure for the selected art groups.

The twenty artists exhibiting in “It’s All Relative” are members of the Book and Paper Arts Guild and Collage Group. They are collage artists, book binders, papermakers and book designers, all inspired by the creative act of making paper. Every piece in the exhibit began by using a handmade piece of paper.

The work was well received and as we go to press we’re happy to announce, four pieces have been sold.