Professional Artists
Participating Artists and Art Organizations for the 2015 WSCOYA Art Show
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Linda Abrams
Robert Bain Joseph Barabe David Bortman Jo-Anne Cairo Luis Contreras Jen Downing Skeffington Paul Egel Lilta Forsyth Jonathan Franklin Robert Fritz LuEllen Giera Claudia Hallissey Kathy Hirsh |
Ceramic Artist
Painter Photographer Painter Mixed Media Artist Graphic Artist Painter, Illustrator Illustrator Artist, proprietor of the Little Bits Workshop Painter/Mixed Media Artist Glass Artist Mixed Media Artist Fashion Illustrator Painter |
Jennifer McNulty
Barbara Moline Sharron Ott Lauren Picciuca Ann Primack Ken Reif Gina Robbins Michael Klaus Schmidt Cheryl Ann Apran Mike Vest Kyung Weisbrod Stan Weisbrod Rani Young |
Mosaic Artist
Pastel Artist Painter Product Designer Ceramic Artist Painter Ceramic Artist Painter, Illustrator Pastel Artist Sculptor Mixed Media Drawing Painter |
please scroll down for more complete information about our volunteering professional artists
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The Oak Park Art League: Art School and Gallery
One of the longest continually operating arts organizations in the Chicago area, the Oak Park Art League fulfills its mission through weekly art classes for adults and children, monthly exhibitions, open studio time, weekly live-model drawing sessions, artist lectures and promotion and sales of artist-made work. A variety of artists from The Oak Park Art League will be attending the WSCOYA Art Show. |
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Robert Lee Fritz
ROBERT LEE FRITZ has worked with glass for over 30 years. He specializes in creating hand-blown crystal paperweights, vases, and sculptures on which he carves silhouettes of cranes (the symbol of long life and good fortune), herons, and other Midwestern birds. His works have been well received internationally, with exhibitions at Tokyo Crafts Expo and International Exhibition of Glass in Kanazawa. Fritz’s glass has been presented as gifts to the Prime Minister of Japan and the U.S. Ambassador to Japan. Fritz is represented in private and public collections throughout the United States and Europe. |
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Kathy Hirsh
Kathy Hirsh studied painting and botany in college and completed a Master’s in medical illustration. Always drawing and painting, she worked as a surgical illustrator for 25 years, and after many years of black and white found her passion in color. Kathy has been teaching painting and figure drawing for 10 years, here in the states and in China. Whether landscape or figurative work, Kathy seeks to let the painting have its particular voice. She begins with the abstract underpinnings and works to find the delicate balance in the tension between the abstract and representational. She keeps the painting process visible/apparent, the surface playful and maintains the integrity of the individual stroke. "I want to preserve the gesture, the movement of my hand, creating an illusion of space and light while simultaneously asserting the surface of the painting. I love being on the knife blade of time, painting to capture what I’m seeing as the moment passes, being focused, in the flow". Nepal and China were Kathy’s home for 15 years. She has painted in wild and exotic places: Laos, Nepal, India and Mongolia, but few places have the allure of Colorado. Kathy now divides her landscape time between the cityscapes and patchwork of the midwest and the high mountains of Colorado. |
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Sharon Ott-Bartemio
Through her paintings Sharron speaks of peaceful places. The viewer is invited to experience the world she creates within the shapes, values, and the hues. This highly prolific, classically trained woman makes her living as a fine artist, interior designer and teacher. She began creating at the age of 11, studying under the Expressionist Painter, Eleanor King Hookam, founder of the Elmhurst Art Museum in Illinois. Sharron studied 2 years at The Ringling College of Art then finished with a Bachelor’s in Fine Art at The School of the Art Institute of Chicago. As her visual vocabulary developed, she incorporated many disciplines and mediums into her own Expressionistic style. Sharron toured with The Cirque Du Soliel as a scenic / prop artist and costume mistress. She also created scenic art for Steppenwolf Theatre. Her set design for The Red Moon Theatre’s, “Medicine Show”, was featured at the premier of The Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago. In 1999 the Boeing Corporation placed a commissioned Ott painting, 16 foot wide, in a Government Building in Taiwan. Since 1982 she has exhibited her paintings across the US, with works in many prominent collections. Currently she holds classes for youth and adults at The Oak Park Art League, and The Du Page Art League. Focusing on the fundamentals, she provides the tools of knowledge to her students. She writes all of her own curriculums and is putting the finishing touches on a book of art lessons. If you drive on the Kennedy Expressway through Greek Town, glance at the Parthenon Restaurant Bill board to see one of her recent mixed media projects. |
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Ken Reif
Ken Reif is the past President of the Board of Directors for the Oak Park Art League and has been painting for 47 years. Mr. Reif attended the Chicago Academy of Fine Arts, Columbia College and primarily works with oils on canvas. The truth will set you free." For me that truth is in my artwork. Turning two dimensional surfaces into compositions that evoke emotion. Painting and the instruction I have received has changed the way I view the world. I am set free every time I stand at the ease. I am set free when I look through the artist eye. I am set free to create. At an early age I formed a deep respect for nature, a respect transferred to canvas. I begin the process painting the surface black. My style would be an impressionist/expressionist point of view. It is my goad to evoke emotion through the art and transforming those who stand before it. |
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Barbara Moline
Following a long career as a clinical social worker, Barbara Moline pursued and earned a certificate in botanical illustration from Morton Arboretum in 2006, executing botanical drawings in colored pencil, ink, and graphite. Five years ago she discovered the medium of soft pastel, and, drawn to its brilliant colors, now works almost exclusively in this medium, focusing on still life and landscapes. She is an Artist Member of the Oak Park Art League. |
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Ann Primack
Layers of color, texture and decay, clay ,stucco, permanence and impermanence, fragments and pieces of the past, history and age, all these qualities are what interests me in my work. I use the surface to tell a story about the structure beneath it. Walls are built to hide and protect what is behind them; they keep things safe and hidden. With age, some of the buildings and walls, have started to erode. The outer layer has opened to expose what lays beneath it. Cracks, peeling, dust and pebbles-the layers tell us something about the structure. In my work I want to bring significance to things that are often overlooked. Ordinary ,yet extraordinarily beautiful things . Using clay and slip and stains I can create pictures which can shed light on ourselves and the places we live in . |
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Jennifer McNulty
Jennifer McNulty explores the dichotomous relationship between perception and reality in both subject matter and presentation. She refers to her recent works as 3D Photo Mosaics, which were born from her love of genealogy paired with her interest in pop culture and history. These works combine the graphic beauty of photography with the sculptural quality of tiled mosaics. This marriage of methods give the art depth and engages the viewer by requiring them to get up close to see the small detailed photos and then step back to observe the compound image that is formed. McNulty studied illustration in college and was published nationally throughout the ‘90s. She moved to London in 2000, where her interest in mosaics was born. Throughout Europe, she saw this ancient art form in cathedrals, ruins and even hotel lobbies. The notion of illustrating a story with colorful and seemingly indestructible tiles captivated her. She was inspired to research the process, and began to merge illustration and photography with mosaic tiles to deliver a lasting and unique story. The works on display represent her love of genealogy paired with her interest in pop culture and history. |
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Linda Abrams
Linda received a BFA in Design from Syracuse University. She has worked in clay since 2003, shown her work in the Chicago area and has taught pottery. 'Texture inspires me, from the small patterns of lichen growing on trees or rocks, to the ripples left by the retreating ocean tides in the sand, to weathered landscapes with jagged rock formations. Process pulls me forward, from the feel of the wet clay to the trashcan fire where bisque work is placed with natural combustibles; leaves, sawdust, plants, plus copper, and salt. A fire is lit and the smoke creates carbon trapping, adding a rich unique finish to each piece. In the end, the contrasts of textures: the smoke trapped surface against the crackle glaze, the marks and lines, hold my interest. Success is a piece that has the ability to interact with you, to draw you in to engage with it, to question, to touch, and to hold. " She grew up in New England, exploring the woods and rocky seashore, traveling to the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument, visiting the Grand Canyon, Zion National Park, Cappadocia Turkey and the Gorges of Ithaca, New York. The land, rock formations, weathered and worn inspires her current works in clay. |
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Claudia Pontarelli-Hallissey
All of her life’s work is about people, interpreting people visually in one way or another or interacting with people in a creative manner. Earning a Bachelor of Fine Arts Degree from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago provided Claudia with a solid foundation for her craft. She has illustrated fashion for individual designers and for retail and currently teaches Fashion Illustration at Columbia College, helping students discover their potential and articulate their artistic visions. Claudia also has an Associate’s Degree in Science in Therapeutic Recreation and has worked with many different populations — employing a variety of recreational activities and creative arts to facilitate health and enhance lifestyle. She also continues to create her own figurative art and portraiture. She has exhibited exclusively in the Chicagoland and Michigan area and has received awards and recognition both for her artwork and for her teaching. |
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Gina Lee Robbins
Gina Lee Robbins has been creating sculptural works in clay for over twenty years. Largely self-taught, she has exhibited and participated in classes and workshops in Florida, North Carolina and the greater Chicago area. Her sculptures are part of private and corporate collections worldwide. "I am drawn to simple organic forms that reveal rich texture and irregularity upon close examination: creeping lichen, labyrinthine coral, the patterned skin of a reptile. My work is informed by these details in nature, with the use of gesture or placement in a series to invoke human interaction and emotion. The results are forms that can be both otherworldly, and viscerally familiar. Although non-figural, these forms are expressive, conveying movement, life and even emotion. They reach out, seeking to relate to each other, or their environments. At this intersection of form and gesture, I forge a conceptual exploration of social mores." |
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Cheryl Ann Spran
Cheryl Ann has been an artist and art teacher most of her adult life. After graduating with a Fine Arts degree from Southern Illinois University she moved to NYC where she was an art teacher and theatre director at two Manhattan Grade schools. Religious images and the illustrations of William Blake were a big influence at that time. After moving back to her Midwest home and spending time in the music business, her work on posters, flyers and CD covers accompanied her singing career. She also spent a lot of time in Michigan at that time and started painting plein air, but it was one pastel class, and the immediate inspiration and success she found, that has her focusing and teaching this vibrant medium for the last 17 years. She is an award-winning and published artist whose work has been in many galleries, outdoor and charity events, as well as alternative art spaces throughout the U.S. Her work is also in many private collections. She hopes the viewer feels the mood and energy of her heart. Landscapes and animals have been two of her favorite subjects as of late. She works in her studio from photos as well as plein air. She is currently a member of the Oak Park Art League, LaGrange Art League and the Chicago Pastel Painters. |
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Jen Downing Skeffington
Jen Downing is a mixed-media artist momma to two and art educator, specializing in murals, portraits, and illustrations. Past art adventures include furniture painter for Chicago’s Gallery 37, City of Chicago Vehicle Sticker Design Contest Winner, Walt Disney World Resorts Photographer, Chalk mural artist for Art Therapy Connection, Illustrator to "How the Grandpa's and Grandma's Saved Christmas", and mural painter for the Village of Oak Park. She currently works as an all ages art educator for Ms. Clara's Joyful Learning Center. View her online portfolio at JenDowning.com |
Questions and Answers for Professional Artists Attending the Art Show
1. What is the WSCAE Art Show?
The WSCAE includes high performing West Suburban School Districts that combine efforts to advance academic excellence among member districts. For the first time ever, the WSCAE has decided to conduct an art show to showcase artwork from all elementary and middle schools. There are 13 public school districts participating. The artwork of approximately 550 students in kindergarten through grade 8 will be on display from 10:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. at the Cheney Mansion located in Oak Park.
2. Who is organizing the WSCAE Art Fair?
Art teachers and superintendents from the 13 participating school districts are organizing the event. The 550 art pieces will be set up at the Cheney Mansion by the art teachers on Friday, May 1. The actual show begins at 10:00 a.m. and ends by 4:30 p.m. on May 2.
3. Why are professional artists being recruited to attend the May 2 event?
Professional artists are being recruited to attend the event to interact with the students who will be presenting their art. The artists will be requested to provide verbal and written feedback to students about their art. The artists may also wish to share information about their own careers and backgrounds. There will be no formal judging of art pieces. Rather, verbal and written feedback will be provided on an individual basis. There will be templates available at the show for written feedback that will be deposited in each child’s mailbox. Interactions with artists will be educational and aspiring to the young artists.
4. What types of professional artists are being recruited?
We are looking for a broad range of artists that may include painters, sculptors, graphic, media, designers, etc. Anyone who has conducted full or part-time professional work as an artist, designer, or art teacher is most welcome.
5. What would be the role of visiting artists at the art show?
The role of visiting artists is simply to circulate among the students displaying their art providing both verbal and written feedback. There will be art displayed throughout the first floor of the Mansion, in the green house, and in a tent to be pitched in the back yard. There will be a lot of room for artists to spread out.
6. Are visiting artists expected to attend the show from 10:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.?
No. Visiting artists may attend anytime between 10:00 and 4:30 p.m. It is the hope of the organizing committee that artists will stay for at least one hour but there is no specific time requirement.
7. How will professional artists attending the art show be recognized?
All professional artists attending the fair will be given a special badge that will identify them as professional artists. Students and parents will be able to identify them as professional artists by the badge. In addition, visiting artists will have their names included in the event program. To that end, the names of visiting artists must be sent to Mark Fredisdorf, Superintendent of Pleasantdale School District 107, by April 17. Mark’s email is mfredisdorf@d107.org. Finally, visiting artists or art schools may distribute promotional information at the art show.
1. What is the WSCAE Art Show?
The WSCAE includes high performing West Suburban School Districts that combine efforts to advance academic excellence among member districts. For the first time ever, the WSCAE has decided to conduct an art show to showcase artwork from all elementary and middle schools. There are 13 public school districts participating. The artwork of approximately 550 students in kindergarten through grade 8 will be on display from 10:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. at the Cheney Mansion located in Oak Park.
2. Who is organizing the WSCAE Art Fair?
Art teachers and superintendents from the 13 participating school districts are organizing the event. The 550 art pieces will be set up at the Cheney Mansion by the art teachers on Friday, May 1. The actual show begins at 10:00 a.m. and ends by 4:30 p.m. on May 2.
3. Why are professional artists being recruited to attend the May 2 event?
Professional artists are being recruited to attend the event to interact with the students who will be presenting their art. The artists will be requested to provide verbal and written feedback to students about their art. The artists may also wish to share information about their own careers and backgrounds. There will be no formal judging of art pieces. Rather, verbal and written feedback will be provided on an individual basis. There will be templates available at the show for written feedback that will be deposited in each child’s mailbox. Interactions with artists will be educational and aspiring to the young artists.
4. What types of professional artists are being recruited?
We are looking for a broad range of artists that may include painters, sculptors, graphic, media, designers, etc. Anyone who has conducted full or part-time professional work as an artist, designer, or art teacher is most welcome.
5. What would be the role of visiting artists at the art show?
The role of visiting artists is simply to circulate among the students displaying their art providing both verbal and written feedback. There will be art displayed throughout the first floor of the Mansion, in the green house, and in a tent to be pitched in the back yard. There will be a lot of room for artists to spread out.
6. Are visiting artists expected to attend the show from 10:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.?
No. Visiting artists may attend anytime between 10:00 and 4:30 p.m. It is the hope of the organizing committee that artists will stay for at least one hour but there is no specific time requirement.
7. How will professional artists attending the art show be recognized?
All professional artists attending the fair will be given a special badge that will identify them as professional artists. Students and parents will be able to identify them as professional artists by the badge. In addition, visiting artists will have their names included in the event program. To that end, the names of visiting artists must be sent to Mark Fredisdorf, Superintendent of Pleasantdale School District 107, by April 17. Mark’s email is mfredisdorf@d107.org. Finally, visiting artists or art schools may distribute promotional information at the art show.
