Archive
Rodger Gerberding December 2008
Ó 2008 Rodger Gerberding. MANORBORNE II. Mixed Media on Panel. $500
Rodger Gerberding studied at the Art Institute of Chicago and the Chicago Academy of Fine Art. His gallery work has been widely exhibited throughout the United States, in numerous group and some fifty, one-person shows. Venues have included the Artemisia, Studio View, Koehnline, Corsch, ARC, University of Chicago, and the Art Institute of Chicago Galleries (Chicago, and vicinity). Gerberding has illustrated or decorated some fifty books to date, in a variety of catagories and media. His illustrative wrok has companioned the writing of August Derleth, Donald Wandrei, Poppy A. Brite, Brian Hodge, Dean Koontz, Fritz Leiber, and many others. Magazine illustrations by him number in the hundreds, and include periodicals such as the The Horror Show, Penthouse Forum, Weird Tales, Sound Choice, and The Chicago Reader, to new a few.
As a writer, Gerberding has published criticism, poetry, and biographies in numerous magazines, including THE CHICAGO READER, TALES OF THE UNANTICIPATED (where he has also served as Art Editor from 1988 to the present), and POETRY. He has published a small book of regional history and speculations, SOME COUNCIL BLUFFS GHOSTS, which sold out on publication in 2000.
Gerberding's work has been awarded numerous prizes, and has been collected by the Art Institute of Chicago, the Minnesota Historical Society, the August Derleth Society, the University of California/Fritz Leiber Collection, and privately, by Patty Duke, Judy Collins, Dick Cavett, Stephen King and numerous others.
Join us during our grand opening celebration for an opportunity to get to know Rodger as an artist and a person. When asked how he felt about working with G.R.A.'s Virtual Gallery he replied, "I guess I just have to think in virtual terms. Which shouldn't be difficult for me because I think I've done that for most of my life, in one way or another. I like the idea and I'm willing to go with it."
Conversation With Rodger Gerberding
By Erica Ruth
I will speak to you in first person, I can find no other suitable way to approach an article about Rodger Gerberding. I have to tell it to you like it unfolded for me.
When I went over my notes, or played back portions of the interview from my digital voice recorder, I found it hard to still myself and write. My mind would get blown at each point he made. His communication is so full of wisdom and dynamism, that whenever I attempted to write this article, I would get lost in contemplation. When I finally wrote it, I found it impossible to edit down or condense. So much wisdom, I couldn’t shave it down. My article has turned into a mini book. Please feel free to read it as such.
The ideas that were shared kept forming new paradigms in my consciousness. He is a portal to another perspective. Rodger is one of those people you meet, and once you talk to them, you’re more astute, and more aware. It’s as if someone opened a window, then let fresh air and sunshine in to blow away the cobwebs in your mind. If you have experienced this before, get ready for another breeze in your brain. If you have never experienced this, don’t despair, life will bring this to you. It’s one of the fundamental aspects of human relation. We inspire one another…
We’ll start at the moment right before the interview. I am nervous as heck, because this is the first time I’ve interviewed an art instructor, a very successful artist and illustrator, a sculptor, a professional actor, a film maker and published writer, all rolled into one. So, I’m really flipping out about doing the interview. I decide to research like I had never done before, but nowhere in my research could I find out where Rodger was born. I learned so many things about his artistic development. I read countless articles about his technique and acclaim as an artist, but I was unable to find out where he was from.
So, I started to color it in with my imagination. I had met him before. Rodger, his delightful wife Kathleen, his daughter, Katrinka, and his son-in-law, Kevin, had come to Grass Roots Art and taken a tour of the gallery at the end of 2007. We had dinner and it was a grand time. So I begin to pull from these memories. He stands with a proud, upright stance. When he walks there is a relaxed comfortable air, elongated easy strides, mixed in with a confidence the English aristocracy wear like a shirt. The motion in his steps looks as if he’s gliding across the floor. His voice has a deep, throaty resonance, and his words come out with a precision you only hear from those who are very well educated. My imagination says, he’s probably from somewhere across the waters, from Europe. I know that’s a huge geographical space, but like I said it’s my imagination, it’s not very specific.
The moment the interview begins is upon me. I’m on the phone with Rodger and we exchange pleasant greetings. My plan is for the first question to sound like I have really done my homework. I don’t want to blow this. Rodger and his wife Kathleen are noted writers, and this is scaring the breath out of me. All of a sudden my nervousness gets the better of me and all I can do is rely on what is really the most burning question I have. I get all unhinged and say, “I did research on you and I don’t know where you were born. I know that’s kind of goofy, but I think it’s a good place to start.”
He responds with laughter and says, “Noooo. It’s an okay place to start. I won’t tell you how old I am, because I don’t believe in ageing, but I was born in Kankakee, IL, not too far from Chicago.”
I pause… then say, “Oh, okay. You seem so exotic and so interesting. I wouldn’t have been surprised if you told me you were from somewhere, you know, in Europe somewhere, you know, in a castle.”
No sooner than I let that misshapen sentence jump out of my mouth I wanted to kick myself.
Then do you know what he did? He laughed and said, “Oh, you’re so sweet. Yeah, right, the castle in my head.”
We laughed and at that moment all my butterflies disappeared and the interview had begun.
Rodger’s Early Development
At what point did you realize you were an artist?
Forever, very early on, 3 or 4; which I don’t think is an unusual thing at all. Every kid I’ve had experience with has artistic ability. Depending on the people that kid connects with that ability either goes somewhere or goes nowhere at all. With a good teacher saying I really see something in what you’re doing here, let’s work some more; as opposed to a teacher who says, “Oh, give it up.”
Right
Maybe art is unimportant, maybe what you’re doing is unimportant, maybe what you’re doing is not what I think of as art, maybe I as a teacher am a failed artist and I’m really jealous of you as a five year old.
I’ve had so many people say (because I teach art) that as kids they were thoroughly discouraged from doing art as process and certainly from a vocation. I’ve been not consciously working as an artist, obviously, since 3 or 4, but it truly began then. I became very interested in reading about 3 or 4 as well. I was one of those kids who learned to read very early. I moved from art, to writing, to theater, and then to film. I’ve been drawing, or painting, or sculpting, or acting, or writing, I’ve published a number of books, I’ve been doing one or a number of these things, (they come from the same channel), really, for most of my life.
When you were younger did you have the opportunity to have your parents interested in art with you?
They had no choice.
My parents were lovely, lovely, people and I miss them dearly. I don’t think they understood me, I think they probably thought I was a changeling. I know they did. They never discouraged me, and among many other things, I’m very grateful for that. They wouldn’t often talk about my work, or ask about it, or support it in terms of showing up for a gallery show or a piece of theater I was doing. But, after my mother had a stroke, from which she never recovered…
Oh, I’m sorry to hear that.
She was not in pain.
Where she worked was a place called Kankakee State Hospital, or Shapiro Developmental Center, as it’s called now. I met one of her co-workers at some point visiting my mom in the hospital. This woman said to me, “You must be Rodger.”
And I said, “Yeah, I am. How did you know that?”
“Your mom, Marge, talks about you all the time.”
I said, “What do you mean?”
She said, “Well she brings the books you illustrate to work and shows them off and makes sure that people know who you are.”
I never knew this. She never talked to me about this, nor did my father. That was very, very touching to me.
Oh, that’s so nice.
So there was definitely support, it was underground support but it was definitely support. I think they were supportive in a silent but very positive way.
Tell me about your training.
I went to the Art Institute of Chicago, and the Chicago Academy of Fine Art. I learned what I needed to learn and I unlearned what I had to unlearn. To that extent, I was largely self-taught. I think most artists are, because after school you gravitate towards not the norms, but what interests you emotionally, in a very specific way. I think you learn more from that kind of work than you do from a master who is academically “acceptable”.
I remember at the Art Institute, I had a teacher who was so concentrated in his efforts on the 18th Century. I can’t to this day look at 18th Century Art without animosity. But 20th Century lives for me. A lot of Chicago art lives for me. I learned a lot from hitting noncommercial galleries.
One of my artistic heroes is Seymour Rosofsky, a fairly well known artist in Chicago. He was by most accounts a very gentle man who went into his studio and did these often remarkably dark pictures. When I look at him I don’t see the horror others see. I see a transmutation into a weird sort of beauty. He painted so beautifully, very loosely and very broadly. He had a real command of the human form, spatial depth, and all the rest of it; which of course he then played with. He goes outside of accepted boundaries. You really have to see his work to know what I’m talking about. He died at 54 of a congenital heart condition. He’s someone you might want to look up.
I was always much more influenced by artists who are alive. When Rasosfky was alive in Chicago, I was working more intensely in Theater, so I missed meeting him.
Rodger on the Theater
Rodger shared with me his experience as a thespian. He started out doing Community Theater, and then he decided to do it professionally. Rodger auditioned for the Goodman and spent a couple of years there. He then worked professionally in Chicago for 2 or 3 years.
“I made about $276.32, during that time, and realized the money wasn’t quite what I’d expected, but, also, I didn’t have the drive.”
Developing a play and rehearsing it is what he likes. He loved it when a play ran for a day or two. When a play had a long run, it would throw off his flexibility and he lost time from his art. Most actors would pray for a long run, but Rodger’s desire to create visual art would win out against the time involved in the Theater.
“Theater absorbs your life. Elizabeth Perkins, Will Zahrn, and Kevin Anderson were my classmates at the Goodman. These people had the drive for it.”
Rodger on Balancing Art and Life
How do you work with your personal life and your art?
I have to ask myself, do I go to the studio or do I spend time with Kathleen? It’s a constant balancing act. Art is an obsession and it takes a lot to work with that issue. I’ve talked to many other artists about this. No one seems to have a solution; it’s something you have to work at.
Have you ever heard of artists who due to financial circumstances, had to take on a job or a second job and weren’t able to create as frequently getting cranky? Does this happen to you?
Oh, absolutely, Kathleen could do this part of the interview. I’ve sold fairly well as an artist, particularly in Chicago and Minneapolis, and to a degree in Omaha. The art market in Chicago is vastly different than Minneapolis and Omaha. Considering the nature of my work, I get a better reception in Chicago.
I haven’t gotten rich, I keep a 40 hour a week job and I spend 40 hours in the studio. I’m a workaholic.
My current job is a teacher. I teach drama, creative writing and art. As teacher I’m very hands on and this allows me to do my work. We learn by watching each other. In a 3 hour period I can have a finished piece.
I’ve learned to work faster than in my Chicago and Minneapolis days. I used to work and rework a piece over a years time. I began in Chicago as a photo-realist. I’m anything but that now. I destroyed all that work. It was in storage at my parent’s house. There were about 300 pieces. We created a bonfire.
Gasp!
People are always shocked by that. It’s like it was my work to get rid of.
Wow? Why did you want to get rid of it?
I wanted to begin again. I could feel my work was going in a different direction. I was feeling very, very constrained by a technique I had developed that no longer worked for
me.
My work remains detailed, but more in the way of a Seymour Rosofsky, than in the way of a Richard Estes, who is a photo-realist; he makes things look like photographs. Which at this stage in my life, I find really kind of boring. It’s not what I would care to do ever again. I could do it, I believe, if I put my mind to it, but maybe not.
Now I tend to trust another spirit. I’m much more interested now in the process than I am in product. That also helps with the speed at which I work at times. I can create 10 paintings in a weekend if I get into a mad flurry. Then I may not go to the studio for a couple of days.
I enjoy working with excitement and brio. I was taught working quickly was bad, I don’t agree with that. Rosofsky worked quickly. He could put out an 8 x 10 picture in a day, while holding down a teaching job. Some people look askance at artists who work quickly. That hasn’t been my experience, for which I am thankful.
Whistler had it right when he said he would charge 200 pounds for a picture that took him three hours to create. 200 pounds, in his day, would be equivalent to $900 dollars today. When asked how can you charge this amount of money for something that took 3 hours to create? He said, “I charge it for a lifetime of experience.”
I’m very much in agreement with that idea. That’s what any artist brings to his/her work; spiritual experience, emotional experience.
I run across a lot of older artists who work very quickly. They want to see what is going to happen, and they want to see it now. It’s a very childlike experience.
Mauricio Lasansky is now 93. I met him when he was 90. He taught at the University of Iowa for many years and he’s a master printmaker. This man has a 3 story brownstone in Iowa City. He takes flights of steps with the gait of a 20 year old, while I’m panting behind him. He showed me his printing press, and his archives. We spent about 3 hours together and he repeatedly said, “I have fun. I have fun.”
I have met many other artists in their 80’s and they say the same thing. They have fun. Then it suddenly hit me, that’s what I do. I have fun. I’m very serious about my work. I’m very serious about my craft. Sometimes, depending on the venue, I can come across as very pretentious about it. But generally, I love having fun. I want to see what happens next. It opens up the subconscious for me now in a way that previously I couldn’t have done. Previously, everything was preplanning; lots of preliminary sketches, underpainting, overpainting, and glazing. I still use these techniques; I’m just much more improvisational about using them!
At this point Rodger tells me I can stop him at any point. I tell him, no way. So many times I do an interview and the interviewee responds with three word answers, and I feel like I’m attempting to get blood from a rock. This interview is so alive and I don’t want it to stop.
Rodger on His Teaching Style
One of the people I admired most in all the world was Studs Terkel, who just died. I saw him on an interview shortly after he had open heart surgery. Studs Terkel appeared live on Michael Feldman's NPR Saturday morning show called, I think, WHAT DO YOU KNOW? I modestly liken my conversational style to Terkel's in that, one moment, he may be talking about interviewing, say, Tallulah Bankhead, which will suggest a labor song then sung by him, which brings him to his love-hate feeling for Chicago, which... You get what I mean. To have ADD and be loved for it! Alleluia!
Studs talked on, connecting one thing to another. He starts out at point A, then he goes to point G, then to point D, but he gets there.
That’s the kind of teacher I am. I’m all over the place, but we’ll get there. Just enjoy the journey. Be a little bit tense if you need to be, but we will get there with many stories on the way.
Honestly, that’s the type of teacher I’ve always admired too. I guess if you let yourself, if you get comfortable enough with yourself, what you finally become, to a degree, is the people you most admire.
No matter what I teach, I always open up by asking the students who are your heroes? People need heroes. It’s not that you want to be this person. It’s that you admire something this person has. The quality that you aspire to have, one day you will have, to one degree or another, if you follow your bliss. This is a famous quote by Joseph Campbell, and this is what I’d like to teach.
Where do you teach?
I teach at the Community Alliance in Omaha, NE. I work with people who have been diagnosed with mental illness. It’s very difficult, because a lot of people are in a very dark space. Watching them emerge from that darkness is amazing. This emergence often happens in places one would least expect, in theater, writing, and art. Suddenly, people are talking who haven’t spoken in years.
The objective at Community Alliance is to facilitate the individual’s process towards reentry into mainstream every day life. Through the arts the individuals develop discipline they didn’t know they had. Rodger requires his students to sit down and draw one hour a day. Once they implement this practice, they realize they can concentrate and focus on something. Through this process they develop the courage to apply this in other areas of their lives.
Do you find when working with your students, they have a depth of sanity most people would not be able to see?
That’s a very interesting question. Funding resources, Medicare, Medicaid, etc., still consider any form of art to be not rehabilitative. It’s hard to convince folks who have the money that art is rehabilitation in action.
A group of people who have never been on a stage before, who have terrific stage fright, who have terrific anxiety problems, are suddenly on a stage with 100-200 people doing a play; that they have staged themselves. I may direct the play, but they are the actors, they are the writers, they are the costume designers, they are the set designers; which again is all another form of discipline. Now how can that not be called rehabilitative?
Sanity runs very, very deep in some of the most seemingly insane people you might think of. It’s a different way of seeing. We are so cemented, in Western Culture, in a certain way of seeing.
I remember a commercial with a woman with perfectly white teeth, and windblown hair. She says, “We’re all consumers and that’s okay.”
When I saw that I said, “You’re all so off the mark, totally gone berserk. Let’s make money, let’s make money! It’s about the product, not the process.”
This is the opposite of what I see during recovery. It’s about the process not the product. These individuals I work with may have developed levels of sanity most people don’t have because of the pain they have experienced.
Tremendous healing occurs around art. I think it’s great that you work in so many disciplines. How do you feel when you work with someone and they move back into society? What’s it like when they come back or you bump into them?
Another interesting question. (Sigh and a pause) I have to think about that. I don’t take a lot of personal responsibility for it. I will do anything for a person who says, I want to go forward by word or deed. When someone succeeds, I say it’s in the person. I take pleasure in seeing someone’s successes, but it’s not me. You have done the work. That’s my mantra, you’ve done the work.
I thank them for their feedback, and I say, “You really need to be congratulating yourself, you have come so far. You had it in you all the time. You just needed someone to tell you.”
One person has so much power, negative or positive depending on how you use it.
Rodger tells me a story about a visit to an artist/writer’s convention. He and a friend he met while he was in Minneapolis, traveled to Arizona for the convention. While they were there his friend took Rodger to meet his uncle.
The uncle’s art work was beautiful, truly amazing. Rodger said, “I’m not easily impressed, but the guy was good, marvelous.”
Judging from the dates on the art work, Rodger could tell the body of work was older. He assumed the guy was selling his more recent work. He asked the uncle if he could see some of the newer work. The uncle told him he hadn’t painted in 20 years.
When Rodger asked why, the uncle replied, “Well I had a discussion with my mother and she said, ‘Why don’t you just give up this art crap? You’re not good enough to make it. Just give it up.’”
The uncle gave it up. He stopped working on the picture he was painting at that time, and never worked as an artist again.
The uncle became a really talented landscaper. From Rodger’s perspective, the creativity had to come out. He believes, however, that a person’s creativity should be allowed to develop how it manifests originally.
A person needs a good coach. I will not relent; I will say you can do this.
Rodger on His Art
For me it’s all about the process. I will not explain my work. That is for you. Sure I can make up stories as well as you can, but I’d much rather hear your stories.
I loved the illustration on Hell in the Heartland. You have illustrated so many book covers, how did you get all this work?
It was largely word of mouth. You get your work out there and people will come to you.
Sometimes, I would go out and create opportunities. I would go to networking conventions and meet with publishers and editors. I got three book projects that way.
I proposed to Fritz Leiber that he publish some of his fantastic cat stories. Then a publisher, Donald M. Grant, came together on the project and the product was
Gummitch and Friends.
I also got another deal with Poppy Z. Brite. There were times when I’d go out there and make something happen.
Things come and go, and my interest isn’t in horror and the weird fiction field. I’m more into mainstream now.
The cat on the cover of Gummitch and Friends was so present, very realistic, and at the same time very fantasy, like it could float away.
Thank you. That was my white cat Dante. When we got her we thought she was a male and the name stuck. Poor Dante, she just ran off one day. We saw her in the morning and never saw her again.
Oh, I’m sorry to hear that.
I have a feeling someone adopted her immediately, because she was such a beautiful cat.
That’s what I believe.
Can you tell me about the cover to Donald Wandrei's, Miscellany. I love the way you worked with light and shadow on that piece. When I saw that I thought, wow, Rodger can go many places.
Thank you. Don was a friend of mine. He was known as being reclusive and cantankerous, which he was not. He was a bit reclusive, but not cantankerous. He was quite a gentleman. He, very much like me, didn’t do it for money. If money comes along, then yes, I’ll take it. It’s not the primary motivation.
He peaked in his teens and 20’s. He wrote this remarkable poetry in his teens, and most of his short stories and fiction were written in his 20’s and 30’s. For the rest of his life he really didn’t publish much at all.
I met him the year I moved to Minneapolis, and he died a year later. I didn’t publish anything with him before he died. About 2 years after his death his estate allowed his work to come back into print. I’ve illustrated all his fiction accept his detective stories.
That cover is a pen and ink of Donald when he was younger. I liken this highly detailed stippling to needle point. Not that I do needlepoint…yet. I’ll take that up someday too.
The repetitive dot, dot, dot, it’s like needle point. I used pin point and bottles of ink.
I don’t throw anything away. I’m a terrible pack rat. I keep a piece of paper, or card stock nearby to clean the pen point, and those, interestingly enough, turn into interesting abstractions.
Have you ever framed those?
Yeah, I’ve sold a couple of them, which is interesting because there was no conscious thought behind them.
Rodger, it seems like you’ve got the Midas touch. What do you say to a frustrated artist who isn’t selling their art like they’d like to?
I’ve had shows where I didn’t sell anything too. Seymour Rasofsky sold nothing the last show of his life. He took it with a gentle resignation; well this is where I am right now.
This is something I aspire to.
Of course you do want to sell. As important as selling is the fact that you are communicating with an audience. I’ve had a couple of shows in the down town Omaha Library. Someone reviewed my work, they gave me a positive review, but they asked the question, why would you show in a public library?
Let’s look at it this way, there is a large homeless population in Omaha, and a lot of them spend their days at the library because they have no where else to go. Five hundred to a thousand people see the art on a daily basis and it’s their right too. I’m kind of offended by the question. It’s funny because other name artists are showing in that library and prior to me no one would. In a way I’ve been a trendsetter. I do take credit for that.
The joy far outweighs the frustrations. It probably seems to our loved ones that all we do is talk about the frustration.
Generally, there is also a lot of gratitude. I’ve had the opportunity to meet many artists, writers, and actors that I admire, and that’s an inspiration in and of itself. It’s not a matter of haunting stage doors for autographs. It’s a matter of really connecting with someone and simply saying, “Hello, and thank you.”
That’s another one of my mantra’s, thank you, thank you, on a daily basis. Thank you to whomever my higher power may be today, it might be Alanis Morissette. We need more thank yous.
When I review my life, I’ve had immense freedom. I had an immense amount of gratification, I’ve had some of the greatest friends, and it’s been a very good life. I think it’s been a very, very good life because of what I do. My art has allowed me to meet so many wonderful people, to connect with the world in a way that I would not have been able to connect otherwise.
I have been blessed by the presence of great and supportive friends. My greatest blessings have been, first, in having Kathleen as a friend, and then, as my greatest friend, and my wife. My daughter, Katrinka, may be embarrassed still by the number of rings that I wear, but I think she loves the person who wears them. As I love her. As I do all my kids and grandchildren, beauties and inspirations every one of them.
Rodger, for all his accomplishments maintains a genuine connection to all humanity. He recognizes that each individual is a student and a teacher. He shares his knowledge willingly and sees an opportunity to learn from everyone. This is from my perspective the key to his creativity.
When I finished writing the last sentence I felt a sense of melancholy. I felt like a very spiritual, emotional, exciting chapter in my life had ended. But I placate myself with the hope that he will allow me to interview him about the independent film he’s currently working on. We may get a chance to reenter Rodger Gerberding’s portal to another
perspective again…
Written by, Erica Ruth
Ó2008 Rodger Gerberding. MANORBORNE I. Mixed media on Panel. 24 x 30.
Ó2008 Rodger Gerberding. OZSCHRIFT II. Pastel on Paper. 24 x 30.
Ó2008 Rodger Gerberding. OZSCHRIFT I. Pastel on Paper. 24 x 30.
Ó 2008 Rodger Gerberding. HEBRIDES. Mixed Media on Paper. 24 x 30.
Ó 2008 Rodger Gerberding. NICHT SELBST. Pastel on Paper. 24 x 30.
Summer 2008
Featured Artist
Dale Washington
Ó 2008 Dale Washington
Dale Washington. The Interview. Oil on Canvas. 18 x 24. 2008.
Dale Washington might use paint, line drawings, contour drawings, and pieces of glass, all on one canvas. The way Dale expresses himself is like magic! Dale creates with an artistic freedom most artists dare not take.”
Ollie Dantzler
Founder and Executive Director of G.R.A.
It is a rare opportunity to have lunch with one of Chicago’s artistic treasures. Come, journey through this article, and learn about this artist as if you were there through…
Conversations With Dale Washington
Dale Washington’s bio reads like an encyclopedia, his resume stretches out like a scroll, and an internet search pulls up plenty. Washington’s art has been described by many writers, with adjectives galore. Words that you will never see used in conjunction with his art are ordinary, boring, or tame.
Being free with his art comes first. When it comes to artistic expression, Washington says, “Run like a wild horse, because those around you can’t.”
This quote comes from a conver-sation I was privileged to have at his studio. The interview was scheduled at lunch time, and to my surprise there was another artist, Gamaliel Ramirez, present.
Gamaliel, a self taught artist who is listed as a Puerto Rican Master Artist, was very open about his experience as a self taught artist. Listening to Dale and his collegue Gamaliel, talk about how they first met was intriguing.
“Gamaliel, is one of the first artists I met that I respected as an artist and a painter. We started out in 1996, it was a Gallery 37 type setting at the Boulevard Art Center in Englewood. There was
me, Gamaliel, David Philpot, and Greg Spears. I had all these self taught artists that respected me and what I was doing. At night when I would leave Boulevard, I would come back to Hyde Park and say, wow, I got these artists’ respect. These artists that were a little older than me, but still, I had these artists’ respect. It was a very special thing to me.” Dale said, with a proud faraway look.
I could tell he had traveled back to those moments and was no longer at the table with us, but traveling through time and space, revisiting yesterday.
Gamaliel responded, “On the other hand, he respected us. Here we are outside artists, and this guy has all this paper-work. And he’s cool with our art. This means something, it’s important.”
Even though these artists come from what might be considered different sides of the art world (one who is classically trained, and the other self taught, an outsider artist), they were of one accord. They both see art as something that comes from within the soul, not without.
Washington studied visual arts at the Columbus College of Arts and Design, in Columbus Ohio, and the University of Wisconsin-Madison. He received a Bachelor of Arts Degree from Columbia College.
“I went to school an artist. I did not go to school to become an artist.” Dale cites this as the fundamental ingredient to his success as an artist.
He has worked as an art director for J. Walter Thompson Advertising in Chicago, IL., and is recognized as an inspirational mentor to young artists through his residency at The School of the Art Institute of Chicago, the Southside Community Art Center, and various other organizations.
He presently teaches abstract drawing and painting at the Hyde Park Art Center. “I always tell artists to be an artist and do what you’re supposed to do. Form some kind of cooperative, have some unity, don’t be selfish creatures because nothing comes from that. Share information on grants, or where artists can show their art. Open your doors and bring their work in.” Dale practices what he preaches. His studio is an artist’s haven. You will see his work, other artists’ work, and receive an arts education to boot!
He is famous in the arts community for, not only his enigmatic artistic expression, but for having such a large volume of work. There is art everywhere. A trip to his studio is like being in a museum.
His warmth and openness insures that his space will always be full of those who have a con-nection to art, as well as humanity.
From March to August of 2005, Dale sponsored a series of Tuesday Dinners, at his studio. He spoke about the joy and comfort that was shared during that time. Some people understood what he was doing, and some people didn’t. When a person, who didn’t quite get it, asked, “Why do you do these dinners?”
Dale’s response was, “It shouldn’t be a question of why I’m doing a dinner, and having people over to break bread, eat and drink, and talk and laugh together. It should be a question as to why we don’t do this more often. To sit down and have dinner is something that is
foreign in our society. How removed can you be?”
Removed is also a word you won’t hear used in conjunction with Dale Washington. He is very connected to the arts community. Washington would be considered by many as one of the integral fibers in the tapestry that is the Chicago Art Scene. His work was chosen for the 2007 Inaugural Hyde Park Jazz Festival. He is featured in author and collector, Daniel T. Parker’s, book, African Art: The Diaspora and Beyond. Washington’s work is in many art lovers collections. His work is so valued that many collectors have 10 or 20 pieces. One collector commented that he had over 90 pieces.
It is my personal honor to have this interview immortalized in one of his paintings. The Interview is Oil on Canvas. It is an 18 x 24 original work of art, not a print or reproduction. It is 100% hand painted completely from start to finish. It comes framed and ready to hang.
Grass Roots Art is proud to present artist and photographer Candice Latimer in our Summer 2008 Series. Her work is vibrant and captivating. Please enjoy the opportunity to view her work.
all images are copywritten
Candice Latimer
Ó 2008 Candice Latimer
Candice Latimer
Has Light the Properties of Matter?
Oil on Canvas
24 X 36
Ó 2008 Candice Latimer
Candice Latimer
Fog on the Kankakee River
Black & White Photograph
11 X 14
Ó 2008 Candice Latimer
Candice Latimer
Black Hole Baby in a Black Baby Doll Dress
Oil On Canvas
24 X 30
Ó 2008 Candice Latimer
Candice Latimer
Matt - Eyes Closed
11 X 14
Tkumah Sadeek a True Artist
April 2008
Captivating, electrifying, soul-stirring, these are but a few adjectives I can offer your mind, to paint a picture of what it feels like to hear Tkumah Sadeek perform. I saw her at a showcase hosted by Mr. Daveed, music educator for the F.O.R.U.M., at Soul Vegetarian Restaurant. Ms. Sadeek wrote and performed a song entitled, “Soul Saturation”. As she graced us with her song I felt myself being swept up into an invisible force that swirled and pulled me higher and higher. I looked around at the faces of those seated to my left and right. I could see that they too were being hoisted into another stratosphere. I saw people of all ethnicities and age groups bobbing their heads, tapping their feet, and clapping their hands. When she finished washing her voice over each one of us, our souls were saturated, and we answered her with thunderous applause, and a standing ovation. I thought to myself, who is this woman? Once I have a question I can’t let it go, I must find the answer. I was granted an interview with this enigma, and I had quite a soul stirring experience. Tkumah is intelligent, directed, serious, witty, and so many other things all at once.
When asked how she started her journey as a vocalist, she took me back to her childhood. Writing poetry was a passion that began when she was in the sixth grade. “I’ve always been attracted to the arts; it’s always seemed very natural. When I was younger, and became interested in poetry, my mother gave me poetry books. She used to take me to the theater. I went to E.T.A. Theater so many times. We went to see the Geoffrey Ballet, and Alvin Ailey when I was very young. I remember looking at those artistic experiences with wonder and amazement. And yet, at the same time, I thought I can do that, I want to do that.”
Tkumah is definitely an example of how important the arts programs in school can be for our youth. In high school she joined the choir. She remembers being real low key and in the background. “I was like yeah I can sing, but don’t tell anybody!” Tkumah said with laughter.
“In my junior year the choir director said, ‘You’ve got a beautiful voice I want you to sing a solo.’ I started performing poetry around the same time I started to cultivate my singing, which kind of went hand in hand.”
Tkumah auditioned for a part in her high school’s production of Oliver Twist. She played Bet, a secondary character that was primarily a singing role. While reminiscing on that time in her life, Tkumah said, “It was a big move for me to start focusing on singing, as much of an artist as I am; I found it hard sometimes to openly share that, without apprehension. I can say that it has taken some time for me to expel that kind of fear, and go ahead and do it. What amazed me was that I was able to get on the stage and sing. It was as if assuming the role of someone else made it easier to get out there and do it. I had two or three solos in that play. It was great. I realized I can actually do this!”
After that play she started writing songs. Hearing her perspective on art and education was interesting. “The school process goes by so quickly, and then you’re out there in college, and you’ve got to know where you are going. That’s one thing that I didn’t really have. I was always a good student. I put forth that effort, good grades and all that. Fine, but when it came time to go to college, I was like what am I going to do? I don’t know. I don’t want to have the average kind of job. I don’t want to study this, I don’t want to study that. The only thing I really liked to do was art. I started majoring in theater, and that was going along well, but while I was studying theater, I was doing more vocal performing than anything else. So I decided to switch my major to vocal performance. Like I mentioned earlier, apprehension has prevented me, at times, from doing things that I should just do. At a point I decided that if I was going to sing, I just had to do it. I had to create my own opportunities, and not allow financial restrictions or school requirements, to deter me. It has been a process that has taken different turns at different points in time. I think every artist, at some point, can say they have had to go this way or that way for a time, and then bring it back to the center.
Tkumah is not a novice, her professional singing career, which spans 5 years, has taken her into many venues. In the next five years, she sees herself having completed an album and touring. These goals are in the making right now, “At this point in my life I have earnestly committed myself to bringing my dream into fruition.” Tkumah adds.
When asked who were some of her influences she mentioned Sade’, Jill Scott, Ella Fitzgerald, Mary J. Blige, Nina Simone, and Minnie Ripperton. The one influence she spoke of with the most passion was a woman who gave her a great lesson of truth. Tkumah saw a lady perform at a women’s conference in Atlanta. Interestingly enough, this vocalist’s name Tkumah doesn’t remember. The extraordinary voice and the priceless lesson this woman shared is, for Tkumah, unforgettable. After the concert, Tkumah went to the woman and asked her did was she classically trained. The answer was yes, but the lesson was this: "They teach you the mechanics. Never let what they teach you take away from your true expression. Never let it inhibit what you naturally have as a gift. Be a true artist.”
“That’s all I want to do. I want to be that true artist. True to myself in my artistic expression, and to allow others to experience my voice in its truth and purity, so that they will be able to receive and appreciate it.”
Come see this bright and shining star, who will be accompanied by trumpeter Kafele Bandele. Come saturate your soul with true art, at G.R.A., on Sunday 4/6/08, 3:30 P.M.
Grass Roots Art is Proud to Present
In Honor of Our One Year Anniversary
The Evolution of an Artist
Photographs by Ollie Dantzler
Artist’s Reception Sunday, December 2, 2007 2-5 PM
When you look at photographs, sheet music, sculpture, architecture, plumbing, landscaping, you will see we are all artists. Life is like a symphony. The cello, the bass, the drum, each instrument alone is beautiful, but when you put them together it’s a symphony. The cable man, the team that designed your car, the mathematician, the garbage man, they all come together to make up the symphony of life. Art unifies people, it helps them to look at life, reflect on humanity, and have a moment of balance. This creates more self awareness.” Ollie Dantzler |
This exhibition will be the first in our Human Installation Series. The Evolution of an Artist will launch our 12 month celebration of the artist. Typically people go to museums or galleries to view the art on exhibit. Here, at Grass Roots Art, we believe the artist is the true work of art!
I am the oldest of 6 children. My mother wasn’t able to take many pictures while we were growing up. One of the few pictures I have of myself when I was a small child is an image of me holding a doll. I remember the day the photograph was taken, I ran and grabbed my doll and set up my own pose!
Becoming a mother made me want to record my daughter’s growth and development. I felt this was the best way for me to give her a historical reference. This way she would have something to help evoke memories. Photographs can trigger memories that may stay hidden in the recesses of the mind. I also wanted my grandchildren to see my evolution as a mother, as they experienced their mother grow into a woman through the photographs. My belief at the time was that by chronicling my and my daughter’s development, I could give continuity of self to my grandchildren. By looking at their mother and seeing the different aspects of her, at different points in her life, they would gain a better understanding of her as person. When my grandchildren saw who I was and what I had become, they would see their evolution as well.
Documenting this experience revealed how much I love to photograph human interaction. I enjoy chronicling relationships. The dialogue that exists between people can be captured in a photograph. Human interaction is where it all happens. Without human interaction you can not have development. Nothing happens until we come together and collaborate.
Interaction is what helps me continue to be a multifaceted artist. I have always enjoyed exploring other artist's perspectives. I love to experiment with techniques and art mediums. I learn from others and I incorporate it into what I do. I crochet knit, sew, paint, sculpt, play the piano, and I even do wood burining. When it comes to art, you name it I've tried it. I enjoy creating that's all to it!
It was a challenge, at first, to explore my art in different ways. Others would look at me and say, “So, Ollie, what are you up to now?” There was sarcasm written all over that question. I was so excited to share what I was experimenting with, I didn’t care about the thinly veiled insult. I would show them anyway. I would pull out my crochet project, or show them a painting I had done. I kept at it, because nobody likes to be in a box, especially a box that someone else has designed. If it’s your box, you can find comfort. Don’t let others architect your artistic space. You’ll find very little comfort in that arrangement.
Let’s take a look at Dale Washington. He had a work of art on display at the Hyde Park Art Center. Dale started out with paint, next he drew over the paint, he then added washes and washes of color. The piece had people in it, and architecture flowing in and out of the image. He used paint, line drawings, contour drawings, a piece of glass, all on one canvas, it’s like magic! This is how Dale expresses himself. He uses beautiful line, beautiful color. Dale has artistic freedom and he uses every bit of it. Mr. Washington will be a featured artist at G.R.A. in 2008, we should all look forward to this, he will inspire new and seasoned artists alike.
My favorite thing is to see people come together and help each other grow, the ripple effect echoes throughout the universe. Martin Luther King helped to unify humanity. His objective wasn’t to unify only African-Americans and whites, but all of humanity. Rich people, poor people, religious people, not so religious people, all these different types of individuals came together for a cause.
In the ‘60’s I was a member of the Union to End Slums, under the Coordinating Council of Community Organizations. Our goal was to obtain decent housing for African-Americans, and receive community services like other neighborhoods. This was a grass roots movement that relied heavily on residents mobilizing their efforts to make a change. I lived in Chicago’s Lawndale Community and I remember when Martin Luther King moved to our neighborhood. He came to work on the abhorrent living conditions. During this time the March on Gage Park occurred. I was there and this experience echoes through my mind. People of all ethnicities came together. I can remember working next to homeless people, people with substance abuse issues, no differentiation was made between us. We were all one unit, one body. We accomplished a great deal, this is one of the most memorable experiences of my life. I am a grass roots person. I like to build from the root, then move up and out. My experience as founder and executive director of Grass Roots Art has enabled me to work from inside the community, to change the community. All the artists and donors that have worked with us are, in my eyes, grass roots people. They see value in starting from ground zero, so to speak. Being grass roots does not mean you are without means and resources. It means you are grounded in the human experience, can envision growth, and are willing to put it in motion.
My exhibition will feature my art and my life, they are forever intertwined. I am proud to be the first artist in the Human Installation Series, which will culminate in December 2008, with the highly acclaimed artist Roger Gerberding. His career has taken him to frontiers most artists only dream of seeing. Throughout his life’s journey he has maintained his connection to the human experience, is committed to change in the community, and is truly a Grass Roots Person.
I am a gatherer of people so to speak. Art brings people together, and fosters development within the community. I am committed to increasing the availability of art and culture in the South Shore Community. When people come to G.R.A. there is a diversity that is undeniable. We have hosted events that have drawn people together, who under most circumstances would not have shared the same space. This is the aspect of being an artist that I enjoy the most! I enjoy photographing what people can accomplish. I find beauty in architecture. The image entitled Maryland Religion is from my travels. I thought the architecture on this church was beautiful. I had to stop and document it. The images entitled The Diner and Mississippi Clothesline are both from my travels, and they express my passion for photographing people. Although these images have no people in them, they still tell a story about the people that were there. I will speak more on these images, and many more, at our anniversary celebration on December 2. I will share work from when I was just starting, until now. You’ll see the evolution of a daughter, a sister, a friend, a woman, a mother, a grandmother, and the evolution continues….
In Honor of Artists Month 10/07 We Were Proud to Present
G.R.A. Press
Chicago Weekly News
Click Here
http://chicagoweekly.net/?p=193
Framing Herstory.... is an African American Women's photography collective committed to creating an awareness of photography in the community through our unique yet common experiences. Our goal is to stimulate, promote and develop the production and preservation of our work. We seek to increase the visibility of photography created by
African American Women.
Raishon Lewis
Fountain from Morocco ©Raishon Lewis 2007
Having children has reinspired me to photograph. As a young child, I always took pictures. I had a 35 mm that I got from my mother. I took pictures on family trips, and anything that interested me. After having the children and leaving the corporate world, I jumped right into photography, and started taking classes. I have to say it was the children that inspired me to do it. I have my camera, and I take pictures of them. They are with me everyday. We are visiting places I have never visited before, for example, The Garfield Park Conservatory, the plants there are inspiration for photographs. Trips to the zoo inspire me as well.
The thing is it doesn’t stop with my children; there are other children I want to photograph. I enjoy photographing family moments, besides the birthday parties. While visiting my mother in Mississippi, I found inspiration going past the bathroom and seeing her with my daughter. She had just given her a bath and was combing her hair. Right away, I grabbed my camera, and took that photograph. Those are the things that I want to remember. I want my kids to be able to see these moments, and remember them through the photograph. These are moments in time that you can’t get back.
Places visited, friends, love shared, and laughter, these are the things I document.
Mississippi Bells ©Raishon Lewis 2007
I was visiting my mother in Jackson, Mississippi, and we went to the Mississippi Museum. There was indoor exhibition space and outdoor exhibition space. Outdoor was set up like a town, how Mississippi was back in the day. You had the General Store, the chicken hut, and then there was a cluster of old, worn bells on wooden posts stacked up on different levels. I don’t know where they came from, but it caught my eye. I passed by and then I said no, I’ve got to stop and take a photo of this. The paint is chipping off, you can see it had been painted several times. It told a story to me. I wanted to know what these bells were used for. Were they sitting on top of a church? The one in the middle that is copper, you can see it has turned green. You see the contrast with the copper that it used to be. I’m sure it used to be bright and shiny, but now it’s green and worn. The flatness of the color stood out to me. I cropped this image, there were other bells in the photograph. These are the two that really stood out to me, that said something.
I
The First Snow
This is one of my favorites. I was working with white balance and photographing snow. White balance is using a grey card to determine what your f-stop and aperture should be when you photograph. In digital photography if you photograph something white, the digital will read it as grey. You don’t want a white shirt or white snow to appear to be grey. So you need to work with the white balance and your camera settings to make the white pop! If your white balance is off you don’t have the crisp whiteness of something that is white. The contrast of the branches being dark and the white snow is what I was trying to capture. The snow was still falling when I took the photograph . So you see how the snow isn’t packed on the branch. It’s like a half inch off each branch. I love the composition of this one. You have your trunk and then the branches that take up the space.
I believe you can see detail better in black and white, no color to distract you, it is what it is. You have your photograph as is. But this one being snow…winter it almost seems dark, but at the same time the snow is lively. It’s grey in the background, but when you come forward the branches come alive.
Marian I. Jones
Cinnamon Stick ©Marian I. Jones
I got the love of photography from my dad. He took pictures when we went on trips and family gatherings, he just loved doing it. He gave me my first camera. I was interested, so he got me a brownie box camera, which I used for about half a minute. Then I became a teenager and that went out the window for a long time, until I became an adult.
I started working with film in the late 70’s. I just did snap shots. I worked with film in the early 80’s for about 4 years. Then I moved to Chicago and didn’t photograph until the late ‘90’s. When I started back, I worked with film, taking photos of my students. That got me inspired. I worked with color, I would give the kids photos for Christmas and Mother’s Day so they could put them in cards and give them as gifts. Kids love color so I shot them with color film.
I belonged to a group of press photographers. I started working with digital when it wasn’t popular. I got a Kodak Digital Camera and began to experiment. The other professional photographers believed, at that time, that you had to work with film. The photojournalists and professional photographers were like uhhh, we don’t do digital. Kodak has never been known for it’s digital cameras but I liked working with it, and I still use it.
As time went on people suggested that I take a course. I studied traditional photography with Ollie Dantzler, at the Hyde Park Art Center. I exhibit my work and I consider myself a fine arts photographer.
The image above, entitled Cinnamon Stick, developed in a very interesting way. I had my camera and I wanted to shoot. It was winter, so I photographed some vegetables. Most of my photography evolves in my kitchen. I really like the mortar and pestle. I was looking at the cinnamon stick and I saw all the detail in the tiny cinnamon stick. I wondered if I could capture that, so I put it in with the mortar and pestle. This image was the result.
Lil's Salad ©Marian I. Jones
My girlfriend Lil threw a party and I saw this salad on a tray. This was an absolutely beautiful salad. The party was already going on. If I took the photograph on the dining room table, I was not going to be able to do it justice. The lighting wasn't how I wanted it and I did not want to do flash. I don't have a lot of nerve for some things, but I had enough nerve for this...I asked her if I could take it from the dining room table and put it by the window. Lil said yes and I took it to the windowsill and propped it up! This is available light and I used a macro lens. I feel the sunlight did it justice. The thing I really love about photography is you have that moment, and that moment can never be reproduced in exactly the same way.
Silk Flower In Black ©Marian I. Jones
I love black and white photography, I know I love it more than color. Black and white film is what I usually work with, but I’ve seen such rich tones in other photographers images who use the digital conversion. I’m experimenting with the digital conversion process to see how rich I can get my tones.
I do not like to manipulate images. That is the light that was there. What I see is what I want.
April 2007
Angela Jackson, Dave Vance, Rudy Jackson, and Luqmann Ruth
Throughout time, music and art have been inextricably connected. Every artistic period has it’s own style, and it’s own feel. No matter what period in history you analyze, the music and the art compliment one another. Art influences music and music influences art. One might ask, why is that? The answer is simple, music and visual art come from the same source, inside the soul of mankind.
Grass Roots Art has a firm commitment to the advancement of not only visual artists, but musicians as well. G.R.A. was proud to welcome musicians Angela Jackson, Dave Vance, Rudy Jackson, and Luqmann Ruth. They lit up the day at our opening celebration for our Spring Exhibition. Dave Vance played his trumpet, while Rudy Jackson tickled the ivories. It was quite an experience to see these two friends perform together. Later in the set Angela joined in and graced us with her instrument, a strong beautiful voice. Guitarist, Luqmann Ruth, performed the second set. The musician’s opened up and shared themselves that day.
For Dave Vance music has been a lifelong passion. “My mom brought home a used-rental trumpet when I was 10 years old. I am turning 60 in December. As a young boy, it was fun and challenging. Of course it was hard, but I didn’t give up, and I quickly learned to read the notes and watch the conductor.”
As “they” say, history will always repeat itself. Just as Dave was given the gift of music by his mom, he passed the joy of music on to his daughter Angela.
“When I was 8 years old my dad enrolled me in a small singing class. I’m twelve years old, and now I sing with the Chicago Children’s Choir. I should add the CCC is 50 years old. The first choir group began in Hyde Park. As a member I feel proud that I’m in this choir, it has so much to offer and teach,” Angela said brightly.
A cross generational environment will always be chocked full of the zest of life. Dave Vance, after enjoying music throughout life, and passing on the joy of music, got the opportunity to perform with his daughter Angela during her first solo performance.