Holy Trinity High School, Open House

This open house at Holy Trinity H.S. on Division just west of the expressway was held last fall.  I’m just catching up now.  I’ve become a regular at this event and, I like to believe, a real “draw.”  I enjoy drawing these kids and some of their parents, particularly because it seems to be such [...]

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“Art from the Heart” in Crown Point, Indiana

To fund the art program in his school, Tom Ruiz,  an energetic young principal organized a fund raiser and called it “Art from the Heart.”   It was held in the school gym, involved raffle prizes and, of course, a famous caricaturist.  It would be an exaggeration to say that half the town showed up, but [...]

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Montessori School

The third end-of-school event last week was at a Montessori School in a far northern suburb. I was set up on the stage of the sunny auditorium with high windows that gave to the lush green school grounds and an expanse of rainy sky.  It was an international crowd, with names for children that were [...]

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St. Vincent Ferrer End-of-School Party

Oh, these resourceful parents!  It was a bit much: there was a thunderstorm the night before, a tree was hit by lightning and fell over the play area where the party was planned, and the janitor had a family health emergency.  So this end- of-school party was moved into the gym, which could accommodate only [...]

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End of School Year

It was pretty hot in Central Park, Evanston, today: 94°.  But a cluster of trees provided shade and the occasional breeze was met with a sigh of relief.  In four hours I drew sixty faces.  Drawing only profiles makes that speed possible, that and the teachers’  assistance in tucking the drawing into the plastic sleeve.  [...]

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Benefit for the SEDOL Foundation

This party was a benefit for the SEDOL Foundation.  It also happened to be the double-birthday celebration of its chairman David Raye and his wife, Donna—soul mates who met in kindergarten. (At left is my drawing of them.)  A hundred-and-fifty of their friends were there to make this occasion festive, in a casual sort of [...]

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Lincoln Fans at the Chicago History Museum

Abraham Lincoln was born February 12, 1809. I had the privilege of drawing visitors at the Chicago History Museum on the bicentennial of his birth—not just on the birthday itself, but for a whole year after that.  He is probably even more beloved than Washington, owing to his humble origins, his wit and certainly to [...]

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Art projects

My appearance in their colorful Kindergarten classroom was the culmination of two months of art projects.  They had started kindergarten in September and had already worked in a number of mediums and styles:  by the time they sat for me, they had worked in drawing, painting, mosaic, pottery  and sculpture; they knew about Van Gogh [...]

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All About You

You’ve got to hand it to a school that throws a party in the middle of the day and on a Monday, at that.  I was set up under the sky light in the student union at Loyola University, the one by the lake.  The most frequently declared majors of my sitters were Biology and [...]

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