Fall Schedule
TEACHER BIOGRAPHIES
Ben Bauman is currently attending The School of the Art Institute, with plans of graduating in Dec. 2008. He has also received academic training at the American Academy of Art as well as MATC (Madison Area Technical College), where he studied under the acclaimed figurative artist Robert Schultz over the course of two years. As an academically trained artist with a penchant for graffiti, Ben has developed a style that incorporates both into his work. The majority of his artistic practice is in the form of large murals, most often commissioned through businesses located within the Madison, WI area. In 2006, he painted a sculptured cow for the Madison Cows on Parade. Plans are in the works for hand painted advertisements commissioned through a marketing agency based in Boston.
Max Bjornson has drawn every day of his life since he could hold a crayon. He is a student at Columbia College and has participated in several gallery exhibitions there. His work can be seen in Oak Park as part of the “Off the Wall” mural project at Terra Incognito. He has also had work displayed at Chicago Avenue, and Harrison Street as part of the Summer 2005 bench project. Max has several years of teaching experience working with children at the Oak Park Park District.
Susan Bjornson has a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree from Southern Illinois University in Art History and Fine Arts. She continued her education at the University of Illinois at Chicago studying graphic design and animation. She studied watercolor and botanical illustration at the Morton Arboretum. She has taught for ten years, both adults and children. Her work has been displayed at the Oak Park Library, Oak Park Village Hall, Oak Park Conservatory, and Highland Park Community Center. Her work can be seen at Majamas Boutique in Oak Park and Penny’s Noodles, also in Oak Park. Her painting “Germination” is the current t-shirt for the Oak Park Public Library. She was the creator of “When Pigs Fly,” a pig displayed this summer on Oak Park Avenue.
The Chicago Mosaic School is the first American Mosaic School of its kind. This school was founded to fill the void in education in mosaic arts and inspire and encourage an appreciation for this ancient art form. There has been an overwhelming response to the mosaic classes, workshops, and exhibitions.
Megan Coughlan was born in Crystal Lake, IL and is currently a resident of Forest Park, IL. As a recent graduate of Northern Illinois University, she majored in Art Education and minored in Art History. Art has been a major part of her life and she has devoted much of her time to the creation and admiration of it. Some of her influences include Joseph Cornell, Mark Rothko, Rene Magritte, and Faith Ringgold. She has participated in several art shows such as Neo-phytes, An Exhibit in Works in Paper, McHenry County College’s Student Art Show where she received the Ryan Long Scholarship, and an Honorable Mention and Skyway, Juried Art Show.
Christopher Diehl received a Bachelor of Arts Degree from the University of Iowa where he focused primarily on painting with oils and pastels. He finds inspiration for his artwork in his music, science, and operas and is now pursuing an Optometry Doctorate at Illinois College of Optometry. He likes to explore all of the possibilities available to him concerning color, format, composition, & medium. Christopher also likes to pull techniques and ideas from old masters and finds that reproducing classic paintings is one of the best ways for him to develop as an artist. Some of his favorite artists to study are Bouguereau, Vermeer, Durer, and Caravaggio.
Nancy Fong earned her Bachelor of Arts degree in Studio Arts from
University of Illinois at Chicago. She has been teaching art to children and
adults at Morton College, Triton College, Park District of Oak Park’s Summer
Cultural Arts Workshop (SCAW), After School Arts Program (ASAP), District 97’s
Young Artist’s Workshop (YAW), and The Senior Citizens’ Center of Oak Park and
River Forest. Her adult class painted the horse “Bridle and Groom” for Horsin’
Around the Avenue. Nancy has a painting in Oak Park Public Library’s Permanent
Collection.
Simon Gallo was exposed to various types of art at a young age, growing
up in a family of artists. Simon started drawing at a young age when taking
summer camps at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. Once in high school
he began painting and soon began to take early college classes on weekends at
the School of the Art Institute of Chicago and later taking a summer off to take
classes at Montserrat College of Art in Beverly, MA. Simon is currently studying
at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, going for his degree in Art
Education. Excited about art and teaching, Simon wants to share his knowledge
and love for art with others.
Moira Heffernan was born in Midland, MI and grew up in Brookfield, IL.
She attended Kalamazoo College in Kalamazoo, MI to receive her Bachelors of
Arts, with a double major in both Art & Art History and French, graduating Magna
Cum Laude and with the George Eaton Errington Prize in Art. She has also
expanded her art education through courses taken at the Evanston Art Center,
Illinois State University and L’Ecole des Beaux Arts de Clermont-Ferrand. Her
medium of choice is photography, specifically black and white. She spent two
years abroad, the first time as a student in Clermont-Ferrand, France and the
second time as an English teacher in Montpellier, France. She currently resides
in Oak Park and works for an Environmental Services company as a Marketing and
Communications Specialist.
Marianne Kinzer has worked as a visual artist for 20 years. She grew up
in Germany and received her basic artistic education there, completing her
education in studio arts in art classes in the United States over a period of 10
years. Her work has been shown in Germany and United States, and Turkey, where
she lived for 4 years. She currently has a solo show in Metal Works Gallery in
Chicago called “Wetlands”. Marianne translates natural beauty into art, pointing
to ecological issues and supporting environmental protection.
Bob Kwas began his training with private lessons from H. H. Smithers at
age nine. He later attended the University of Wisconsin/Racine and graduated
from the American Academy of Art in Chicago, where he studied with William Mosby
and Irving Shapiro. Robert has exhibited nationally and has received numerous
awards in area arts fairs and exhibits. He has taught watercolor at the Oak Park
Art League and Creative Illustration at Triton College.
Janne Laurencelle has been teaching art in Chicago and abroad to kids for
the last nine years, since completing a Bachelor’s of Fine Art at the Art
Institute of Chicago. She has taught within the Chicago Park District and the
Chicago Public Schools, and Brickton Art Center in Park Ridge. Currently she
works at Giant Steps Illinois, a therapeutic day school for autistic children
(k-12).
Richard Laurent received his formal visual training at the Institute of
Design, the original Bauhaus design school in Chicago. He has illustrated for
national magazines and newspapers, including the Chicago Sun-Times, owned a
design consulting business, served as Creative Director for Encyclopedia
Britannica Films, and taught at Columbia College. Since 1991, he has also
pursued an independent study of classical painting processes. Richard’s work is
informed by the master paintings he has studied at major museums in Europe and
Latin America. In 1999, he painted a life-sized cow for Chicago’s Cows on
Parade. He has exhibited at the Salon International Museum of Contemporary
Masters and has won awards at Oil Painters of America National Exhibitions. His
drawings and paintings are included in Contemporary American Drawing, and
Contemporary American Painting, monographs published by Jilin Fine Arts, while
his illustration work has appeared in numerous editions of Spectrum: The Best in
Contemporary Fantastic Art. Richard works out of studio 922 in the historic Fine
Arts Building and is represented by Gallery H in Three Oaks, Michigan.
Rachel Lechocki is a recent graduate of Columbia College Chicago. She
earned her B.A. in Art History, specializing in Modern and Contemporary and
Non-Western art, also a minor in Cultural Studies. Prior to this, she received
an Associated Degree from the College of DuPage in Liberal Arts, where she
exhibited photography and paintings in various student art shows. There too, she
was a member of the Honors Program and developed advertised and produced a
fundraiser fashion show with four other students. During the course of Fall 2006
and Spring 2007 Rachel curated two exhibitions, “Pandemic in Print” and
“Transitions” in Columbia’s Art and Design Gallery. She had essays published in
both catalogues. Rachel is a member of the Art History Society of Columbia
College. This past summer, Rachel was Director of Little S.C.A.W. (Summer
Cultural Arts Workshop) at the Park District of Oak Park. Currently, she assists
with multiple art and dance classes, events and workshops for the Park District.
Beverly Nelson earned an MFA from the School of the Art Institute of
Chicago in 2006 where she studied creative writing and time-based arts. She also
has a B.A. in Art History with an emphasis on Performance Art. Her performance
work engages memory, gender, body movement and ritual. She is currently a
collaborative-writer on Judd Morrissey’s Goat Island hypertext project at
http://thelastperformance.org. As a writer, she is unpublished by choice. This
summer she'll finish a six-year writing project of 7 volumes and one of the two
bound copies will be in the Flaxman Library. More of her work can be seen at:
http://beverlynelson.wordpress.com.
Didier Nolet was born and raised in Paris, France. He studied at the
world famous Ecole des Beaux-Arts. His training was based on a combination of
Old Masters and Contemporary Masters techniques. His art and teaching philosophy
combine the best of both worlds. Didier has been exhibiting his paintings and
pastels in galleries and museums in Paris, New York, Chicago, California,
Arizona, and beyond. Didier, who has been teaching for many years, is committed
to his students. Everybody gets his full attention.
Sharron Ott has made her living as a painter, illustrator, muralist,
scenic artist, interior designer, and set designer for many years. She is
classically trained in painting, drawing, sculpture, and printmaking. Sharron
began creating art at the age of 11, studying under Eleanor King, the founder of
the Elmhurst Art Museum. She received a Bachelor’s in Fine Arts from the School
of the Art Institute of Chicago. As time moved on she incorporated many
disciplines and mediums into her style. She has worked as a scenic artist for
Cirque Du Soliel, and Steppenwolf Theatre, and a set designer for Red Moon
Theatre. Sharron has held 26 exhibits of her paintings across the US and Canada,
with works in the collections of the Elmhurst Art Museum, the Government of
Taiwan, and Cedar Sinai Hospital in Los Angeles. 37 restaurants, 5 churches, and
numerous residences display the art and design work of Miss Ott.
www.papillondesign.biz
Claudia Pontarelli-Hallissey has a Bachelor of Fine Arts Degree from the
School of the Art Institute of Chicago and an Associates Degree in Science in
Therapeutic Recreation from Triton College. She has worked with many different
populations, including older adults to whom she has taught art wt retirement
homes for many years. Her students have participated in the Sunflower Arts
Festival, a celebration of creativity for the older adult. An art project, “The
Stuart Davies Project,” which she developed for execution by people in adult day
service, won first place as a therapeutic activity targeted for persons with
dementia. Currently, Claudia teaches Fashion Illustration at Columbia College
and also creates her own figurative art and portraiture. Her piece “Accursed
Heart” was acclaimed by a Wednesday Journal art critic and she won the “Best in
Show” award at OPAL. Her work has been displayed at Oak Park Village Hall, the
Oak Park Public Library, Akatombo Gallery, Calypso Moon, The Art House, and the
Conrad Hilton.
Ann Primack received her Bachelor of Arts degree in Fine Art from
Colorado College as well as a Bachelor of Arts degree in Teaching from the
University of Illinois. She went on to take graduate level classes from the Art
Institute of Chicago and the Appalachian Center for Crafts in Tennessee, among
other places. She continues to work in her studio to create pieces for art shows
and commissions.
Roberta Raymond-Larson, long-time member of the Oak Park Art League,
facilitates Figure Drawing on Sundays at the Oak Park Art League and is
presently at three galleries in Door County: the Paint Box gallery, Gallery
Five, and Door County Art League Gallery. This year she has taught for
Elderhostel and Festival of Nature.
Carol Richardson-O’Brien comes from a family of artists. She studied fine
arts at the University of Dayton and St. Louis University, and illustration at
Ray College of Design. After college she moved to Europe to paint. She has shown
her work in St. Louis, Missouri, Dublin, Ireland, Chicago, Lake Forest,
Barrington and numerous one man and group shows in Oak Park and Forest Park. She
is annually commissioned by the Frank Lloyd Wright Preservation Trust to do
portraits of the homes in the Wright Plus Tour. She works in oil paints,
watercolor, pen and ink, graphite and pastels, and has done over one hundred
commissioned portraits.
Keith Taylor taught cartooning for over a decade with the Park District
of Oak Park and has taught workshops and classes in Chicago at Wright Junior
College, Alcott Elementary School and others. He is the current President of the
Oak Park Art League Board of Directors. His cartoons have been syndicated
nationally and his greeting cards have been published internationally. He has a
MFA in printmaking and a BFA in painting from the University of Illinois,
Urbana. With over 30 years of arts-related experience, Keith is a graphic
designer, cartoonist, illustrator, painter, and printmaker dedicated to using
humor as a means of inspiring thoughtful dialogue and action.
Laura Walsh has a strong sense of color and design which stem from her
many years as a Creative in Retail Advertising for such accounts as Marshall
Field’s, Talbot’s and Nordstrom. Laura’s recent efforts surround her role as a
mother. She has taught many adult and children’s summer classes on Madeline
Island, WI. She also donates her time to working with children with special
needs at some of the area schools. Laura is an Artist Member of OPAL, and has
exhibited works in oils and watercolor in numerous exhibitions.
Christa Wellman was trained as a medical illustrator at Indiana University and
at the University of Illinois at Chicago where she earned a masters degree. She
has taught Human Anatomy for the Artist and Colored Pencil at OPAL for the past
two years. Her work is strongly rooted in drawing, followed by expression in
color by means of oil paint, watercolor and colored pencil. Christa is an Artist
Member of OPAL and a member of the Society of Children’s Book Writers and
Illustrators. Her forthcoming show is slated for June 2008 at the SIP coffee
house in Chicago, which will feature drawings and paintings from her several
backpacking adventures
![[ Yahoo! Maps ]](http://us.i1.yimg.com/us.yimg.com/i/us/mp/gr/mplogo.gif){kind=small}
Map of
700 Chicago Ave
Oak Park, IL 60302-2102
OPAL is a nonprofit community-based visual arts center providing classes, workshops, lectures, demonstrations, and exhibitions.
Privacy & Anti-Spam Policy: The information you provide to us
will not be used for any purpose other than to send you
information about our Art league activities. We will not sell,
lease, loan, or give our mailing list to anyone else, ever, for
any purpose.