John Lukehart proudly holds a sculpture 
by Margot McMahon (see details below)

Nov. 13, 2000

Arts Council's Artful Object has
record-setting night

By ERIC LINDEN

With this year's Artful Object show on Nov. 10, the Oak Park Area Arts
Council and its attending guests and artists again made the case that
the annual soiree is the pre-eminent event in Oak Park. The evening
which features artwork available for bid from more than 100 local
artists, this year had record attendance, a record number of artists
exhibiting and selling their works and, odds are, a record amount of
money made for arts scholarships and other grants given by the Arts
Council.

Held as always at the Foley-Rice Cadillac-Oldsmobile facility at  644
Madison St., Artful Object is a chief fundraiser for the Arts Council,
which works to promote and encourage the arts and artists in Oak Park,
River Forest, Forest Park and adjacent areas. Foley-Rice, which has its
main showroom across the street at 711 Madison St. and which owns other
properties on Madison Street, provides the second-floor space in the
E.E. Roberts-designed 644 building for the Arts Council to convert to a
showplace for arts activities. As it was Friday, the event traditionally
is attended by hundreds of local artists and residents who reflect the
diversity of Oak Park and the surrounding areas.

The Arts Council staff of executive director Camille Wilson-White of Oak
Park and assistant to the director Charity Piet of Chicago were still
putting together the official numbers for the 2000 event, but here's
some behind-the-scenes tidbits from the event.

* The highest price paid for a piece of artwork was the $2,300 bid
during the silent auction for a sculpture by Margot McMahon, a sculptor
and Oak Park resident who's also a member of the Arts Council board. As
an added drama, the piece in a hectic silent auction went to Oak Parker
Mary Daly Lewis, an executive at Benedictine University in Lisle and
former president of the Oak Park District 97 Elementary School Board,
who--with a last-minute bid--edged out Oak Park Village Manager Carl
Swenson.

* In another of the many spirited bidding contests, former State Senator
Philip Rock of Oak Park went head to head in down-to-the-wire bidding
with Forest Park Mayor Anthony Calderone. After back-and-forth bids,
Rock paid $275 for the painting "Ballerinas" by Sally Huss, who has a
gallery in Oak Park.

* Still another tight bidding contest was for a piece by noted Oak Park
sculptor Geraldine McCullough, the reigning arts patron of the year as
chosen by the Oak Park Area Arts Council. As usual, McCullough was
escorted to the public event by Sherlynn Reid, the retired director of
Oak Park village hall's Community Relations Department.

* Reid's daughter, Dorothy, a member of the current District 97 board,
attended as did Sharon Patchak-Layman, a District 97 school board member
who helped with the artwork demonstration by Longfellow School in the
first-floor showroom of the Foley-Rice facility. Oak Park and River
Forest High School was represented by school board members Chester
Stewart of Oak Park and Carlotta Lucchesi of River Forest, plus, of
course, Superintendent/Principal Susan Bridge, whose husband Nick was
exhibiting and selling his oil paintings on canvas during Artful Object.

* Most of the Oak Park village board attended, plus Forest Park Mayor
Calderone and Forest Park Village Council Member Tim Gillian.

* Ken Klemm, an Oak Park firefighter, River Forest resident and a
part-time electrical contractor, attended his first Artful Object after
serving this year as an advisor on the electricity needed to properly
light all the artwork on display.

* Most of the Arts Fanatics, or top donors to the Arts Council, attended
this year's gathering.  The Arts Fanatics are the Taxman Corporation,
which has developed the River Forest Town Center and the Shops of
Downtown Oak Park and which is readying west of the Town Center in River
Forest; Herman and Barbara Ebner, who is an Oak Park village trustee;
Leslie Ann Jones, the president of the Arts Council board; Joanne
Trapani, another Oak Park village trustee; and Joseph A. Graber, an Oak
Park resident who is president and CEO of North Federal Savings Bank in
Chicago.

* As promised, the musical entertainment portion of Friday's festivities
was opened by the  Oak Park and River Forest High School Jazz Ensemble
under the direction of Scotty Jones and was closed with two sets from
Stuck in the 50s, the musical group specializing in 1950s rock 'n' roll.
The group did one set in their blue-jeans-and-black-t-shirts and one in
Elvis-style Gold lame suits.

* Karen Yarbrough, the state representative-elect from the 7th District
that includes parts of Oak Park and Forest Park, was one of several
people who mistakenly bid on objects based on the placement of the bid
sheet. "That's going to be someone's Christmas present," Yarbrough said
of the jewelry she mistakenly purchased.

* In its program book for Artful Object, the Arts Council published
full-page thank-yous to the Oak Park village board and the Forest Park
village council, both of whom granted public funds this year to help
fund the Arts Council budget. River Forest village government this year
declined to fund the Arts Council.

* There were two popular comments during Artful Object. Next year, there
needs to be two refreshment stations to cut down on the long lines, and
the Arts Council should immediately sign up with Foley-Rice to hold
Artful Object at the same place on the second Friday of November, 2001.
 
 

Stuck in the 50s Group is a local group of singers
that kept the folks dancing most of the evening.

"Stone & Alchemy", Undra Heard and his assistant create art as a demonstration
for the evening.