• Scot Cortese
• Charlie De Leonardis
• Ann Filmer
• Fran Gregory
• Mike Helbing
• Kara Kesselring
• Barbara Lawrence
• Tommaso Lesnick
• Amanda Mansk-Perryman
• Margo Ruark
• Paula Swasko
• Gina Tarullo
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SCOT CORTESE
Paint, PIxels, Music, Garlic
MISSION STATEMENT: ““My objective as an artist is to transcend ego and materialism through the self-indulgent use of art supplies.””
DESCRIPTION: On any given day, Scot can be found grappling with oil paint, pondering fonts, aligning pixels, blurting verse, conducting wacky music classes, recording songs, assembling lyrics, or cooking with garlic, in and around the forthright suburb of Berwyn, Illinois.
http://www.cdbaby.com/all/jerret
kracor@ameritech.net |
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CHARLIE DE LEONARDIS
Elementary Art Teacher / Artist
MISSION STATEMENT: “"My mission is to teach what I love to do...making art while sharing my passion through teaching"”
DESCRIPTION: My work investigates my thoughts on daily environments I live in each day. I use a journal as a typical device of recording my life. The environments that most of my pieces and journal entries reflect are buses, trains, car rides, my travels, isolated moments and public places. This type of work is an ongoing journey to document my surroundings while I’m breathing in them. This form of documentation exposes connections about places that are overlooked or not discovered yet as the moment of documentation occurs. I want to abstract the environments that I live in to achieve clarity. Using various tools, such as writing, drawing, painting and video forces me to become more aware of “my being”.
www.charliedeleonardis.com
charlie@charliedeleonardis.com |
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ANN FILMER
Theater Director
MISSION STATEMENT: “My passion is in developing and directing new work. I am interested in reaching out to other professional artists in Berwyn.”
DESCRIPTION: Ann Filmer is a theater director, producer and choreographer who has directed for Goodman, A Red Orchid, Shattered Globe, Circle, UIC, DePaul, 29th Street Rep in New York and Estrogen Fest (of which she is founder and artistic director). Former Producing Director of Chicago Dramatists, she edited the anthology, New Plays From Chicago. Ann is founder/Artistic Director of the new 16th Street Theater in Berwyn and on the board of Berwyn Arts Council.
http://www.annfilmer.com/
info@16thstreettheater.org |
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FRAN GREGORY
Painting, Portraiture, Murals, Illustration, and Graphic Design
MISSION STATEMENT: “I simply wish to create paintings of great beauty. To show others the
incredible beauty that I witness in the world.”
DESCRIPTION: An award-winning commercial artist for over 17 years, Fran Gregory has enjoyed a successful career illustrating for a wide variety of clients including Motorola, Kraft Foods, Colgate, Cuervo, Land O' Lakes, ABC Radio, Fairview Press and Sr. Golfer Magazine. Fran obtained a Master of Fine Arts from Utah State University and currently freelances from her home in Berwyn.
http://www.frangregoryart.com/
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MIKE HELBING
Wonderful sculptor, metal, thinker, inovative, bad speller, assemblage, welded work, forgot to see it, good , wonderful, metal, stainless steel, inovative, bad at spelling, thinker.
MISSION STATEMENT: “I had a conversation today with a writer about my art, the sculpture I make, and a few other things. Much of my sculpture involves found objects, primarily stainless steel. The ready-made object carries with it a social understanding that is used and modified to give new meaning. I find these ready-mades many places; junk yards, industrial factories, second hand shops, the side of the road, mostly anywhere. The hunter/gatherer instinct is satisfied by this search for materials. I then sort, pile and group these things. Much as writers form thoughts that grow into stories using words, my found objects are analogous to language, these objects are reassembled to create new meaning . The things I collect are rearranged and modified, cut and attached, grouped, bent, reduced, chipped, welded, ground, assembled and polished. This presents the familiar in a new light, causing the everyday to be looked at with new wonder. My influences and interests range from the naturalistic to the scientific, the art macrocosm to the world of the spirit. My art examines my place in my world and invites visitor to come along and share the journey of discovery.”
DESCRIPTION: Born been making art a long while, still working, married, 2 children, happy with them and moving forward, making sculpture and interested in about everything.
1412 East Avenue
Berwyn IL 60402
708 704 1088
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KARA KESSELRING
Pianist/Vocalist/Educator/Composer/Advocate of the Arts
MISSION STATEMENT: “As a musician, it's important to dream big and to follow through. When I was a kid, I saw Les Miserable's in Des Moines, Iowa and thought it was such a long stretch for a farm girl from the sticks to be a part of a Broadway production. After playing the Jersey Boys show, I'm so happy to say I can cross that life dream off my list. Now if Lyle Lovett were to call me to sing back up with his large band, I could die and go to heaven!!
”
DESCRIPTION: Kara is a native of Iowa, is a graduate of the University of Iowa in vocal performance. She has been very active as a freelance musician and educator for the last twelve years in Chicago. She currently is an understudy in the Broadway production of Jersey Boys, and plays keys and sings in the Standing Room Only Orchestra. Kara teaches piano, voice, jazz combos, and wiggleworms at Old Town School of Folk Music, travels with the educational theater keynote Wavelength and is a new mother to her baby, Iris Mae. Kara is proficient in many styles of music and has recorded jazz, bossa nova, traditional country and children's CDs which can be heard on her website: www.karakesselring.com. When Kara isn't working on music projects, she's involved in the Berwyn Arts Council, volunteers a Lake View Presbyterian Church, and hangs out with her groovy husband, Patrick and their bad dog, Sammy.
http://www.karakesselring.com/
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BARBARA LAWRENCE
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TOMMASO LESNICK
Photography, Sculpture, Graphic Design
MISSION STATEMENT: “My work explores the repetition of forms, ideas, and actions, often reaching across disciplinary boundaries and using the found, rather than the invented. Most recently I have been interested in a simultaneous avoidance of and desire for repetition in daily life.”
DESCRIPTION: After completing a multidisciplinary major and a post-baccalaureate honors project at Knox College, Tommaso received his MFA in Printmaking from the San Francisco Art Institute, where he won the prestigious Bronze Roller Award. He has since gone on to become an award-winning Art Director for advertising agencies in Philadelphia and Chicago. He continues to work as an agency creative while pursuing his interests in photography, mixed-media sculpture, and design. He loves living in Berwyn.
http://www.tommasolesnick.com/
tommaso@tommasolesnick.com |
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AMANDA MANSK-PERRYMAN
DESCRIPTION: Amanda received her BFA in Graphic Design from The University of Illinois, Champaign-Urbana in 1996. She has over decade of design experience producing materials such as corporate branding programs, sales & marketing collateral, illustrations, environmental graphics and Web sites. Amanda is currently juggling her job as a full-time mom, freelance designer and the senior designer/illustrator on the Starfisch Design team (www.starfischdesign.com). Her past work experience covers a broad range of clientele ranging from big corporations to small not-for-profits. Her time at Rotary International showcased her innate design skills by communicating beyond language. Her up-to-date designs effortlessly reflect her aptitude for trends and appreciation for global cultures. When she's not working, Amanda loves to spend time with her family and friends, garden, cook, drink a great glass of red wine, read juicy novels, and expose her boys to every creative outlet she can find.
http://www.starfischdesign.com
amanda@ampdesigns.net |
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MARGO RUARK
Dancer, Performance Artist
DESCRIPTION: Margo Ruark is Director of The Peace Center in Berwyn and Artistic Director of the Center's newly formed Pace People Dance Company [Pronounced Pa-chay, Italian for Peace]. She is the only certified Kripalu Yoga Dance® teacher in Illinois and uses movement styles from all traditions to create dances that inspire, uplift and enrich audiences of all ages. Margo teaches Yoga Dance, jazz, and modern dance in the near west suburbs. A former professional modern dancer, Margo ran her own dance company in the black for five years and holds a Master's degree in Dance from the University of Wisconsin. Other education includes a Masters in Philosophy/Esthetics from the University of Uppsala, Sweden and an MBA in Entrepreneurship from DePaul University, Chicago. Margo was a guest artist at the Black Horse Theater in Copenhagen and has created and staged more than 50 original works in the U.S. and Europe.
www.thepeacecenter.info
peacemaker@thepeacecenter.info |
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PAULA SWASKO
Musician / Composer
MISSION STATEMENT: “Music has always been my life and livelihood. It has taken me places and allowed me to meet, teach and work with people I would never have met otherwise. It’s life to me. ”
DESCRIPTION: Paula completed her undergrad work in vocal music education at Carthage College in Kenosha, WI, and received her Master of Church Music with an emphasis in composition from Concordia University in Chicago in 2001. She was awarded the Richard Hillert Award for her collection of songs entitled, “Songs of Mary” based on the poetry of Hildegard of Bingen in 2001 as well. Paula received her second master’s degree in 2006 in Educational Leadership, also from Concordia University in Chicago. Presently she is working as a music specialist for the Cicero Public Schools, and serves as Minister of Music at Berwyn United Lutheran Church in Berwyn, Illinois. She continues to compose music, and is presently re-working music for publication. Paula plays piano, organ, flute, guitar and bassoon, and enjoys collecting instruments. She is the acting president of the Berwyn Arts Council and Chair of the Arts Education Committee for that organization.
pjspjs4113@sbcglobal.net |
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