UPCOMING PROGRAMS
Artist Open House
Thursday, Oct. 24, 5 to 8 p.m. Visitor Center, 781 Pearson St., Des Plaines.
Lori Indovina-Valus has pursued art, in one form or another, her entire life. And now she is sharing that passion with residents in and around Des Plaines. The Des Plaines History Center is hosting an artist’s open house from 5 to 8 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 24, at 781 Pearson St. Light refreshments will be served.
Indovina-Valus, 81, of McHenry, earned a fine arts degree from the Art Institute of Chicago and a teaching degree through the University of Chicago. In 1965 she began teaching art at Lincoln Park High School near where she grew up. After two years she and her husband, John, were offered a house in Fox River Grove that John’s parents owned.
The two art teachers, who met at the Art Institute, moved to McHenry County.
“What I like about art is the variety that I see,” Indovina-Valus said. “When I was a teacher, I could see that everybody has some ability. You just have to find it.”
John went on to teach in Fox River Grove and Barrington. Lori taught at several schools in District 300 before landing a job at Lundahl Junior High School in Crystal Lake. When art was eliminated, she went to work in the private sector – as a “spec” artist for the Barrington Press, doing original art and special section covers in the age before computers. She then designed newspaper ads for the Northwest Herald in Crystal Lake, retiring in 2008 after 20 years.
She also worked at Crystal Lake Central and Cary-Grove high schools, teaching art in the mornings before heading into the newspaper office in the afternoon. Art is in her blood. Her great-grandfather, Antonino Indovina, was a celebrated, Sicilian sculptor, architect and engineer. He even had a showing of his work at Chicago’s Archer Road Settlement House in 1912.
“He sent his five children to American. One of them was my grandfather, Vincenzo, who arrived here in 1898,” Indovina-Valus said. He was among the first Italian doctors in this country, she added, and gave rise to many family members in the medical field. Lori’s father was a pharmacist and scientist. But Lori gravitated toward art, following in the footsteps of Antonino and her great-grandmother’s dad, a painter named Vincenzo Ciofalo. She particularly loves pen and ink, and watercolors.
“My dad had a cottage in Michiana, two blocks from Lake Michigan,” Indovina-Valus said. “Nature was the lake and the woods and the animals and the berries and the wildflowers and everything. … When I retired, I decided to concentrate on watercolors because I always liked how it looked.”
And it was that love of the outdoors that led her to embrace nature photography and art. She likes that organic element, the transition of an idea from a pencil sketch or ancillary photograph into a finished work – many of which she has entered in shows at the Old Courthouse in Woodstock, Norris Cultural Art Center in St. Charles and the Geneva Lakes Art Association gallery, among many others.
But she has not been out here.
Having just returned from a trip to Italy, she is pouring through hundreds of photos looking for just the right subject matter to paint. She prefers to work alone in her studio, supplies at hand and free of distractions.
“I can’t wait to get started,” she said.
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The Enchanted World of Rankin/Bass
Thursday, Dec. 19, 7 p.m. to 9 p.m. Des Plaines Public Library. Rooms B/C. 1501 Ellinwood Street, Des Plaines. Ticketed Event.
You've all seen them and loved them: The Rankin/Bass Christmas specials. And this year is particularly noteworthy since it marks the 60th anniversary of Rankin/Bass' Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer! and the 50th anniversary of its The Year Without A Santa Claus (with Heat/Snow Misers) and 'Twas the Night Before Christmas! Join Rick Goldschmidt, the official biographer/historian of Rankin/Bass author of seven books about the company and the people who made it special.
As space is limited, registration is encouraged. Tickets are $8 for Des Plaines History Center members, $10 each for non-members. Click here to register or contact us at 847-391-5399 or contact@desplaineshistory.org for help with registration!