Northwest Cultural Council

You are cordially invited to attend an artists’ reception for John Green, including a poetry readings by Virginia Bell and Jan Bottiglieri, leaders of NWCC’s Second Saturday Poetry Workshops, and music by The Elmhurst Guitar Trio.  Then enjoy meeting the artist, poets and musicians while enjoying complimentary refreshments. 

The inspiration for John Green’s pen and ink drawings derives from his travel to unique areas of the world which are not typical travel destinations for most people.  He strives to better understand the cultural differences that enrich our world through his travels; and his drawings represent some of his learning experiences.  John’s fascination with the physical and emotional aspects of light and dark is a driving force in his work; and more recently he has been exploring the impact images carry within and between cultures.  This exhibit, “Drawing on Cultural Lines” pairs verses he has written for the art to offer a singular perspective of the work and to more deeply reveal and even alter the feelings of the viewer.  John is a partner and President of an architectural and land planning firm, Groundwork, Ltd., in Buffalo Grove.

The oils and pastels of Claire Wally are also on display for your viewing.  Her landscape painting began outdoors in Sun Valley.  She painted in pastels exclusively, concentrating on developing a method of capturing light and experimenting with techniques and various papers.  Claire wanted to master oil painting, and in 2000 began painting birds, scenes, and then portraits in oil.  She researches every painting and uses a great number of references.  Claire’s love is the impressionist style, and in between painting a very realistic portrait or subject, she turns to painting impressionist scenes.  Although she has painted a number of commissions and has sold many paintings, she really paints for herself…”for the love of creating something beautiful.”

Through the years the Council has recognized and promoted poetry as one of the very important arts. We encourage all people, but especially young people, to read, understand, and learn to write poetry. An important part of NWCC’s commitment to poetry is the Second Saturday Poetry Workshops.  We have been offering these sessions every month for the past twelve years.  During the reception Chicago area published poets, Virginia Bell and Jan Bottiglieri will read from their works. They are two of the many accomplished, published poets who lead the workshops.

Virginia Bell’s poetry has appeared in Calyx, Poet Lore, Pebble Lake Review, Wicked Alice, the anthologies Brute Neighbors: Urban Nature Poetry, Prose and Photography and A Writers’ Congress: Chicago Poets on Barack  Obama’s Inauguration, Woman Made Gallery’s 2009 Her Mark, Ekphrasis, and other journals. She is an associate editor of RHINO and an adjunct professor at Loyola University.  Bell has a Ph.D. in Comparative Literature and has also published scholarly articles on writers such as Eduardo Galeano and Leslie Marmon Silko, as well the Instructor’s Resource Manual for Beyond Borders: A Cultural Reader (Houghton Mifflin 2003).  

Jan Bottiglieri’s poetry has appeared in Rhino, Oyez Review, Little America, Moon Journal and Point of View, as well as the anthologies Where We Live:  Illinois Poets and Pacific Northwest Crow Poetry.  She is a member of the Arlington Poetry Project and was a finalist in the Poetry Center of Chicago’s Juried Reading in 2001.  She is currently working on her second chapbook.

Our young musicians, Nahum Smith, Matt Richter, and Chris Buckley, are recent graduates of Elmhurst College, trained by Steven Suvada, nationally recognized classical guitarist.

The exhibition can be viewed on Mondays through Fridays from 9:00 am to 5:00 pm and Saturdays from 9:00 am to 12:00 pm.  Admission is always free.