Artistic talent showcased in La Grange rockers

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Steve Jasinski (left) and artist Renee Milani talk about the rocking chair Milani painted in front of First National Bank in La Grange. La Grange Rocks is art display of 50 decorated chairs that are on display through September. | Rob Hart~Sun-Times Media

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Updated: August 3, 2011 4:09PM

The artists behind the La Grange Rocks outdoor art festival are almost as varied as the colorful rockers they created.

Some are fortunate enough to earn a living as full-time artists; others work as a nanny or volunteer at a doggie day care. One is an empty nester. Two are in high school.

Some artists developed their own chair theme, while others closely collaborated with the sponsoring organization, which will benefit when the rockers are auctioned Sept. 9.

Meadowbrook Manor hired Pam Peterson and Janet Lewandowski of La Grange to design a chair to help celebrate the upcoming 100th anniversary of the La Grange nursing home.

“I went to the La Grange Area Historical Society, and they pulled a lot of files for the building,” Peterson said. “I found it a challenge to tell the story. I used a lot of photos.”

Peterson said she and Lewandowski photocopied old newspaper clippings and created a black-and-white collage of photos and headlines.

On the seat of the black rocker, Peterson painted a bright purple-pink plumeria, a Hawaiian flower serving as Meadowbrook Manor’s logo.

To promote the work of the SaltCreek Art Foundation, LaGrange Park artist Becky Cortez decided to reproduce two of her favorite painting on display at the Nettie J. McKinnon Art Gallery at Park Junior High School.

“One is a little village scene of a woman tending her garden, and the artist is a woman, Pauline Lennards Palmer,” Cortez said.

The second painting is a pastoral scene with sheep, because “La Grange means ‘the farm,’” she explained.

“I love to paint and don’t often get the chance to do it,” said Cortez, who has served as an artist in residence overseeing a massive mosaic mural at Park for the past three years.

Kyle Cramblit and Kelsie Travers, juniors at York High School, were invited to paint a rocker by Travers’s mom, who works for the La Grange McDonald’s restaurant.

The two students, who had taken art classes and were involved in York’s Murals Club, designed “McParty,” featuring Ronald McDonald standing on his head on the front of the bright red rocker.

“It took 15 to 17 hours to do,” Cramblit explained. “We’re definitely pleased with it. It looks pretty good.”

Cathy Wright and Cindy Zajecka also were pleased with the sunshine orange rocker they designed for Community Support Services, a Brookfield-based agency serving adults with developmental disabilities in the western suburbs.

The two friends took art classes sponsored by the agency and chose as the chair’s focus a colorfully striped dog wearing sunglasses, designed by Wright, who volunteers at the Chicago Canine Club in Burr Ridge.

“Anytime you’re having a bad day, art will do something for you,” Wright observed about her enjoyment in painting. “You might be upset about something, but art makes it go away.”

Wright said it was easy to work together with Zajecka on the project.

“We had so much fun and such teamwork,” Wright said. “We had so many ideas coming up, we had enough for another rocking chair.”

LaGrange Park artist Lorna Shaw, who also works as a nanny, painted five chairs for the art fest since April 15 and is working on a sixth chair, “Red, White and Blueberry,” in time for the Fourth of July for the Blueberry Hill restaurant in La Grange.

“No, it won’t have any blueberries on it,” Shaw said. “There aren’t any chairs with a patriotic theme. Everybody’s happy to put out a flag. Why not a chair.”

Asking Shaw to pick a favorite rocker is like asking a mother to choose between her children. There is something special to her about each chair, whether it’s the design concept, overcoming difficulties in painting and bringing it to life or just the way it turned out.

While shopping at a furniture store, Shaw said she got the idea for the “Million Dollar Chair,” complete with studs to look like a stuffed leather recliner, a TV remote control on one arm and a newspaper draped over the arm.

The rocker’s title and banner newspaper headline are a bit tongue-in-cheek, the artist admits, and refers to her hopes for the final bid when that chair and about 50 others are auctioned.

“I had fun picking out funny headlines, and some are actually legitimate,” Shaw said, referring to the rocker’s newspaper. “That’s my sense of humor. I like silly things.”

Though the rocking chairs may conjure up a feeling of old-fashioned relaxation, there’s nothing low-tech about this year’s online voting contest to select the favorite chair of art-lovers.

“Each chair will have a QR code, or Quick Response, which is like a bar code,” said Jen Schnell, who coordinated the program and is a marketing consultant for AlphaGraphics in LaGrange Park.

A cell phone application scans the code and automatically registers it on the Facebook page of the La Grange Business Association, sponsor of the sixth annual outdoor art fest.

Organizers said the rocking chairs, bolted to sidewalks throughout the downtown area, have turned La Grange into a giant front porch inviting visitors to admire the art, sit and relax and visit downtown businesses and restaurants.