2003 Year in Review

Art Show at Heritage Museum

Grape Street Studio is having their first art show at the Heritage Museum on Lincolnway.

When the Smithsonian display left the Heritage Museum, there was a huge void. To fill the void, starting September 12 the Grape Street Studio is having their first showing. Local amateur artists from Morrison and surrounding communities will be showing their collection of paintings they have completed at the Studio.

Margaret Sauer retired as a librarian in Michigan to live in her grandparent’s home in Morrison on Grape Street and immediately built a studio to begin her second career as an artist. It all started in the mid 1990’s with Ms Sauer, Mae Domack, and Jean Taut. Ms Domack was commissioned to paint “Sugar and Spice” restaurant across the street on Grape Street and they started talking. Ms Sauer invited Ms Domack to her studio to paint with her and around that time Ms Taut joined them.

They started as a Thursday afternoon group of artist and slowly by word of mouth and by inviting their friends grew into the 17 total artists that are showing 47 works of art at the Heritage Museum. Of the 17 artists; most are retired women, a few (that now meet on Sundays) are men, and almost all are from Morrison. They help each other, they paint, they share ideas, but mostly they have a good time.

“My philosophy is if it’s not fun to do, don’t do it. It’s gratifying to create a painting but especially when you finish,” Ms Sauer affirmed.

Each of the artists has his or her own style and medium. Most use watercolors (like Ms Domack), some pastels, and others, like Ms Sauer, use oils. The most important part of art according to Ms Sauer is to “see it” and that is what she tries to teach the Grape Street artists to do. While living in Michigan she started taking art classes from an art association. She credits her abilities to her teacher, Michael Mahoney. About the time she left Michigan, he and his wife Julie joined the art faculty at Western Illinois University. That was 25 years ago and many canvases later. Ms Sauer doesn’t teach painting but encourages artists by giving them an environment. She also received encouragement when she first started from her family. Her mother, sister, nieces are all artists and provided help and mediums when she started. “It’s fun to give back,” Ms Sauer said.

The show is open to the public weekends starting Friday, September 12, from 1-4 pm Friday, Saturday, and Sunday without and end date. Some of the pieces have notes they are for sale. It’s the responsibility of the prospective buyer to contact the artist in order to purchase.

by Barb Benson, theCity1.com
September 10, 2003