The La Grange Art League hosted its first exhibit of the year Feb. 24, and the event fit perfectly with Black History Month.
The Guest Artist was Antonia Ruppert, a local artist born and raised in the Austin neighborhood on Chicago’s West Side.
“This event absolutely relates to Black History Month,” Ruppert said while art-lovers browsed through her interactive exhibit.
The event replicated her regular exhibit, titled “The Voice Inside,” and featured an app posted next to each painting that allowed one of the visitors to play music related to that particular work on their smartphones. Her work reflects her years on the West Side, with subjects ranging from her family members to scenes from neighborhood churches.
Ruppert stressed the universal nature of art.
– Original Credit: La Grange Art League
“Art is healing,” she said, “and it’s also about perseverance. When you see art, you know that someone had persevered to make that happen. It’s about beauty, harmony, and color.”
On her website, Ruppert reminisces about being caught as a young girl sketching da Vinci’s Vitruvian Man, shocking her mother by recreating a nude, and being impressed by the reaction to her work.
She was impressed by her father pencil sketching as a way of decompressing after a long day’s work noting that it was something personal to him. But for Ruppert, art is meant for the community.
“Connection, story, community, and relationships,” she said Thursday. “My work intersects the lines of those four themes. I’m a community artist, sharing my work with others.”
Ruppert, the oldest of six children, said that the sculptor and print artist Elizabeth Catlett was an important influence on her work.
Catlett’s themes were often related to the African American experience in America, especially Black females, but Ruppert was also impressed by Catlett’s longevity.
“She was very prolific, she said. “She worked well into her old age. And that was at a time when there weren’t that many African American female artists.”
Ruppert was the City of Chicago’s Artist in Residence for the Austin Community in 2021, and during the past 25 years has had her work displayed at colleges, libraries, and public venues throughout the Chicago area.
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La Grange Art League Board member Margaret Prescott said the idea for exhibits dedicated to diversity and inclusion grew out of the reaction of many to the unrest following the death of George Floyd.
“My family was watching some of the coverage on television and my kids asked me “‘What are you doing about this.’ I realized that we had to take some real action.”
That action became the League’s Inclusion, Diversity, and Outreach Program Task Force, which will stage monthly Guest Artist exhibits featuring minority immigrant, LGBTQ and disabled artists in an effort to being greater exposure to their work.
“Everybody has an interesting story,” Prescott said.
Kelly Cusack, only recently hired by the Art League, was excited and pleased that the event’s turnout, especially in light of the lingering effects of the pandemic.
She noted that the night drew about 100 people streaming into the gallery over a 2-hour period.
“It’s my first exhibit,” Cusack said. “The La Grange Art League is such a gem for our community.”
For further information on Antonia Ruppert and her work, visit he website, antoniaruppert.com
For further information on the La Grange Art League, visit the League’s website, lagrangeartleague.org
Hank Beckman is a freelance reporter for Pioneer Press.