Skokie resident Debra Hatchett wanted to find a way to mark the two-year anniversary of the day her son was sent home from school because it was closing due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
The director of Anatomically Correct Arts decided the best way to mark the anniversary was to honor first responders, who proved more essential than ever during the early days of COVID-19 mitigations.
So, she created an exhibit of artwork by and about first responders.
“Courage” runs from March 1 to April 3 at Skokie’s Devonshire Cultural Center.
You can view the exhibit from 8:30 a.m. to 9 p.m. weekdays and 8:30 a.m. to 6 p.m. Saturdays and Sundays.
Anatomically Correct Arts is celebrating its 30th year of arts programming.
“I didn’t want to have an exhibit about COVID because it’s already depressing enough,” Hatchett said. “I wanted to focus it on the heroes — the people who have tried to save people. Not just COVID heroes but heroes of all types of natural disasters — any artist who also works as a first responder. I was lucky enough to find some very talented artists who also happen to work in those fields.”
Skokie Police Officer Patrick Panizo of Morton Grove, who has been with the department for 20 years, is also an artist. His contribution to the exhibit is a digital media work called “And They Rushed Toward Terror.”
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Panizo said he has been doing artwork since he was four or five years old. Although his main focus is currently digital art, the self-taught artist has also created pencil sketches and worked with colored pencils and markers.
He enjoys working in digital art because of the diversity of it, Panizo said. “There are so many different kinds of pictures you can come up with,” he said. “You can create all kinds of different colors and get 3D effects.”
Panizo created the piece he entered in the show specifically for the exhibit.
“I was thinking of a way to honor not only police officers but different first responders — paramedics and firefighters,” he explained. He focused on the Sept. 11 attacks.
“So many of them went there,” he explained. “It was an act of courage because it was going into the unknown. And for so many of them it was their final act of courage.”
The “Courage” show is the first time that Panizo has exhibited his artwork. “I got an email from my chief about it,” he related. “One of the records clerks, who has seen some of my artwork, encouraged me to get into it.” Panizo admitted that being part of this show has inspired him to continue exhibiting his artwork.
South Korean-born Radiologist Dr. Kuhn Hong had hoped to pursue a career in art, but his parents talked him into attending medical school. Hong retired from his medical career in 2013 after working at Little Company of Mary Medical Center in Evergreen Park for 34 years.
Chicago resident Hong has been creating art since he was a child. He works at a studio in Michigan City, Indiana.
“My primary interest is in oil painting although I do a little bit of watercolor and pastel, plus charcoal and pencil drawings,” Hong said. He has eight pieces in the show. One of his oil paintings on canvas, “Rushing COVID-19 Patient from Ambulance,” is featured on the homepage of the Anatomically Correct Arts website.
The artist said that he wanted to participate in this exhibit because “when I received a notification about this challenging exhibition, I thought this is a perfect way to share my expertise and background as a medical doctor and at the same time my talent as an art creator.”
Hong’s contribution includes five oil paintings that are compilations of portraits — three of individuals who lost their lives to COVID, and two others portraying first responders under the title “Not All Heroes Wear Capes.”
Hong said that he wanted to be part of this exhibit focusing on first responders because “I want to share that we do have many workers that are tirelessly working around the clock.”
Park Ridge photographer and Army veteran Jerry Kykisz has several photos in the exhibit, including the touching “Sun and Smoke,” which shows the silhouetted image of two firefighters at work.
Kykisz served in the Army from 1966-1969. He began doing photography in Vietnam and Japan while he was serving overseas. “Some of the things that I saw were so interesting that I got a camera and started taking pictures,” he said.
When he returned to the United States, he continued doing photography and had a studio for a while, although he said that he branched out to other things. Kykisz described his subject matter as “street photography of people and places. When I started doing photography professionally, I started doing modeling composites for talent agencies.”
For over 10 years, Kykisz was curator for the National Vietnam Veterans Art Museum in Chicago. His latest project is helping to create a permanent space for “A Touching Tribute: The Long War Memorial” at Trickster Gallery in Schaumburg. A photo of that display is in the “Courage” exhibit.
“It’s a memorial to all the post 9/11 casualties for the U.S. military,” Kykisz said.
“There’s a common thread in all of these individuals,” Hatchett concluded. “They’re selfless. They dedicate their life to saving other people. That’s the point of the show.”
A free artists’ reception is from 2 to 4 p.m. March 13 with musical guest Wabi Sabi.
‘Courage’
When: March 1-April 3
Where: Anatomically Correct Arts at Devonshire Cultural Center, 4400 Greenwood St., Skokie
Tickets: Free admission
Information: anatomicallycorrect.org/Courage.htm
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Myrna Petlicki is a freelance reporter for Pioneer Press.