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By GINNY VAN ALYEA
Last fall artist Tony Fitzpatrick shared he was working on another book. As he gets closer to publishing the book, he shared excerpts with CGN as well as what led him to create this latest project, a familiar concoction of poetry and art about Chicago as well as how an artist finds inspiration in the everyday.
\"Back when I started drawing pictures in earnest, I couldn't afford paint,\" recalls Fitzpatrick, \"But I had every kind of Prismacolor and graphite pencil known to man. I preferred drawing, something about that first mark's impact – it was immediate. I love drawing with brushes, pencils, etching needles, you name it. Anything that slakes that caveman's thirst for making a mark on something... I liked all manner of surfaces, from copper plates, slate Boards, really good art paper as well.\" He said the experience was simple, and transformative, \"It was me and my Pencils.\"
Fitzpatrick rented a storefront for $75 a month in Villa Park. He recalls it had an unusual address: 125 1/2 S Villa. The 'half' he never understood, but he says he accepted it because he found out very young that you don't want to piss off the Post Office. In fact, he went out of his way to convey a sort of delivery friendship. \"One of the things I did,\" he explains, \"was make art on blank postcards and mail them to myself. I made sure I got mail everyday at that weird address.\" Thinking about those early days, Fitzpatrick says he intends to revive the postcard mailing again soon, except he will actually mail them out to people he knows and whose address he has.
Early on Fitzpatrick says he realized that having his own space to go and draw everyday was a thorough kind of freedom. \"It was my 300 square feet of the American dream, and I could do whatever the fuck I wanted in it. It was a kind of gravity. I always had someplace to go. I could make the world I'd imagined there.\" The freedom didn't mean perfect days. The artist had by then gotten into a fair share of trouble. He says plenty of people he knew were skeptical of him, even considering him a weirdo and an outcast. He was barred from most of the bars and establishments he'd been thrown out of for fighting. No longer drinking, Fitzpatrick says he set about drawing.
\"I drew what I remembered, what I loved. I drew Birds, naked Women, characters from cartoons and Sunday comics. I drew a lot of Boxers, both famous and unknown. I drew petty criminals I knew, sad stories, many images from Coney Island from a visit to New York. I drew whatever was in my heart–the world I would come to inhabit.\"
CGN will share an update when Fitzpatrick's book is published.
Follow Tony Fitzpatrick on Instagram for art and updates
You go through the cafeteria line at Manny’s and you marvel:
Brisket. Corned beef and pastrami sandwiches as big as your
head—and as garlicky as a Greek waiter. A heart attack on a
plate, accompanied by a huge, salty, dill pickle and a potato
latke. You yuck it up with the sandwich guy and he enhances
your pile of meat even more.
You can eat here. Meaty stuff. The kind of meal you want before
they execute you. The kind of sandwich you eat with a friend,
then take the other half home for dinner, and breakfast the
next day...and maybe lunch as well.
Look around. There are City Hall creatures, cops, aldermen,
Streets and San guys with yellow neon vests and meter maids
shoveling down slices of pie. There are deals being cut. Bonds
being haggled over. Ticket quotas pondered and the grimy
business of the sidewalk being brokered. The preferred music?
The ringing of the cash register.
The preferred currency: green cash money.
They frown a little when you hand them the debit card with the
chip in it; it’s another pain-in-the-ass-thing the new century
has grafted onto everyone. You also get the shit-eye if you are
one of those who babbles on your cell phone in the middle of
the cafeteria line, even at your table. People are trying to eat,
Numb-Nuts. Nobody wants to hear your bullshit here. Take it
outside, Schmuck-O, because here, people are eating or
working—like it’s always been, since Moses.
I see a guy slide an envelope across the table with a wry smile.
“Christmas card,” he says. The guy across from him wordlessly
puts it in the kangaroo pocket of his hoodie without so much as
looking up or saying thank you.
There is a lady walking an Irish Wolfhound in front of the
window. The dog is excited; he can smell the meaty goodness. I
also notice he is wearing dog boots, and not happily. A guy
comments, “Jesus Christ, she put shoes on the dog. Look! He's
trying to kick ‘em off! He don’ want to look like a jag-off in front ‘a
the other dogs.” They meander by, the hound alternately fighting
with his goofy boots and sniffing at the meaty air he is
enshrouded in.
He looks confused.
There is a valet there—a big burly guy in a neon yellow vest,
quietly watching the street and reading the traffic for the slow-
roll of an incoming parking task. They’ve remodeled the joint, but
it hasn’t taken away any of the atmosphere in the least—and this
place has atmosphere in spades.
If someone asked me to take them to ONE place which defines
this city, I might take them here. Or to night court at 26th and
California. Or Ricobene’s for a breaded steak sang’wich. Or Army
and Lou’s, except...it’s gone now; and maybe the bounty of great
Mexican joints in Pilsen. I’d also include the Maxwell Street
Polish and hotdog joints—the one built in the middle of a used
car lot at 56th and Western is among my favorites.
These places are adorned in the colors of urgency, of exigence:
rich reds, yellows and sequential blinking lights. As a kid I
thought these places were what a heaven was supposed to look
like: a carnival of lights and color and food smells. There was this
promise here, that you would never be hungry, and the world
was not merely a well-lit nowhere, but a wondrous place full of
lights and magic and hope. It was a mystery that you solved
every time it got dark and those lights were on.
I can’t eat Manny’s fine sandwiches anymore; my cardiologists
would blow a gasket. But I can watch as other people enjoy them.
About the only thing I can eat there anymore is the Jell-O and the
coleslaw, and who the fuck wants to eat that?
For me, the best thing to eat there was the pastrami. Damn, it is
good—greasy, salty, garlicky and piled high on rye with a big
slice of dill pickle and a latke. This might be the best thing I have
ever eaten. I never could get through a whole sandwich, but my
dog Chooch was very happy to share the second half with me a
day later. We were smelling very special after a Manny’s binge—I
always blamed the dog.
It is one of those places where one is happy for the lack of
change. Sure, they remodeled it, but damn if they didn’t preserve
the character of the place—inhabited by and for working people.
There are no conversations about beer programs, or sommeliers.
This is belly to belly, elbow to elbow—a joint that caters to the
elementally hungry. The kind of hungry you get if you operate a
jackhammer or a cement mixer; or hoist dumpsters for Streets
and San. There is nothing delicate here. Even the City Hall guys
are the worker bees—the ones who actually DO the work their
bosses take credit for on the news. It is one of those eateries that
grinds out the goods and tastes like the city we claim to be, hearty and good.
One of the best things to do here is to just overhear stuff—not
eavesdrop—but overhear the great thoughts of people on break
from work...airing out things they don’t say around their bosses.
Things like this:
“You can’t get it with too much peppers—you don’t want the
sang’wich you’re eatin’...to be eatin’ YOU.”
“If I had a face like his...I’d paint my ass and walk on my hands.”
“Oh yeah, he’s got a face for radio.”
I love hearing the curbside philosophies and stories, the hard-
earned bits of knowledge that come from punching a clock and
grinding it out forty hours at a time and wondering what the hell
it is all for—the American horse sense of the people who built
this city. This is the school nobody ever tells you about: the
native intelligence that comes from being a citizen, the act of faith
that working people carry out every day that keeps this city
lurching along.
One time when I was there, years ago, I heard this gem: “My
boss laid it out for me like I was a fuckin’ twelve-year-old. He
says, ‘It don’t have a goddamn thing to do with luck, pal...it’s
got everything to do with chance.'”
Which, for some reason, makes more sense to me every day that I live.
*
![](\"https://res.cloudinary.com/dfafo598z/image/upload/v1744226122/giyexhubewwy2qrlsn4x.jpg\")
* This piece and poem was written about a friend I went
through rehab with in 1983. He was the first person I ever
knew who died of AIDS. In fact, he died of it before they were
even calling it AIDS...
Charlie did an immense amount of good before passing away.
He guided a great many people into recovery and was a font
of hard-earned wisdom about addiction. I saw this old-time
rig suspended 25 feet above the ground in Menlo, Iowa and
immediately thought of Charlie: a long-haul trucker who'd
always wanted this kind of old-timey Mack truck with the
bulldog hood ornament.
In my book? The man was a Saint...
__
Truck.
Charlie hauled peaches from Georgia to San Diego,
Pears and apples from Yakima, Washington to
Lincoln, Nebraska and Rock Island, Illinois.
Perishables.
On a clock.
28 Hours.
46 hours.
Black crank sprinkled into
the endless river of Thermos black coffee.
Hands shaking off the nods.
He played Charlie Rich
and George Jones songs on his 8-track.
Under the pitch black Montana skies,
his eyes blurred and he saw
comet grease and meteor showers.
Under an arc of star lights,
he pulled over and slept.
He'd seen it all, man –
hunger, thirst, rest
and half the angels
in a skittering dervish on
the 3,365 miles between
Oregon and Boston;
every mile marker and weigh station from A1A to Pacific 1.
He tried not to think about
the truck stop blowjobs.
The ones he got,
the ones he gave,
and wondered if he'd ever stop shaking
or recognize the phantom in the mirror ever again.
He ground his teeth to nubs.
His clothes barely fit
and were damn near falling off.
The older over-the-road guys would say to him,
in a hush, \"This is where you disappear brother.
This is how.”
Charlie found himself driving south on Pacific 1
toward Escondido and he noticed the ocean.
He was startled to realize he'd never stepped into it.
Never felt the warmth of the Pacific on his skin.
He pulled the 18-wheeler over.
He left his boots in the rig.
He walked through the warm sand
weeping a child's tears,
right into the surf
and the linen-like motion of the tide,
and for the first time in his life,
he sang.
Motor Gypsy.
Fly.
*
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Stargazer (I remember you)
18\" x 16\" x 1 3/4\"
colored pencil on archival paper, framed with museum glass
photo credit: Nathan Keay
By SUSAN GESCHEIDLE
Duncan Robert Anderson has long been a steady presence in the Chicago art scene, carrying an identity that is impossible to miss. He stands well over six feet and is consistently dressed in black from head to toe, complete with boots and a signature wide-brimmed cowboy hat. His silhouette has remained unchanged since he arrived from East Tennessee in 1998, save for his long hair slowly turning grey. Since we first met back in 2002, I have never once seen him out of this attire. Yet whether encountering him at gallery openings or during visits to the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago, where he works as building operations manager, that imposing visual style is always balanced by an easy, genuine warmth and impeccable manners rooted in his Appalachian upbringing. It’s an unpretentious demeanor that has earned him a quiet, lasting respect across the community.
Anderson is best known as a dedicated artist and a vital behind-the-scenes force at the MCA. His current solo exhibition, Messengers and Oracles, at the West Town Chamber of Commerce, offers a welcome look into his personal and creative practice. Featuring nineteen drawings, the exhibition focuses heavily on memory and how we are shaped by places and people. The majority of the works were already sold, despite being exhibited outside of a traditional commercial gallery space. Opening night also celebrated the release of his beautiful monograph of the same name, which is now officially available for purchase at the MCA Store. The artwork leans into Anderson’s Appalachian roots, bringing his childhood background into a direct conversation with his decades of lived experience in Chicago.
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Stormlight
24\" x 20\" x 1 3/4\"
colored pencil on archival paper, framed with museum glass
photo credit: Nathan Keay
Anderson’s geography isn't just a straight line from the South to the Midwest, though. His marriage has introduced a deep Japanese influence to his life, adding another layer to the work. You can see this cultural mix directly in some of the drawings, portraits of anonymous Japanese figures set against a backdrop of familiar Chicago architecture and cityscapes.
While Anderson’s drawings have always stemmed from his own life and memories, this newest body of work has a profound focus on loss and grief. The exhibition serves as a tribute to his mother, as Anderson recently reached the exact age she was at her passing. This enduring grief is compounded by the consecutive losses of his dog Smokey, his artistic brother-in-arms Tony Fitzpatrick, and his art hero Don Meckley between 2025 and 2026. In light of these profound losses, his signature technique of mark-making on black paper feels especially fitting, giving these deeply personal images a darker, more forlorn feel.
Anderson's process makes perfect sense when you understand a love for German Expressionism that dates back to his childhood. In the spirit of that movement, his technique of coloring on black paper makes the bright colors jump, letting his animals emerge directly out of the deep shadows. You can see this dramatic mood across his landscapes and cityscapes—whether capturing weathered old houses, the dark silhouette of the John Hancock Center, or the towering form of the Willis Tower.
Anderson notes he is a \"huge fan of Symbolism and Romanticism,\" blending those traditions with \"a bit of dream-like revelation and vision\" to create a magical world of his own. He imagines solitary animals as protectors keeping watch over the people and places he has lost. Although only a few pieces on display feature human figures, many drawings are filled with bears, elk, wolves, birds, and dogs. By dropping these creatures directly into man-made settings, he creates a strange visual tension—granting the animals a powerful presence that disrupts an otherwise quiet human environment.
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The Hospital Escape
24\" x 20\" x 1 3/4\"
colored pencil on archival paper, framed with museum glass
photo credit: Nathan Keay
Many of these drawings focus on a single, isolated figure. The Hospital Escape (18” x 15”) features a massive elk standing under a glowing streetlamp. This powerful image hints at a wild animal breaking free from an institutional space and stepping out into the city, tapping into timeless themes of survival and freedom.
Storm Light (18” x 15”) shifts into a quieter, more tense atmosphere, focusing on the weathered Victorian house where Anderson lived in the attic while a student at East Tennessee State University. Warm sunlight hits the front steps and grass, bathing the home in a serene beauty that contrasts with the dark, stormy sky. Perched on the peak of the roof is a massive black heron with its wings spread wide—completely dominating the structure as both a menacing hunter and a fierce, protective shield: an oracle keeping watch.
The mood shifts with The Pact (18” x 15”), created in memory of Fitzpatrick. A well-worn tombstone stands in an overgrown cemetery with a wolf sleeping peacefully in front of it. Rather than feeling ominous or macabre, the image carries a serene beauty, and the sleeping animal brings a gentle ease to Fitzpatrick's passing. Through this peaceful presence at the grave, Anderson cuts through the heavy grief of the exhibition with a rare moment of comfort.
The Silent City (18” x 15”) blends his two worlds through an intentional ambiguity. Featuring a female face rendered in deep purple and adorned with traditional hair ornaments, an anonymous Japanese figure looks directly at the viewer with a calm expression against the dark silhouette of the Willis Tower. Anderson notes she “may or may not be a ghost or emissary,” juxtaposing her against the landmark to seamlessly connect his current life with his family’s heritage.
![](\"https://res.cloudinary.com/dfafo598z/image/upload/v1791908057/gyuv6oytspfzwatqxxgv.jpg\")
Sunday Morning
20\" x 18\" x 1 3/4\"
colored pencil on paper, framed with museum glass
photo credit: Nathan Keay
A direct tribute to his mother is Sunday Morning (18” x 15”). Dressed in her Sunday best—a coat, scarf, gloves, and pumps—she stands against a soft blue glow as a white owl swoops toward her. The lights of the John Hancock Center glow as the iconic building rises in the background against a crimson and orange sky. This stunning juxtaposition brings her memory directly into the urban landscape he has inhabited for decades.
An atmospheric touch to the show is a collaborative sound loop by Paul Deuth. Anderson designed the audio to match the mood of what is on the walls, with Deuth shaping the sounds to be \"dark, magical, and other-worldly.\" It is a beautiful blend of sight and sound that completely pulls the room together. Ultimately, the exhibition stands as a quiet reminder of profound artwork built on real human issues, ignoring the fleeting, superficial trends that too often dictate the whims of the contemporary art world.
#
Messengers and Oracles runs through October 23, 2026.
West Town Chamber of Commerce | 1819 W. Chicago Ave., Chicago, IL
Open Monday through Friday, 9:00 AM to 5:00 PM.
Meet the artist for a special book signing on Saturday, October 17, from noon to 4:00 PM.
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Professor Tony Jones and artist Andy Scott in the Driehaus Museum's Murphy Auditorium on August 29, 2026.
By GINNY VAN ALYEA
“Now in Chicago, we have a tradition of significant public sculptures, not without controversy,” Professor Tony Jones CBE observed during an August 29 conversation with Scottish sculptor Andy Scott OBE at the Driehaus Museum.
Hosted by Chicago Scots, the evening brought together artists, preservation specialists and members of Chicago’s Scottish community for a dinner and discussion about the cultural and economic importance of public art. It also recognized the restoration underway at the Robert Burns monument in Garfield Park, a gift to Chicago from its Scottish community in 1906.
Gary Maclean, National Chef of Scotland, prepared an exceptional three-course tasting menu with whisky pairings. Following dinner in the museum’s newly-restored auditorium, Jones and Scott turned to the work behind public sculpture, from securing funding and solving engineering problems to seeing an artwork become part of a community’s identity.
Jones and Scott met during Scott's student years at the Glasgow School of Art, which Jones then led. A sculptor himself, Jones later served as president of the School of the Art Institute of Chicago and is a Chicago Scots board member.
![](\"https://res.cloudinary.com/dfafo598z/image/upload/v1791349528/rvcpupuficqwkyfty9to.jpg\")
A view of Scott's The Kelpies in Falkirk, Scotland
Scott is best known for The Kelpies, two 100-foot steel horse heads in Falkirk, Scotland, inspired by the Clydesdales that worked along the canals and on the land. Chicago audiences encountered their maquettes on the lakefront during the 2012–13 Chicago Sculpture International exhibition.
Chicago, of course, offered an example of what ambitious public art could accomplish. Scott recalled using the city’s large-scale artworks as inspiration and to give his client team confidence in the project that became The Kelpies. That confidence was tested, he says. Scott described an eight-and-a-half-year process, prolonged by political impasses and funding difficulties. Some coverage became hostile. As the sculptures began to rise, however, opinions shifted in their favor.
![](\"https://res.cloudinary.com/dfafo598z/image/upload/v1791349529/lxnkb4dn3emvbqf3gx9k.jpg\")
Scott during fabrication of the Kelpies
“You need to tough it out,” he shared.
At one point, financial pressures prompted suggestions to reduce the sculptures to roughly a third of their intended size, or build only one horse head. Scott and his wife, Hanneke, resisted.
“We drew a line in the sand and said absolutely not,” he recalled.
The finished sculptures became a tourism landmark and appeared in campaigns promoting Britain, including advertisements in China and at a London airport. In April 2025, Falkirk Council reported that The Helix, the park home to The Kelpies, had welcomed one million visitors in the preceding year, helping attract business to the area. Over a decade since their construction there are measurable benefits directly attributed to the Kelpies, including a tourism boost to Falkirk of 73% and 1,380 local annual jobs. Falkirk's population is just 40,000 residents.
For Scott, the response extended beyond visitor numbers. He pointed to “that passion and ownership and pride” among people who had embraced the sculptures.
![](\"https://res.cloudinary.com/dfafo598z/image/upload/v1791349529/nswajfhnhzutlhgwqope.jpg\")
Queen Elizabeth and Prince Philip visited the Kelpies when the Queen officially opened the Queen Elizabeth II Canal in 2017.
Jones described a similar sense of attachment in Chicago. Recalling the opening of Jaume Plensa's Crown Fountain, he noted how quickly children adopted its shallow pool, learning to anticipate the water pouring from the faces on its towers.
“It was an amazing moment that we could never have predicted,” he said.
Jones went on to highlight the numbers that back up the impact of Millennium Park and its public art on the City of Chicago. From 2003-2026 the estimated impact is $2.5 billion. The Kelpies have not been in existence quite as long but their impact will last for decades to come.
![](\"https://res.cloudinary.com/dfafo598z/image/upload/v1791349530/qsgbquwhl41cwjzefzxn.jpg\")
Jones shared a photo of the parking lot that Millennium Park and its public art replaced.
*
Public art was the theme of the evening, and not just because an internationally known artist from Scotland was in Chicago to discuss the Kelpies. The Chicago Scots have their own long history of supporting art that is part of the community. Chicago Scots, founded in 1845 as the Illinois Saint Andrew Society, joined other Scottish organizations in supporting William Grant Stevenson’s Robert Burns monument more than a century ago. Today, the organization is raising funds to supplement the Chicago Park District’s restoration budget and support ongoing maintenance of the ode to Scotland's national poet here in has a long history in Garfield Park.
Conservator and sculptor Andrzej Dajnowski, who attended the dinner, is in the process of recreating four stolen bronze relief panels that once belonged on the sculpture, as Burns’s missing quill. Dajnowski will quite literally help put a pen back into the poet's hand soon.
Andrew Schneider, the Park District’s director of historic assets, described its long-term stewardship partnership with Chicago Scots as the first of its kind in the district’s history and one that connects the creation of new landmarks with the responsibility of caring for those Chicago already has so that the public may enjoy art and its impact for the ages.
#
Publisher's note: Ginny Van Alyea has served on the Chicago Scots Board of Governors since 2009 and also attended the Glasgow School of Art in 2001.
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Collectors and artists attend the Not Just Another Pretty Face unveiling at the Hyde Park Art Center.
By JACQUELINE LEWIS
This year, Hyde Park Art Center is hosting the latest installment of Not Just Another Pretty Face (NJAPF). This special experience and exhibition began in the mid-1990s and occurs only every three years.
Not Just Another Pretty Face uses a matchmaking program to connect local patrons with artists. During this experience, patrons and artists choose each other, and the artist creates artwork specifically for that patron. Works range from traditional to experimental, depending on the artist chosen and the desires of the patron. At the end of the experience, the pieces are unveiled in an exhibition later this year before being purchased and taken home by the patron.
This matchmaking process differs from traditional art purchasing. Instead of collectors looking for works that already exist, purchasing them, and moving on, they become part of the artistic process and the work’s origin. Once matched, patrons meet with artists to discuss what they like and what they hope for from the final work, and the artist melds those desires with their own style.
The process cultivates a sense of generosity between artist and patron as they mutually share themselves and allow each other into their individual worlds. It facilitates lasting relationships that do not often develop naturally in gallery spaces and plays an important role in establishing broader financial support for the artistic community.
Director of Development Eric Thompson has been with Hyde Park Art Center since 2023, making this his second iteration of NJAPF. As this year’s program nears completion, Thompson offered insight into how the experience comes together.
![](\"https://res.cloudinary.com/dfafo598z/image/upload/v1789744923/iltm7ht7zujlikhhpjid.jpg\")
A commission being unveiled at Hyde Park Art Center
Jackie Lewis: What is the process for artists and patrons to sign up for this experience?
Eric Thompson: For the artists, our team begins reaching out to invite them to participate about 18 months before the unveiling. For this iteration, conversations began in late spring 2025. They provide information on their artistic process, image examples of their work, and their commission rate. Our team then publicizes this information on our website and presents the artists at various salons throughout the city.
Several supporters of the Art Center host NJAPF salons and invite their own guests. Potential patrons learn about the artists and the project at large and express interest with our team. From there, we work to get the commission started!
JL: Once artists and patrons are chosen, what does the matchmaking process look like? Is there any process beyond the salons?
Eric Thompson: Much of the process happens after the salons. Patrons and the Hyde Park Art Center staff discuss artists who have piqued their interest. The HPAC staff sets up studio visits with the artists, giving the patron and artist a chance to meet, learn about each other, and discuss a possible commission. Sometimes artists may meet with multiple patrons through the project, and patrons will visit multiple studios before making a decision. Once a patron and artist agree to work together, the artist begins the work.
JL: What is your role in the process? How does HPAC support both the artists and the patrons?
Eric Thompson: NJAPF is a win-win-win situation for all parties. The patron has the opportunity to meet amazing Chicago artists, receives a unique commissioned work, and has that piece included in a public exhibition at the Art Center. The artist receives payment for the work, has the opportunity to expand their network of collectors, and often pushes their own practice through this process. The Art Center also benefits, as half of the commission serves as a tax-deductible donation that supports our mission to sustain Chicago art and artists.
JL: What aspect of NJAPF do you think has the greatest impact on the Chicago art community?
Eric Thompson: The project itself embodies the mission of the Art Center: it is designed for artists in Chicago to flourish. I think the greatest impact from the program’s ten iterations is the access it has created between artists and patrons. Relationships have been built. It is all about connection—a personal connection to the art and the connection between the artist and the patron. As a staff member, it is a wonderful thing to observe.
*
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Sarah Nishiura, Inching
![](\"https://res.cloudinary.com/dfafo598z/image/upload/v1789744925/h0b8mudpvkr54bss2yvp.jpg\")
D. Lammie-Hanson, Agility to Surrender, 14k gold on Acrylic (wood panel)
A Word From the Artists
For a deeper understanding of the experience, artists D. Lammie-Hanson and Sarah Nishiura shared their own perspectives. Both have completed commissions for NJAPF in the past and are currently creating work for this year’s iteration.
JL: How did you first learn about NJAPF, and how did you become involved?
Sarah Nishiura: I have been teaching and exhibiting with the Hyde Park Art Center for over 15 years now, and I think it was through this affiliation that I was first invited to participate in NJAPF. I was lucky enough to receive two commissions the first year that I participated, and I think this success led to repeat invitations through the years.
D. Lammie-Hanson: I learned about NJAPF through an email invitation from Hyde Park Art Center. After I responded that I was interested, they placed me in their rotation to be presented to their patrons.
JL: How has working with NJAPF affected your artistic career? Did it fit within your practice?
Sarah Nishiura: My favorite thing about NJAPF is the opportunity to step outside my usual practice to try something different. Many of the commissions I have done in the past have involved working with materials given to me by the patron. This presents technical challenges that I wouldn’t normally take on, but I learn so much from stepping outside my comfort zone every few years. I have had continued relationships with patrons, and I have appreciated seeing the commissioned pieces in their homes. There is nothing better than seeing your work be part of someone’s life.
D. Lammie-Hanson: The patron trusted me to interpret their direction through my own lens. They gave me the subject and overall intent, and I stayed grounded by making creative choices around composition and focus that matched their goals while keeping my personal approach. Because metalpoint/silverpoint isn’t a widely known medium, working with NJAPF and Hyde Park Art Center helped me present my process to a wider audience. It also strengthened my broader portfolio by giving my work a strong platform and context.
JL: What was your experience working with a patron? How did it differ from your usual process?
Sarah Nishiura: The two patrons came by my studio, and we immediately found we had a lot in common and a lot to talk about. We shared some of our favorite artists, our experiences with travel, our love of craft and nature, and from these conversations they came up with great ideas for jumping-off points for the commission. At the same time, they let me know they really wanted me to have the freedom to go in any direction I wanted with the final piece. This experience only differed from my usual process because it began with conversations with other people rather than the conversation that usually happens in my own head!
D. Lammie-Hanson: The patron visited my studio while I was an artist in residence at Little Black Pearl, and we discussed his vision. He chose my silverpoint-on-black/metalpoint technique, and we developed the direction together. This differed from my usual process because I don’t usually enjoy doing commissions, but I enjoyed working with Hyde Park Art Center through this program. After we aligned on the creative direction for the artwork, the patron gave me the freedom to carry out the piece according to my own vision.
JL: Since you have participated in NJAPF before, what made you decide to do it again?
Sarah Nishiura: I love HPAC, and I feel like this is a great program that allows me to support their mission while also giving me a wonderful opportunity to work with collectors I might never meet otherwise. It is a win-win!
D. Lammie-Hanson: I enjoyed the opportunity to work with Hyde Park Art Center again. I submitted my interests without knowing which new collectors would be interested, but I was willing to take the chance, and I’m glad I did.
*
![](\"https://res.cloudinary.com/dfafo598z/image/upload/v1789744926/umy0i4utfyykeobpumou.jpg\")
Unveiling party attendees at Hyde Park Art Center
From the Collectors
To understand more about another side of the program, Ginny Van Alyea, CGN’s publisher and a past participant of NJAPF, shared her perspective as a patron who commissioned a work by artist Mel Watkin several years ago.
JL: Before NJAPF, did you consider yourself an art collector? Had you ever commissioned a work before?
GV: NJAPF appealed to my husband and me because we had bought art separately and together, but we hadn’t commissioned anything. My parents gave us the commission as a wedding gift, so it was especially meaningful.
JL: Before meeting with the artist, did you have a specific idea for the artwork you wanted?
GV: We looked through a lot of artwork before deciding whose work would be the best fit. There were so many choices, but we liked Mel Watkin’s particular focus. It felt like a good fit for creating something that spoke to both of us and our families when we got married.
JL: What was your experience working with the artist like? Did it feel collaborative?
GV: Working with Mel on a piece that was just for us was so cool. We sent images, ideas, and references back and forth. We met for coffee. We gave a little feedback but also listened to what she suggested. It was definitely a collaborative experience, but ultimately it was still the artist who made the art.
JL: Have you continued your relationship with your paired artist?
GV: Yes! A few years later, for a milestone birthday, I commissioned Mel again to make two more works: one about our daughter and one about our son. Now all three works hang together at home.
JL: Is there anything else you’d like to add about the experience?
GV: I know many collectors who have participated in the program more than once, and I can see us doing it again someday. It’s a wonderful chance to work with a local artist while also setting the parameters—like price and size—up front, which is another unique benefit of the program. It’s also terrific to support HPAC and local artists at the same time. While there are some big artist names in the program, NJAPF is also a wonderful way to discover emerging artists.
*
This year’s unveiling reception will take place on December 11, 2026, from 6:00–8:00 p.m. at Hyde Park Art Center. Following the reception, the artwork will remain on display and will be accompanied by a catalogue documenting the entire process for patrons, artists, and visitors alike.
The success of NJAPF has extended beyond Chicago, with similar exhibitions adapted in Boise, Indianapolis, Philadelphia, and Salt Lake City. To date, the program has generated more than $2 million in sales. Half of the proceeds go directly to participating artists, while the other half supports Hyde Park Art Center’s programs and mission. With more than 400 works commissioned by over 300 new and established collectors, NJAPF has cultivated an ecosystem of patronage that enables artists to thrive.
By embracing and encouraging the idea of patronage in contemporary art, NJAPF has built a community of people who value not only finished works of art, but also the creative process behind them. If you missed your opportunity to participate this year, consider becoming a patron for the next iteration.
More details at hydeparkart.org/njapf-2026/
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