A Bit of My Art History

My entire Rogers Park apartment was promptly turned into a painting studio as soon as I moved to this Northside Chicago location. There was virtually no space set aside for a guest to even sit. The apartment complex was large enough to house a lot of people and was located directly across the street from the Lake Michigan beachfront. There was a courtyard inside this Gothic style castle-like structure. Many versions of these buildings dominated the Chicago Cityscape. Social life did matter but I was focused on a mission to express the painter stirring inside.  

I started oil painting on canvas and produced many pictures in a hurry as soon as I got settled. Opportunities to exhibit my artwork came with relative ease in the artist friendly city of Chicago. Directing a campus-based craft studio and an art gallery at Northwestern University (NU) provided me with the income I need to take on artistic adventures. I felt snug in the greater Chicago artistic climate for several years and painted my way into many venues like Navy Pier International Exhibitions and exhibition spaces at local colleges and universities. I felt fortunate to have “fallen into” the Art Manager position. Students flocked around the art studio to print photographs, make pottery, and to complete all kinds of visual art products. The students we employed assisted me in curating a multitude of art exhibitions and organizing a wide variety of art programs, including theatre, music, drumming, dance, storytelling, and on and on, at Dittmar Memorial Gallery.

Ricardo Frazer & Laurence Jenningros at the Dittmar