Gateway East Artists Guild to celebrate 50 years with exhibit in Belleville

Joyce Wells remembers artists in the Gateway East Artists Guild showing their work at the Mississippi River Festival in the 1970s.

“We were in the art tent, and you could see a cloud of marijuana smoke coming up the hill,” she said. “I didn’t know what marijuana was, but had a powerful smell.”

MRF concerts took place at Southern Illinois University Edwardsville. One night, it started raining, and the art tent leaked.

“We had some plastic, and we covered our artwork, and we sat there with umbrellas,” said Joyce, 80, of Belleville.

That was one story told last week, when a handful of Gateway members gathered to reminisce about the good old days. The non-profit organization is celebrating its 50th anniversary in April.

Joyce was one of seven founding members. She went on to teach fiber art, photography and art history at SIUE and Southwestern Illinois College.

“We wanted to bring artists in the area together and give them a place to meet and compare notes,” she said.

Gateway’s mission hasn’t changed much. Members have monthly meetings for camaraderie and critiques. They teach art classes, organize exhibits and sponsor workshops.

“It is so helpful for artists to see what other artists are doing,” said Linda Klossner, 70, of Fairview Heights. “It’s not that you copy them. It’s just that you see what’s going on in their heads.”

Linda is a horse farm owner who paints watercolors, makes jewelry and does woodcarving. She joined Gateway in 1966.

Today, Linda’s pet project is coordinating the organization’s Christmas tree at the National Shrine of Our Lady of the Snows annual tree display.

“We’re the only group that decorates with all handmade ornaments,” said Publicity Chair Lois Holthaus, 75, of Breese, an art teacher and retired insurance agent.

Gateway will celebrate its 50th anniversary with an art show from 6 to 8 p.m. Friday at Governor French Academy in Belleville. Admission is free.

The organization peaked last year with 117 members, bucking a trend of dwindling interest faced by many metro-east clubs.

“We have some really talented artists,” said President Karen Romani, 63, of Glen Carbon, a retired physical therapist and watercolor artist. “We have people who have won big awards.”

There also are novices who want to learn more about art and improve their skills, and non-artists who support local culture.

Gateway began as Caseyville Artists Guild. Members met at a Caseyville fire station, which proved challenging when emergencies ensued and alarms sounded. They moved to Collinsville Building and Loan.

The second name, Town and Country Artists Guild, was short-lived because it was already taken. That led to the third name, Gateway East.

“I was very young when I joined the guild, and they became an extension of my family,” Linda said. “But my career took time away, and I began traveling with my job.”

Linda went through a period of inactivity with Gateway but returned 12 years ago to find positive changes.

“The caliber of the organization was higher,” she said. “It was professionally structured, and the talent of the people coming in was very impressive. The work was more sophisticated.”

Today, star members include Dave Cornell and his son, Shawn, a plein-air artist, who lead two-day workshops.

Dave, 81, of Lebanon, is a retired Air Force brigadier general. He has been painting since the 1940s, when he began taking lessons as a boy in California.

“The things that my art instructor drilled into me were composition, color and value, and I still teach the same lessons today,” he said.

Romani is asking Gateway members to bring early artwork to their April 6 meeting for an anniversary show-and-tell. Dave will display “Mount Shasta,” a landscape he painted in 1945.

“In those days, we hand-stretched our own canvases and made our own frames,” he said. “It wasn’t like going to Dick Blick’s and picking up all of your supplies.”

Karen will dig out her ’70s tole painting of children in a one-room schoolhouse, and Lois will bring her pen-and-ink drawing of a wedding party.

“I sketched all the time as a kid,” Lois said. “We were poor and lived on a farm. I would sketch on the back side of the Piggly Wiggly ad. That was the only paper I could get, other than the cardboard from my mom’s nylon stockings.”

Gateway meets at 6 p.m. on the first Wednesday of each month at SWIC’s Programs and Services for Older Persons building in Belleville. Membership is open to all ages. Dues are $35 a year.

Each meeting includes a contest for first, second and third places, as well as critiques with encouragement and suggestions.

“It’s a learning process,” Linda said. “People will say, ‘This is a wonderful piece, but maybe you need to improve the contrast or move the featured item off to the side.’”

It can be scary for new artists, especially those who have never shown work to anyone other than family members.

“You’re baring your soul to all of these people, but they’re also baring their souls to you,” Linda said. “No one is ever mean. It’s very helpful.”

This story was originally published March 30, 2016 at 11:23 AM with the headline "Gateway East Artists Guild to celebrate 50 years with exhibit in Belleville."