J. R. Kortman Center for Design / Kortman Gallery

    Rockford artist, educator, and entrepreneur Cherri Rittenhouse was the first artist to exhibit her works in the Kortman Gallery soon after J.R. Kortman Center for Design first opened on November 20th,1986. Forty years later on November 20th, Rittenhouse will be showing recently uncovered art works form the 1980’s in “Rittenhouse Retro” in a new exhibition in the Kortman Gallery.
    This fascinating milestone exhibition, opening Friday, November 20th celebrates the start of the forty-first year of the store & gallery.
    “Cherri had recently uncovered these works going through old flat files of her early art works from the 1980’s,” says Doc Slafkosky, co-owner and gallery director. “We thought how exciting it would be to show these works, many which have never been seen, in an exhibit that looks back to those days when the gallery first opened…and with the same artist!”
    “I recently began going through flat files that I hadn’t opened in perhaps thirty years” said Rittenhouse. “I was astonished to discover how much work I had produced! There were more than one hundred pieces from just late 1982 to 1984. I had always remembered myself as something of a procrastinator, but apparently, I was a rather productive one.”
    In the early days of her carer as an artist, Rittenhouse was drawn to the Chicago Imagists and the Hairy Who artists whose figurative imagery could be humorous, unsettling, irreverent, and deeply personal.
    “Their work demonstrated that painting didn't have to abandon recognizable imagery to be contemporary or provocative,” Rittenhouse said. “I wanted that freedom without imitating their particular language. My own imagery began with chairs, tables, and other pieces of furniture that took on lives of their own. Gradually, figures and objects began to inhabit strange, ambiguous relationships. By the early 1980’s, I felt I was beginning to make work that belonged to me.”
    Rittenhouse created a definitive style that lead to a prolific, successful art career as an artist, an educator heading the Rock Valley College Art Department, plus opening Josef of Barbados Restaurant along with her husband, Josef Schwaiger.
    “Rittenhouse Retro” featuring art works by Cherri Rittenhouse will open with an artist’s reception on Friday, November 20th, 5:30 to 9pm, upstairs in the Kortman Gallery. This special Kortman anniversary exhibition, featuring Cherri’s art works from the 1980’s, will run through January 12th, 2027.
    J.R. Kortman Center for Design and Kortman Gallery are open Tuesday through Friday, 11am to 6pm and Saturdays, 11am to 5pm. The opening event and gallery are free and open to the public. For more information phone 815-968-0123.

“Some of My Bruises Have Names, “ the title of Eric Nofsinger’s exhibition is as intriguing as his art work. Nofsinger’s captivating solo exhibition opens Friday, October 2nd in the Kortman Gallery, downtown.
    “A bruise is proof of contact. It’s also a slow thing — a patch of skin cycling through its colors while it decides whether or not to become a story,” says Nofsinger “That’s close to how my paintings are made. Thin washes of acrylic go down one over another, violet under green under a yellow that only shows up where the layers thin out, and the figure surfaces somewhere in the middle of that.”    
Eric Nofsinger is a painter based in Rockford, working in acrylic and mixed media on canvas.
He was painting long before anything else, and prolifically, until a career intervened. Hired in 1994 as the first artist at a small game studio, he spent the next three decades building it. 
He eventually became co-owner and chief creative officer of a 185-person operation making games for some of the largest publishers in the industry. It was thirty years of directing images meant to be seen by millions of people at once, on someone else’s schedule, inside someone else’s world.
“The paintings are the other half of that life, picked back up,” said Nofsinger. “They are made by one pair of hands for one viewer at a time, layered washes and bruise-colored surfaces where dream figures surface slowly rather than arriving all at once. The subjects come from the eerie, the half-playful, and the mythic: the figure that turns up in the hallway at four in the morning and refuses to explain itself.”
    “Some of My Bruises Have Names” featuring new works by Eric Nofsinger will open with an artist’s reception on Friday, October 2nd & 3rd from 5 to 9pm, and Saturday, 4pm to 8pm upstairs in the Kortman Gallery, November 14th. 
    The exhibitor is in conjunction with the Rockford Fall ArtScene weekend.
    J.R. Kortman Center for Design and Kortman Gallery are open Tuesday through Friday, 11am to 6pm and Saturdays, 11am to 5pm. The opening event and gallery are free and open to the public. For more information visit www.jrkortman.com or phone 815-968-0123.

Margie Lawrence, well know for her portraits of baseball legends,
especially the Chicago Cubs, will present her paintings and drawings of star
players of the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League, including the
Rockford Peaches in a Kortman Gallery exhibition opening Friday, July 17th.
    Her solo exhibition, “Amazons of the Diamond” opens as a kick-off
event for the Women’s Baseball World Cup to be held in Rockford, July 22-24
at Rivets Stadium. Lawrence will also feature some of her paintings of classic
Cub players that she is so well known for.
    “Having grown up blocks from the friendly confines of Wrigley Field, I
had no choice but to fall in love with the Cubs,” says Lawrence.
    “The organ music and cheers of the crowd would drift through the open
windows of my school, which sat a mere block from the bleacher entrance.
And like many of my loves, the Cubs have disappointed me, but…2016 was
my epiphany and the religious experience fueled my artistic nature.”
    Lawrence, a graduate of the Chicago Art Institute, has built a successful
art career creating paintings of baseball legends.
    “I do prefer the old timers, as they all seem to have been such
characters—Three Finger Brown, Cool Papa Bell, and Leo the Lip. When my
buddy Ronny Santo passed away, I did the ugly cry in front of Wrigley,” said
Lawrence.
    To welcome the Women’s Baseball Softball Confederation (WBSC) to
Rockford, Margie Lawrence’s Kortman Gallery show presents mostly paintings
and drawings of players from the All-American Girls Baseball league, made
internationally famous with the film “A League of the their Own” which told the
story through the Rockford Peaches, four-time league champions. 
    Portraits include Doris Sams, Shirley Burkovich, Bonnie Baker, and more.
    “Amazon’s of the Diamond,” paintings and drawings by Margie
Lawrence opens Friday, July 17th, from 5:30 to 9pm in the Kortman Gallery,
upstairs at J.R. Kortman Center for Design, 107 North Main Street, Downtown
Rockford. J.R. Kortman and the Kortman Gallery are open Tuesday through
Friday, 11am to 6pm and Saturdays, 11am to 5pm. The opening event and
gallery are free and open to the public. For more information
 phone 815-968-0123

At the entrance to the new downtown Rockford Public Library, stands a grouping of 17 abstract “lollipop” forms in subtle colors that represent humanities various skin tones. The sculpture called, “Carrying the Dream” commissioned by the Rockford Area Arts Council, celebrates racial equity and diversity.
    An exhibition with the same title, inspired by the sculpture, opens in the Kortman Gallery on April 24th & 25th (ArtScene weekend) in the Kortman Gallery in downtown Rockford. “Carrying the Dream” exhibition features five of the artists who were involved in the creation of the this public art project.
    These five artists will present not only their conceptual proposals for the sculpture, but also their own works, which includes paintings by Nathan J. Taylor and Nancie King Mertz, sculptures, and mixed media works by Jeremy Klonicki, John Verl McNamara, and Tim Hawley.
        Seven Rockford artists were invited to contribute to the project with each presenting concepts for the sculpture. As a collective, they chose a design and actually built and installed the work that now stands at the library entrance at Wyman and Mulberry. Those participating artists include Nathan J. Taylor, Tim Hawley, Jeremy Klonicki, Nancie King Mertz, John Verl McNamara, R. Scott Long, and Betsy Youngquist.
    “This should be a fascinating exhibit, since it was the public sculpture project that brought this artists from different disciplines together to create something significant for the community,” said Kortman Gallery director Doc Slafkosky. “Patrons will be able to see how the sculpture evolved through visual concepts created by each of these artists, but also see works that these artists are individually known for.”
    “Carrying the Dream” featuring concepts and works by five artists will open with an artist’s receptions on Friday, April 24th from 5 to 9pm, and Saturday, April 25th from 4 to 8pm upstairs in the Kortman Gallery, 107 North Main Street in Downtown Rockford. The opening dates are part of the Spring ArtScene weekend. The exhibit will run through June 30th. 
    J.R. Kortman Center for Design and Kortman Gallery are open Tuesday through Friday, 11am to 6pm and Saturdays, 11am to 5pm. The opening event and gallery are free and open to the public. For more information phone 815-968-0123.

    “The inspiration for my oil paintings comes directly from me,” says Eurek. “My thoughts, ideas, and memories are then abstracted into a visual story on canvas”
    A solo exhibition of Eurek’s newest works will open in the Kortman Gallery in Downtown Rockford on Friday, February 6th from 5:30 to 9pm. The show titled, “Figures of the Soul,” will feature works primarily in oil, charcoal, and graphite.
    Eurek, a Rockford based artist, has been actively painting and studying art for over 20 years. This will be his first solo show in the Kortman Gallery. His art exists in the space between pure abstraction and figurative representation with a strong emphasis on line, color, and intuitive mark making.
    “My work explores the tension between structure and spontaneity, allowing form to emerge, dissolve, and reassemble throughout the painting process,” writes Eurek in his artist’s statement. “Layers of color and line reveal evidence of revision and decision making, emphasizing the evolution of each piece from its initial gesture to its final state.”
    “We’re pleased to have Drew’s vibrant and energetic work in the Kortman Gallery,” says gallery director, Doc Slafkosky. “His art is personal and intuitive and reflects his enthusiasm and exuberant attitude he has toward his work as an artist.”
    “Figures of the soul” featuring new works by Drew Eurek will open with an artist’s reception on Friday, February 6th from 5:30 to 9pm, upstairs in the Kortman Gallery, 107 North Main Street in Downtown Rockford. Eurek’s exhibit will run through April 11th. 
    J.R. Kortman Center for Design and Kortman Gallery are open Tuesday through Friday, 11am to 6pm and Saturdays, 11am to 5pm. The opening event and gallery are free and open to the public. For more information visit www.jrkortman.com or phone 815-968-0123.