The Economy We Control

None of us are likely in a position to, say, influence money rates in any meaningful way but we can control one element of our economy.

We can choose to support our communities and buy local.

The Benefits of Buying Local

I’m writing this after driving past Nick’s Pizza in Crystal Lake on an errand. The drive and parking lot was jammed. This followed a plea from Nick Sarillo that his company needed your patronage to stay in business. Nick’s had expanded into Elgin, a site that was beset by ill-managed road construction that, at one time without notice, left the Elgin restaurant with no visible access from Randall Road.

Unfortunately, Nick’s case probably isn’t as unique as his hutzpah. At lot of us could use a jammed parking lot and I’m uplifted by the image this night at Nick’s as an effect of his plea.

You can choose to spend your money locally, with locally owned and operated businesses and not the national chains. Crystal Lake, McHenry County and greater Chicago offer effective local choices at every level of commerce. Our friends at SMT Associates, Inc., in Crystal Lake, turned us on to the 3/50 project.. What a great idea. Identify three local businesses and spend $50 at each.

With the economy still struggling and risking a double-dip, we need to support each other. It’s important to buy local. If you’re running a business, check your vendors. As consumers, choose locally owned businesses over national chains. What goes around comes around when you buy local.

By some accounts, local businesses reinvest $0.45 of every $1 you spend with them back into the local community versus a $0.15 reinvestment by national chains. Of course, WalMart attracts a lot more of your money than either Nick’s or our Conscious Cup; I’d guess more than Nick’s or CC combined. So, I’m not saying you shouldn’t shop at WalMart, just think hard about what you need or want and then see if that can be met by any of our local merchants or service professionals.

What's Your Mom's Thing-To-Do?

This past week I was at Ginger Blossom, an amazing place just west of Richmond on Highway 173. The house is stuffed with items from around the world.

Momma Ship's Collection

We looked at reclaimed teak tables from Bali and furniture from Mexico’s Sierra Madre and never got to the rug room. I looked longingly at pottery from Mata Ortiz, fired in rude kilns in Northern Mexico. We have two lovely pieces of Mata Ortiz art.

Nearby on a shelf, something called softly to me. I passed by the pottery and picked up a Navajo folk art rooster.

In our house, we have pottery roosters and roosters on plates. Maybe a few other stray artistic roosters perch around the house here and there. Sometimes I think I hear them talking.

Does your mother have something special like that? Visit our Facebook page and let us know.

Remember your Mom this weekend: Buy her a cappuccino or one of our delicious new loose leaf teas.

Best,

Jack

Edge of the Surf

Vero Beach at Dawn, Kurt Kamholtz

Our latest guest at Conscious Cup, who may if wishes come true linger for a time, is Kurt Kamholtz and his paintings.

Kurt is a graduate of Crystal Lake Central, from a time before it was “Central,” and Illinois State University, where he studied art under Harold Gregor.

He admits that family and work diverted his attention for a while but lately has been resurrecting his painterly life. We display portions of his McHenry County on Canvas series and new works he calls Slack Tide. Vero Beach at Dawn, shown here is from the latter.

Slack Tide is a mind play; toe tag with the surf. Kurt describes the works as a progression, as Monet took from simple rural scenes to wall-sized water lily paintings. Slack Tide studies the interplay of color, light, texture and composition found at the water’s edge. Kurt captures the serenity, beauty, and relentless tug of the surf on sand.

Core Visions

Conscious Cup Coffee’s gallery is featuring dynamic contemporary acrylics by Andrew Sentamu. Andrew’s new series of large scale paintings is called “Core Visions.”

Andrew was born in Kampala, Uganda. Inspired by his sister at a young age to focus on his creative talents, he went on

to pursue art more seriously and received a Bachelor of Arts in Industrial and Commercial Arts from Nkumba University in 2001. In 2005, he moved to the US. His desire is to capture the,beauty of what God has created in a unique and interesting way.

Paintings are for sale. More about Andrew and his works can be found at www.andrewsentamu.com.

Super abstractions

"At Bat" by Colin Burke on exhibit at Conscious Cup Coffee.

Colin Burke is a big fan of comic books, especially the exaggerated poses, bold lines, and striking colors of superhero comics. At the same time, he is fascinated with abstract paintings that feature heavy use of texture and color.

It is Colin’s appreciation for these two styles of art that drives him to create his own work. He brings elements of both illustrative and abstract artwork into his paintings. Colin captures emotion and energy in the subject of the work through color and texture. This style allows for constant experimentation, making every painting new and exciting.

You can find more of Colin’s work at swirlingpaint.com, as well as prints of most of his paintings.

If interested in purchasing a painting, please contact Colin through email at swirlingpaint@gmail.com, or by phone at 224-805-3840. 20% of all sales from this show will be donated to the Fisher Center for Alzheimer’s Research Foundation.

Colin grew up in Cary, IL, and received a B.F.A. from Illinois Wesleyan University in Bloomington, IL. His work has been shown in various art fairs around northern Illinois, and has received several awards.

Janet Koukol Exhibit at Conscious Cup

“We all seem to be searching for meaningful lives and it’s great to discover that meaning is definitely not ‘out there’, but inside each of us – the untapped potential to do amazing things with our lives.”

Janet Koukol

New works by Janet Koukol are on exhibit at Conscious Cup.

The Journey Cafe H2O

Janet Koukol is a freelance illustrator and author, consultant and teacher. She has worked with Design Design, Wassup! Magazine, The Illinois Institute of Art and the American Marketing Association. She has taught at The Illinois Institute of Art, public and parochial schools and private companies and businesses. She currently teaches at Creative Artistry in Crystal Lake, Illinois.

Janet is also the author of Now Into Wow! – a course designed to help women make the most of their lives and talents. Drawing on her background of personal transformation, marketing, branding, web design, and her ability to inspire and motivate, Janet developed a course that produces results in a month or less. It’s all free at nowintowow.com.

More about Janet at her on-line gallery, www.JanetKoukol.com. She can be reached also at janet@janetkoukol.com.

Chicago 2009

From the air or on land, Robin Pendergrast displays a keen eye. These photos are from a current exhibit at Conscious Cup, Chicago 2009. Drop in but be forewarned,

Uncontrolled Airspace Exhibit at Conscious Cup

At one point, I grew up with the awakening roar of F-4 Phantoms from over the hill from our house at Richards-Gebaur AFB, now long since closed. Oh, but for poor eyesight …

Night Flight

So, it’s with a bit of wistfulness that we invite you to enjoy the new exhibit at Conscious Cup, a wonderful sampling from “Uncontrolled Airspace,” by Gurnee, IL photographer Steven Mark.

The photos were among 257 (57 prints and 200 projections) exhibited the last weekend in May at the airport maintenance hangers.

Mark took the photos using an old-school, black and white 4×5 film camera , achieving a feel somewhere between Norman Rockwell and Ansel Adams in his richly saturated images.

More from the Northwest Herald’s advance coverage of the exhibit:

Mark, a 53-year-old computer programmer from Gurnee, set about chronicling life at the Greenwood airport in February 2008. This throwback photographer spent a year, broken up into 47 weekend shoots at Galt. Originally for a class project at the College of Lake County, he now intends to create a coffee table book.

… All of the pictures are shot in a large, 4-by-5-inch format – which Mark insists provides richer tones than their digital counterparts. The fact that many of the images were shot at night with the aid of portable studio strobe lights adds an aircraft carrier feel with the aid of prop planes like the military T-34 “Mentor” – a World War II-era trainer.

“I love all that stuff. I like the look of the ’40s and ’50s where everything was shot in large format,” said Mark, a member of Experimental Aircraft Association Chapter 932.

“I wanted something where I could get out there and spend a lot of time. … It was a blast. Everybody I talked to there, the various pilots, jumped right on board. Others, as soon as they saw some of the shots, jumped in. Everybody has been behind the project.”

The respect is mutual. “When he came out to Galt and we told him about everything we had, he kind of lit up,” flight instructor Justin Cleland said. “We went from shooting a few pictures to a year-long venture.”

Ruth Ruhnke

Geisha 1 by Ruth Runke

We’re proud to have Ruth Runke’s art on exhibit at Conscious Cup.

Ruth is a Glenview, IL, native now in Wonder Lake. She founded Wonder Lake Art to in June 2008 to promote the work of herself and friends. Her art website is www.wonderlakeart.com. She blogs at http://redhautebaby.blogspot.com/.

She’s the first artist using our new gallery display system.

The Engaging Art of Kathy LaRocco at CC

We’re pleased to host a new exhibit at Conscious Cup featuring the refined multi-media work of Kathy LaRocco . Kathy LaRocco multimedia art at Conscious Cup

I have about 18 works to hang, 6 of which are new but continue my series work. I hope my work brightens peoples mornings. Everyone seems so depressed and very quiet. At least though, our coffee shops are still getting customers. Coffee is a hard one to give up, even with the poor economic outlook. My show will be there from 1-15 through mid February.

Kathy LaRocco multimedia art on exhibit at Conscious Cup