The 2021 Beverly Art Walk will honor artist Judie Anderson, friend and muse of the Beverly Area Arts Alliance (The Alliance). In 2014, Sal Campbell, Monica Wilczak and a small group of local artists created the first Art Walk and formed The Alliance. Anderson attended the first community meetings and has cheered on and participated in the Alliance’s work ever since, including generously opening her home studio to the public during Art Walk and co-exhibiting with her friend, internationally-known artist and illustrator David Lee Csicsko, who considers Anderson a mentor.
Anderson in an inspiration for her distinguished, 60-year career in the arts and her ongoing work to support an arts-rich Beverly/Morgan Park community.
For 20 years, Anderson worked at the Chicago Tribune as an illustrator, art director, designer, and department manager at a time when few women worked in newsrooms.
She said of her experience, “Working with tight, sometimes impossible, deadlines was always a challenge, but seeing your efforts in print was the reward. Being part of ‘Breaking News’ (we never had such a term), such as the Perspective section was nerve-wracking, but exciting. [It] set one‘s adrenaline going when you’re called at your Thanksgiving dinner at home and told ‘The mayor just died… get in here tomorrow morning and get the page ready for Sunday’s edition.’ I was on the 5:30 a.m. Metra and had an illustration of Harold Washington ready by 10. Features were my favorite . . . from the Books and Arts sections to Tempo, Travel, TV, Friday, Tomorrow and Kid News . . . I did them all and won several National awards doing so.”
Anderson achieved this all while raising two children with her beloved husband and creative partner artist, the late Bill Anderson. Judie and Bill met as students at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago in 1957 and married four years later. In 1967, they were among community members who worked to establish the Beverly Art Center at its original location on the campus of Morgan Park Academy. She and Bill were founders of the Center’s School of the Arts.
In addition to Anderson’s work at the Tribune and in the arts community, she and Bill had rich careers as freelance illustrators and also created their own personal work. Bill Anderson passed away in 2009.
At 82, Judie Anderson continues to create and inspire. Recently, she and Carol Flynn, historian for the Ridge Historical Society, collaborated to create a popular set of coloring books featuring noted buildings of Beverly/Morgan Park with the history of each location.
The Alliance honors Judie Anderson for her distinguished career in the arts and thanks her for her friendship and ongoing support of their organization.
The Beverly Area Arts Alliance Board of Directors is composed of Monica Wilczak, Sal Campbell, Corinne Rose, Won Kim, Bill Halvorsen, Chris Castaneda, Cicely Harris, David Barsotti, Lizzy Benner and Chantala Kommanivanh.
The Beverly Area Arts Alliance cultivates collaboration between artists and community members to foster Beverly/Morgan Park as a diverse hub of culture and creativity on Chicago’s far South Side and a vibrant place to live and do business.
The Alliance’s signature event, the Beverly Art Walk will be held on Sat., Sept. 18, 12 to 5 p.m., and feature pop-up exhibitions of works by artists displayed more than 40 venues from 95th to 11th Streets, Wood Street to Western Avenue. The Walk features live music, an artisan craft market, children’s park and food fest.
The Alliance’s annual programming includes pop-up exhibitions and art-making events, the Uprising Craft Fair, backyard concerts, public art projects, and the Frunchroom South Side reading series curated by Scott Smith. Current projects include the Alliance Contemporary pop-up on the grounds of Nicky’s of Beverly at 105th and Western and a new mural at 95th and Seeley.
Learn more at beverlyarts.org.
