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20 | April 26, 2018 | The Lockport Legend life & arts lockportlegend.com Getting to know Sean McCallum Sean McCallum has been a member of The Artist Guild of Lockport for almost two years What media do you work with the most? When I’m painting traditionally, I use acrylic, but I love painting and drawing, so I’m always using pencil and charcoal as part of my process. I also do a lot of my work digitally, McCallum so there’s a lot going on in any given piece that I’m creating. Do you ever combine multiple mediums into one piece? I often combine them. When I work digitally, what I like to do is create textures and sort of hand paint textures that I scan in and use in the digital work. And often I’m drawing things first and then I’ll scan that into the computer and I might rework it in Photoshop or build up color and texture in layers and then sometimes I’ll print that back out and work by hand on top of it. What media do you enjoy working with the most? That’s so hard to say. I really like traditional mediums. I like the feel of drawing by hand, and just using the basics — pencil, pen and ink — those kinds of things are really the most fun to do for me. Do you do art full-time or is it more of a hobby? I teach high school, and I teach art [at Wheaton Academy]. It’s one of those things where you really have to carve out the time, not just to teach, but to do. Does your role as an art teacher help you in your own art? They say the best way to learn something is to teach it, and I feel like that gives me an opportunity to dive deep into the how’s and why’s of what I like to do and bring that back into the classroom, share it with students and use that as sort of a laboratory for them and for myself to experiment with techniques and with process in art making. I think being a teacher has helped to clarify my artistic identity in that you start to learn about yourself, because there’s things that I teach, things that I keep bringing up with students, and as I recognize those things, I can identify, “This is important to me because this reason or that reason.” And I think in the classroom it’s pretty easy to pinpoint what the value is of the teacher, what the teacher wants the student to know, and I’ve been able to get to know myself a little bit better just by paying attention to what values I bring up for them in the classroom. How did you get involved in The Artist Guild of Lockport? It all comes back to [TAGOL President] Ed Smith. He is kind of the catalyst. My wife’s cousin is married to Ed. Ed’s an artist and we hit it off when he joined the family. He invited me into the whole process, and I just needed some kind of outlet. I needed a place where I could start showing work, getting feedback, and also have a place that felt unique to what was available anywhere else. I haven’t found anything quite like The Artist Guild of Lockport around anywhere else, just in terms of the kind of folks that you’re going to bump into, the kind of art you can engage with, it really meets me where I’m at. What is the toughest part of art for you? I would say I wrestle a lot with fear. Some might call it perfectionism. I think it’s fundamentally fear. I think it’s fear of failing a piece or fear that it’s not going to be the thing that you imagine it to be in your mind, [or] that it won’t turn out right. And so the hardest part is to get the courage to put the medium on the surface and just get a piece going and bring it to life without just giving up and saying, “Oh this isn’t going to be the best it can be.” So, I do, I struggle with that, and it’s something I have to encourage my own students in, because I know what it’s like to have a fear of starting a piece or finishing a piece. What are your future goals for your art? I have a couple of goals. I really would like to get published. I’d like to have artwork that’s out there at a professional level either in the forms of illustrative books, or maybe a graphic novel, even children’s books or young adults books. I’d love to have my work in The Spectrum annual, and I have been putting off submitting my work to that because like I said, I do wrestle a little with that perfectionism. But it is a goal of mine to submit work to that to at least be evaluated. Another goal of mine is to submit my work to Wizards of the Coast, which is the company that does the card game Magic the Gathering, because I’d like to do card art for them. So those are three really specific goals that I’m intending to carry out. How would you describe your own style? I would say I’m very influenced by a couple of areas. I love comic books and graphic novels. I definitely appreciate good draftsmanship, line quality [and] line art. But I also like artists like Greg and Tim Hildebrandt who are illustrators in kind of the fantasy art genre. They’ve done a lot of work for Marvel and for Lucas Film. The work that I like to produce would be more fantastic, so I love fantasy work, I love the fantastic, because I love to create things that are really imaginative. I want to tell some kind of interesting, fun, exciting, dynamic story through the work that I create. So in that sense, I think it fits well within storytelling genres like comic book art, graphic novels and illustration work. Where do you get your inspiration from? Lately it’s been mythology. I’ve been trying to get off the beaten path a little bit. I did a series of pieces exploring the mythologies of Navajo culture, so like origin stories about “how did the people come to exist?” So I looked at Navajo culture, I looked at Celtic culture and I looked at Judeo-Christian culture, which is my background. And I explored some illustrations from a biblical narrative. What are some of your favorite pieces you’ve created? In terms of things I’ve done recently, it’s a piece that I had worked on, and it came about just because of life circumstances and just an expression of some of the anxiety I was feeling under those circumstances. The piece was rather organic. I called the piece “Consumed,” and it was basically just a reflection of how I felt — anxious and “Consumed” is one of Sean McCallum’s favorite works, as it is an expression of his feeling of being consumed by his own fear. Photos submitted “Cernunnos the Giant” is one of McCallum’s works inspired by his love of comic books and all things fantastical. fearful in a situation — surrounded by what seemed like some difficulty. But knowing that in actuality if I was consumed by anything, I was very much protected; I was consumed in my own fear. For me, it was a spiritual exercise of coming to grips with not being fearful in life circumstance, but really trying to not even overcome, but weather and persevere. Because in my background, my Christian faith is a very strong influence in the work that I create. There was a time that I felt unsettled, but I was trying to trust God with what he was doing in my life. And that piece is a piece that I just have out and look at as a reminder to myself about when things get difficult. Interview by Editor Max Lapthorne
lockportlegend.com life & arts the Lockport Legend | April 26, 2018 | 21 LTHS Group Interpretation of Literature entry adapts ‘The Evolution of Calpurnia Tate’ Submitted by Lockport Township High School Lockport Township High School’s 2018 IHSA Group Interpretation of Literature entry for the 2018 competition season was “The Evolution of Calpurnia Tate” by Jacqueline Kelly. The Group Interp’s performance was adapted and directed by LTHS teachers Laura Gilbert and Kennedy Musich. Music was done by Anthony Benda, and the set by Matthew Carlson. It was student directed by Isabelle Fears and Megan Staley, and student produced by Olivia Adams and Maisie Steele. Teacher Chad Goetz was also involved with group. The LTHS Group Interp team for 2018 includes Liam Horan, Connor Herrington, Aidan Callahan, Trevor Shingler, Morgan Dapkus, Maisie Steele, Madelyn Alvarado, Staley, Fears, Olivia Kuncis, Amelia Kuncis, Joey Cryer, Annaleise Tardecilla, Klaudia Bogacz, Rachel Hampton, Tyler Dooley, Patrick Dilger, Oliver Ciciora, Michael O’Callaghan, Reilly Bresnahan and Olivia Adams. A total of 21 LTHS students participated in the adaptation of “The Evolution of Calpurnia Tate” by Jacqueline Kelly for the school’s 2018 Group Interpretation of Literature entry for the 2018 competition season. Photo submitted Don’t think about it, just send your best vacation photo Deadline for Vacation Photo Contest noon on May 4 Bill Jones, Managing Editor Ever just jump in a car and hit the open road? Without meticulously planning every last detail of the trip with a strict itinerary? Sans direct course from Point A to Point B? Without figuring out where you’re going to stay on a night-to-night basis? Without the comforts of home? A true getaway? Some trips require planning to get the most out of your time and money. But there is something exhilarating about just winging it. Nothing can get in the way of following whims. There is no need to be somewhere else in a few hours. It is exploration and discovery and freedom and folly at its best. That is our focus for 22nd Century Media Southwest Chicago’s 2018 Vacation Photo Contest. And we’re not giving you much time to think about it. We just want you to grab a photo, short notice, and send it our way by noon Friday, May 4. And while the details in between are up for grabs, the destination in this case is clear: 22nd Century Media’s annual Summer Fun Guide, which is set to be published in the May 17 issue of The Lockport Legend. As always, we will publish the area’s best vacation photo — as determined by the publisher’s staff — on its cover. This year’s theme is “road Grand Prize Package • Gift cards valued at $200 for Gizmos Fun Factory, 66 Orland Square Drive, Suite D, in Orland Park • A gift certificate for two hours of bowling and shoe rentals for up to six people on a lane at Laraway Lanes, 1009 W. Laraway Road in New Lenox. The certificate also includes one 12-inch pizza and one pitcher of pop. • Four passes, each good for 13 entries for one session for one child at Mokena Community Park District’s Yunker Farm Splash Park, 10824 LaPorte Road in Mokena • A gift certificate for a 45-minute salt cave session at Royal Salt Cave & Spa, 20881 S. LaGrange Road in Frankfort • A gift certificate valued at $25 for Rubi Agave, 12622 W. 159th St. in Homer Glen • A gift certificate valued at $25 for Odyssey Fun World, 19111 Oak Park Ave. in Tinley Park • Six $5 gift certificates from Dairy Queen, 950 E. 9th St. in Lockport trips and winging it,” and we want to see photos from your favorite road trips and spur-of-the-moment, (almost) planless travels. We want to hear about what made them special, too. We still want you to send to us your absolute best summer vacation photos — whether you have a special road trip memory or not — but we will be giving bonus points in judging to photos that depict travels on the open roads and fun discoveries along the way. Please include just a few sentences to give us some context for the photo, if needed. Again, our deadline is noon Friday, May 4. As always, the grand prize-winning photo from our seven southwest suburban towns will appear on the cover of our Summer Fun Guide. The grand prize winner also is to receive a prize package, which you can read all about in the accompanying sidebar. Other entries also may appear in the May 17 edition of The Legend. Photos must be submitted no later than the aforementioned deadline. To submit a photo, email bill@op prairie.com or mail/drop off to Bill Jones, 22nd Century Media, 11516 W. 183rd St., 3SW, Orland Park, IL, 60467. Include your first and last name, address and a phone number at which we can reach you. Physical photographs will not be returned. All photos may be posted on the websites of all seven newspapers. Entries will be judged based on photo quality, originality, capturing the essence of vacation, emphasis on summer and ability to fit the theme. Residents of Orland Park, Tinley Park, Frankfort, Mokena, New Lenox, Homer Glen and Lockport are eligible to enter. visit us online at Lockportlegend.com
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