Six artists added to Fox Valley Arts Hall of Fame
The sculptor who made the imposing "Ekwabet" that looks over the Fox River in St. Charles, a portrait photographer known for his advertising work as well as collaborations with actor John Malkovich, and the legendary late conductor of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra chorus are among the inductees for the Fox Valley Arts Hall of Fame Class of 2016.
Six artists with ties to the Fox Valley were announced Thursday morning:
• Guy J. Bellaver, sculptor, of St. Charles.
• Philip Burnham, journalist, historian and educator, who grew up in Batavia.
• Joseph Hernandez, visual arts and arts education, of Aurora.
• Margaret Hillis, director, teacher and conductor, of Wilmette. Besides her work with the CSO, Hillis also conducted the Elgin Symphony Orchestra.
• Sandro Miller, photographer and director, raised in Elgin.
• Roy J. Solfisburg III, a native of Aurora.
Hernandez and Bellaver attended the announcement news conference at the Batavia Library.
Hernandez said he had looked at the Hall of Fame's plaque Saturday, at a ceremony celebrating the Hall of Fame's move to the Hemmens Cultural Center in Elgin.
"Boy, it's an awesome display," he said. "I'm amazed these classes that you do. ... Boy, the array of people. We are in a unique club. We really are in with special people," Hernandez said.
Their induction will bring the Hall of Fame to 55 members. The organization inducted people every other year, starting in 2000.
Some of the more famous members are violinist Maud Powell, opera singer Eric Halvarson, journalists Paula Zahn and John Drury, cartoonist Dick Locher, choreographer Gower Champion and actress Mitzi Gaynor.
The inductees will be honored at a banquet April 14 in Bartlett. For tickets, call (630) 605-4000.
The artists
• Bellaver, a full-time sculptor since 1975, has lived in St. Charles since 1985. He works in stone, wood and metal. In the Fox Valley, he is known for his public works, such as the "Ekwabet" bronze of a Pottawatomi Indian along the Fox River in downtown St. Charles, and the bronze statue of a soldier at the Kane County Veterans Memorial in Geneva. His work is in business, university and municipal collections nationwide.
• Hernandez, 80, is a lifelong resident of Aurora. He works primarily in ceramics, including raku pottery. He taught mathematics and art in Aurora public schools, and is a retired associate professor emeritus for Waubonsee Community College. He learned sign language to be able to teach hearing-impaired students while at Waubonsee. Although retired, Hernandez remains passionate about arts education, visiting high schools to teach his craft. He also serves as a judge at art shows, and has traveled worldwide, including to China and Korea, for arts initiatives.
• Hillis founded the CSO's chorus in 1956, and conducted it until 1993. Under her leadership it made 45 recordings with the orchestra, winning nine Grammy Awards. Her ambition was to be an orchestra conductor, but discrimination against women thwarted that at the outset of her career in the 1950s, so she turned to choral conducting.
In 1957 she became the first woman to conduct a CSO performance, as a guest conductor. And she notably filled in for Sir Georg Solti at a 1977 appearance at Carnegie Hall, when Solti fell ill.
She became the conductor of the Elgin Symphony Orchestra in 1971, taking it from a volunteer group to one of almost 100 percent professional performers.
Hillis died in 1998.
• Burnham started his career as a teacher on an American Indian reservation. That and his research in the Dakotas led to a relationship and understanding of American Indian tribes. He is an assistant professor at George Mason University. His writings have raised awareness about issues with how American Indians, African-Americans and minority peoples have been treated by chroniclers of history. His books include "Native Americans and National Parks," about how the federal government took land from tribes; and "How the Other Half Lived: A People's Guide to American Historic Sites."
• Miller, 57, is known professionally simply as Sandro. He is a graduate of Elgin Community College. His work appears in national advertising campaigns, with clients including Coca-Cola, Dove, Anheuser-Busch, Allstate Insurance, American Express, Dove, Motorola, Nike, the Army and more. He also has donated his talents to campaigns for charities including the American Heart Association and the American Cancer Society, among others.
He also works in film, including projects with actor Malkovich, and musicians Yoko Ono, Sean Lennon, Dweezil Zappa and Ric Ocasek.
• Solfisburg grew up in Aurora. After receiving his master's degree in architecture, he joined the renowned Chicago firm of Holabird and Root, eventually becoming its senior managing partner and designer partner. Under his leadership, the firm won the American Institute of Architects' National Firm of the Year award in 1982.
His projects included the renovation of the Chicago Cultural Center; his design of the former Lucent Technologies Network Software Center in Lisle; and the Welsh-Ryan Arena renovation at Northwestern University. Several of his own homes, particularly one in Florida, have received attention in Architectural Digest.