Beacons of inspiration

They are beautiful and they are historic.

While most of them are hundreds of miles away, Jim Brooksher travels so he can paint them, his favorite subject -- lighthouses.

The Grayslake artist is presenting his exhibit, "America's Lighthouses," through September at the Jack Benny Center for the Arts in Waukegan.

The public is invited to meet Brooksher at a reception at 6 p.m. Thursday.

Brooksher first began to paint lighthouses for their unique and often romantic locations. It was 1997 that some admirers of his art work -- at that point mostly barns and the Chicago skyline -- asked him to paint lighthouses.

The exhibit in Waukegan features 31 lighthouse paintings, all available to purchase. Prices range from $125 for a matted painting to $2,200 for a framed image.

Brooksher has visited and photographed 134 lighthouses along the Atlantic and Michigan coastlines.

As an artist for the U.S. Coast Guard, Brooksher said assignments take him to many lighthouses. The Coast Guard runs 600 lighthouses across the country.

But he adds there are only 45 to 50 of them he will paint. Some have been the subject of his paintings four or five times.

Among some of his favorite lighthouses are Cape Elizabeth in Maine and Cape Hatteras in North Carolina. Closer to home is another favorite, Wind Point in Racine, Wis.

"It's one of the most beautiful locations, and it's less than an hour from here," he said.

Some might be surprised to know there is a lighthouse 100 feet tall off of Sheridan Road south of Central Avenue in Evanston. Brooksher said the trees obscure it in the summer. And although the lighthouse can easily be seen in the winter, it is still largely unknown.

"They are busy going about their day. They go by and never see it," he said.

Also among the exhibit are four paintings Brooksher created to pay tribute to the Edmund Fitzgerald.

Named after a Milwaukee banker, the ship was christened in June 1958. At 729 feet long, it was the largest ship on the Great Lakes until 1972. It was carrying 26,013 tons of talconite, or iron ore pellets, when it disappeared in Lake Superior on Nov. 10, 1975, with a crew of 29.

Brooksher has exhibited his paintings across the Midwest including the David Adler Festival of the Fine Arts in Libertyville as well as fairs in Skokie, Glenview, Highland Park and Lake Forest.

But his future plans also include taking a trip to the Atlantic coast to display and hopefully sell his paintings where many of the historic lighthouses still stand.

The Jack Benny Center is in Waukegan's Bowen Park at 1800 N Sheridan Road, north of Greenwood Avenue. For information, call (847) 360-4740.