Famed artists of all stripes get their due

Winning a Pulitzer Prize, receiving a 20-minute standing ovation and performing lead roles in Italian operas are just a few of the accomplishments of this year's Fox Valley Arts Hall of Fame inductees.

The local group announced its seven 2007 inductees Friday. Nominees have to have a Fox Valley connection, be nationally or internationally recognized and have been working for 20 years in that field.

The group ranged from the fields of ballet to architecture.

Christine Simonson, the group's vice president in charge of selection, said the inductees all had "stunning achievements."

Attending Friday's announcement were Glen Ellyn author and artist Mike Venezia and Aurora architect John Cordogan.

Cordogan was the first architect the group has picked in its eight-year history. He has worked on tollway oases, pedestrian bridges over Lake Shore Drive and a transportation center in Wuxi City, China.

"The structures stand not only for function, but as pieces of art," Simonson said.

She noted Cordogan's firm, Cordogan Clark and Associates of Aurora, is working on the TimeGate monument in Beijing, which will be showcased during the Summer Olympics.

Venezia was honored for writing and illustrating more than 60 books for children about artists, composers and presidents. In 1999, his illustrations were displayed at a one-man show at the Art Institute of Chicago.

He also worked for 33 years designing advertisements for Leo Burnett.

Composer Martin Brody, an Elgin High School graduate, has received commissions and residences from the National Endowment for the Arts, the Fromm Music Foundation at Harvard University, the Artists Foundation and the Massachusetts Arts and Humanities Council.

Dick Locher, who has lived in the Fox Valley area for 48 years, won a Pulitzer Prize as an editorial cartoonist for the Chicago Tribune in 1983.

He has also been artist and author for the "Dick Tracy" comic strip.

Anne McKnight, who attended West Aurora schools, has performed as a soprano all over the world. She performed title and leading roles under the name Anna de Cavalieri in Aida, Turandot, Mefistolfele and William Tell in Italian opera houses in the 1950s and 1960s.

Kenneth von Heidecke, an Elmhurst College graduate, was a highly regarded ballet dancer until an injury cut his career short in 1975. Since then, he has choreographed more than 50 ballets and 50 operas in the United States and Europe. For his work "An Evening of Ballet," in Karlsruhe, Germany, in 1997, he received a 20-minute standing ovation.

Ingrid Wendt, who attended East Aurora schools, has been a poet-in-residence at universities for more than 25 years. She has published five books of poems and is a three-time Fulbright scholar in Germany.

The Fox Valley Arts Hall of Fame was founded in 2000 and has a permanent exhibition at the Paramount Theatre in Aurora.

The 2007 class will be honored at a banquet April 24.

2007 Fox Valley Arts Hall of Fame inductees

Name: Martin Brody Profession: Composer and musicologist Local connection: Elgin High School graduate Name: John Cordogan Profession: Architect Local connection: Lives in Sugar Grove, lived in Aurora

Name: Dick Locher Profession: Editorial cartoonist, comic strip author Local connection: Fox Valley resident, honorary doctorate from Benedictine University

Name: Anne McKnight Profession: Opera soprano Local connection: Attended West Aurora schools

Name: Mike Venezia Profession: Children's author and illustrator Local connection: Lives in Glen Ellyn

Name: Kenneth von Heidecke Profession: Ballet dancer and choreographer Local connection: Elmhurst College graduate, founded a dance studio in Naperville

Name: Ingrid Wendt Profession: Poet Local connection: Attended East Aurora schools