Artist invites patrons to use their imaginations

Chicago artist Steven Schroeder is exhibiting his oil, acrylic, watercolor, and ink work at Meet Chicago Northwest through Monday, Oct. 9, 1375 E. Woodfield Road, Suite 120, Schaumburg. The exhibit is free and open to the public during business hours, and is co-sponsored by the Northwest Cultural Council.

Schroeder's work incorporates various techniques associated with watercolor, with particular attention to fluidity, and painting with light and pigment.

Having grown up on the High Plains in the Texas Panhandle, Schroeder says he "always sees with 'plains' eyes" as a visual artist and poet.

"I think of poetry as a visual art, and of visual art as a kind of poetry," Schroeder says. "So, in both practices, I am often seeing with my ears and hearing with my eyes. That, I think, has given me a unique perspective on the places that have formed me, from Texas and Chicago, to Shenzhen, China."

Schroeder believes that emptiness plays an important role in both his poetry and his painting. "I often find myself spending as much time on what is not there, as on what is. This usually means focusing on a single image and letting the whole composition spring up around it," he says.

Schroeder has exhibited his juried work in many states, and hopes that his art "invites more than it contains."

The Northwest Cultural Council serving the Northwest corridor is a nonprofit organization. It supports and promotes the work of area visual artists and poets, offering a variety of programs including multi-media exhibitions, co-sponsored by businesses, convention and visitors' bureaus, libraries, and hospitals.

It also offers art competitions, and poetry workshops and readings.

For more information about the exhibit, call the NWCC, (847) 382-6922.