Buffalo Grove Artist Finds His Passion in Pen and Ink Drawings

John P. Green of Buffalo Grove, a pen and ink artist, is exhibiting selections from his more than 500 pieces of Chicago scenes and events and global cultural images, through Wednesday, Jan. 3 at Meet Chicago Northwest, 1375 E. Woodfield Rd., Ste. 120, Schaumburg. The exhibit is co-sponsored by the Northwest Cultural Council.

"A fascination with light and dark, both physically and emotionally, has been a driving motivational force in my form of art, and inspires me to work almost exclusively with pen and ink," Green says. "Many of my works study the vast differences that exist in and between world cultures."

Green's "One Summer Chicagoland" series was inspired by watching a weekend of evening news events throughout the summer of 2014. These events were covered briefly by the media, but Green later felt compelled to research them in detail. In his drawings, his imagery of the events is accompanied by facts about each one.

Green's art has been a large part of his life since high school with both formal and "real-life" training. His "cultural portraits" are sometimes as subtle as the play of the wind with a Japanese woman's hair or as complex as the depiction of the Yangtze River canyon culture in China that was lost in the lake, due to the construction of the Three Gorges Dam.

Cultural images, such as a lone woman cooking in African Mali, or the stone prison tower on Robben Island guarding the cell of Nelson Mandela, speak about the effect of different lifestyles on their people.

Green creates his art when he's not practicing architecture as a partner at Groundwork, Ltd. in Buffalo Grove. He has designed Buffalo Grove projects including the Village Hall, The Raupp Historical Museum, and Twin Creeks Park. He has also designed Mt. Prospect Park District Central Community Center.

The Northwest Cultural Council serving the Northwest corridor, is a non-profit organization. It supports and promotes the work of area visual artists and poets, offering a variety of programs including corporate gallery exhibitions, co-sponsored by businesses, convention and visitors' bureaus, libraries, and hospitals; art competitions to promote and stimulate artists; and poetry workshops and readings.

For more information about NWCC exhibits, call 847-382-6922.