Ex-Fremd teacher using art to recover from stroke

Former Fremd High School teacher Len Upin always encouraged his art students to explore a variety of different drawing techniques.

The trick, he would tell them, is to control the marks.

Now, six and a half years after a debilitating stroke, Upin is following his own advice.

He has seen his technique evolve from careful brush strokes in oil and acrylic, to large, detailed portraits, done by making loosely constructed marks in pen.

"I don't want it to be as tight and clean anymore," says Upin, a Buffalo Grove resident. "My style is looser now, done with circular figure-eights, that are easy for me to control."

In this case, art really does reflect life.

An exhibit of his work, both those done before his stroke and those drawn during his rehabilitation, will be on display next month at the Indian Trails Public Library, 355 Schoenbeck Road in Wheeling.

A reception with the artist takes from 1-3 p.m. July 12 in the library's Front Room. Admission is free. Upin taught art at Fremd for more than 20 years before he suffered his stroke in January 2003.

His courses ranged from the fundamentals of art, to drawing and printmaking, all the way up to working with seniors in advanced placement level art classes.

He also coached freshman football for two years before coaching wrestlers, falling back on his own experiences as a student athlete at Niles East High School in Skokie.

Yet it was in the art room that he spent the most time, teaching students and encouraging them to compile a portfolio of works to exhibit.

"I always told them you can create value with either smooth shading, or hatching," Upin says, "even with scribbling."

Upin drew on that advice after suffering his stroke. He immediately turned to his art as a method of expression.

"I wanted to see if I could still draw," Upin says. "I was having so much trouble talking. I couldn't find the words, I couldn't remember things, but I was excited to see that I still had my art."

He started by drawing small images of faces, mostly of close family members. His early marks, he says, were scribbling, reflecting his feelings of frustration and anger at all the changes in his life.

However, as he began working with speech pathology professionals at Northwestern University, his brush strokes became smoother, and noticeably different from before his stroke.

As his speech and confidence grew, so did his portraits.

Consequently, there will be a mix of large and small works on display at the Wheeling library. Upin calls the show "Faces."

"We view his works as a mastery of his craft," says library spokeswoman Jennifer Koch. "He is a talented local artist, and we're thrilled to display his pieces."