My wife Nancy and I came to Macomb from Chester, a very old British city in the central-western part of England. It was near Wales, the nation where I had been raised—and where I had studied at the Cardiff College of Art and the University of South Wales. She was from Pittsburgh, and we had met when we were doing graduate study at the University of Pittsburgh in the mid-1960s. After getting married, we had both taught at the Chester College of Further Education, the first purpose-built, teacher-training college in the U.K.
So, it is not surprising that we were attracted to Western Illinois University, which had also been devoted to educating teachers for generations. We arrived in the summer of 1968, and I can recall many colleagues at Western that I also appreciated, such as Forrest Suycott, the first Dean of the College of Fine Arts, and others including Dick Law, Sam Parker, Ann Renshaw, and Allen Schindle. But of course, Nancy and I were not yet sure that Macomb would be the community where we would remain for the rest of our lives.
Although we experienced what we regarded as some very hot days, in that summer of 1968 (for Chester had been cooler), we liked the small-town culture, which had a very friendly aspect to it. During the late 1960s we lived at 545 West Murray Street, which was not far from the rapidly expanding university campus, which always had one or more new buildings going up. The Baby Boom generation was increasing the college enrollments, in Macomb and everywhere across the country.
And it was a significant period of cultural change in the U.S. due to movements that were centered on fair treatment for African Americans, providing more opportunities for women, growing environmental concerns, and the troubling Vietnam War. The last of those led to protest marches in many American communities, including Macomb.
Indeed, the town was significantly divided over the worsening war—with many WIU faculty and students voicing their opposition to it, especially as more soldiers were being killed.
Because Nancy was hired by Robert Morris College, we soon moved to Carthage, but that prompted a double commute for me, on each WIU work day, as I did my share of caring for our pre-school son. However, Carthage was another opportunity to become well-acquainted with our region, and I enjoyed the rural landscape of Illinois, with its mix of fields and forests—which would later have an impact on my art work.
In 1970 we moved to Madison, Wisconsin, so I could work on a Master of Fine Arts degree that was focused on printmaking.
But I was back at WIU in the following year—and busy again with Art Department work. Among other things, I created a silkscreen art area in Garwood Hall (where my department was located), which became part of a popular program for art students. As that kind of effort revealed, fast-growing WIU was a place that featured many new educational developments in the 1960s and 1970s.
Indeed, during the next several years I created a variety of exhibits, not just at WIU but in regional towns like Galesburg, Jacksonville, Peoria, Quincy, and Springfield—as well as in Chicago. So, I became rather well acquainted with Illinois. Also, in 1975 I set up a Western Illinois Folio Press, to produce art-related publications related to both America and Europe. That led to my Midwest Portfolio, which included some twenty- four prints, in 1976.
All that activity brought me into contact with many other artists—such as Warrington Colescot, Mike Dunbar, Bob Evans, Harold Gregor, Ken Holder, Preston Jackson, and James Wynn.
And it helped to anchor me in this region of downstate Illinois. My teaching career here, which started in 1968, lasted until 2000, and throughout those years I was glad to contribute not only to such a fine university as Western but to the culture of our region and our state as well.
My career as a landscape artist took on many developments over the years.
My themes were flatscapes, stormscapes, waterscapes, and winterscapes. And I completed digital versions of them as well. I eventually received six commissions for art works from the State of Illinois, and those are now permanently installed in public buildings, including the Illinois State Library in Springfield, across the street from the State Capitol. More than half a century after we arrived, my wife and I are still very pleased with the Macomb area, as the place where we—natives of Wales and Pennsylvania— re-rooted ourselves, as we worked in higher education, raised a couple of sons, and contributed to the culture in this part of America.
