June 2010

 
 
Area of Service (what do you do?): 
Caricatures
 
Number of years in the business: 
I started about 1993
or ’94 so it would be about 16-17 years in the biz.

 
 
How did you get into the entertainment business? 
This is a weird
story. I had been thinking about how I needed to find my niche. So many people
do illustration and I wanted to do something that would allow me to be just a
little different, to use what I have to offer that could single me out enough
that I could have my own niche. Not long after that, I went into a book store
in Evanston, IL (near Chicago) one day and there was a tarot card reader in
there. Naturally I thought it would be fun to get a reading. After the reading
we got to chatting and the reader told me how she was hired to do this at
parties. Then she mentioned she also was hired to do caricatures at parties. I
had no idea people hired artists to do that! She suggested how I could make
samples of celebrities, contact party bookers and get some gigs going. I
immediately went home and began my research and… as they say… the rest is
history – or her-story. I started getting bookings within a few weeks.
 
What’s your favorite type of event?
I love working the
big corporate gigs during the holidays when there’s a huge room full of people,
there are lots of other artists there, music is going, people are in a great
mood and I get to draw groups of folks who work together, where I can put in
all sorts of humor that they can relate to in the office, take the art there,
copy it and hang it in their cubicles. It’s like being in on the inside jokes,
which gives me a chance to really whip out my humor and take the challenge and
make ’em roar with laughter. 

 
What’s your most memorable event? 
So many precious
moments, so little time.

 
Here’s one that remains in my mind….

 
 
It was Sunday, Sept. 9, 2001 and I was one of
several artists drawing at the annual Crown Family picnic held at their dairy
farm in Wauconda, IL. There is always a huge turnout for this event hosted by
Chicago’s well-known philanthropic Crown Family, who invite their friends,
family and associates to attend their “Chuck Wagon Days” picnic,
usually held in June. They hire about 6 caricature artists and other
entertainers for this fun, outdoor bash, held not far from the dairy cattle
barn. On this day, the sky had turned dark and ominous. A couple of us artists
were located under the open shelter where there was a magician entertaining the
kids. I was drawing my first customer, an actor who told me he was headed for
the West Coast on Sept. 12th – (or so he had planned). I looked at the
darkening sky behind him and saw a dark, low-hanging cloud not too far away. I
thought, this can’t be good. I had
just finished drawing his face when suddenly the wind kicked up and blew over a
beverage table, shattering all the glasses as guests went running for a bus
that came to take them to a closed shelter. The rain was horizontal, kids were
screaming and huddling together at the center of the shelter while the magician
was trying to calm them with close-up magic. While they were occupied I
scrambled to cover my supplies to protect things from the blast, and was going
from table to table covering drawing supplies and other goods with the table
cloths. Yes, it was a micro burst, but as quickly as it came it went.