November 8, 2011
art & culture council - lemont
Judith Apke attended Ray-Vogue
College, in Chicago and received degree in Interior
Design in 1980. While attending art school, studied in England about
English art and architecture. Also attended a pilgrimage to Natchez, MI and New
Orleans studying the interior design depicted in these areas.
After graduating, worked in antique
furniture sales and commercial design for various business' within the design
field.
By 1985, desired to stay at home and
raise my family, started my own decorating and painting business.
While at home with my young family,
became involved in many volunteer positions serving the community. For 7 years, served the Cub Scouts of W.S.,
as a leader and later as the troop treasurer.
For 5 years, served as the District membership chairperson for the PTA.
Within these groups, gained knowledge in
creating fundraisers to bookkeeping for civic groups.
After moving to Lemont in 1999, my
decorating practice was in demand. I attended seminars to increase artistic
skills in faux finishing and trompe
lóeil. Besides for decorating and
painting residential homes, I completed design projects for small businesses,
the village hall in W.S. and a major decorating project for the old W.S.
school.
The final phase of the W.S. School was
creating a millennium mural in a long
hallway. The Day and Night Mural included
silhouettes of willow trees and children from the school entering the hall. The
nocturnal skyline was completed with all the students and staff adding their
own star into the sky. This mural was featured on NBC news as part
of their feature for the new millennium , 2000.
After many years of continual devotion
to my decorating business, I volunteered to maintain the garden beds at our
library. Because of limited funds for the gardenscape, I simply worked with
redesigning what was there. The following year, my husband and I designed and welded
an arbor, at the garden entrance, giving the gardens a welcoming structure for
the newly planted wisteria. I have also implemented the holiday displays at the
library and the outdoor planters that flock the front doors.
A few year ago, my home was in the 'holiday housewalk', a fundraiser for the
Junior Woman's League. While a member, I tried to gain interest in the idea
of starting a Community Victory Garden. Without success within this group, I
went on to ask the Garden Clubs, the Open
Space Committee and the Lemont Township.
I also served as a community member
for the Lemont Library's Long Range Planning Committee. We attended regular meetings, implementing a Community Forum to understand the wants and
needs in the future of our library. After a year of gathering information in
this process, we finalized a mission statement.
In the summer of 2010, I went before
the Library Board to request implementing my own garden that could serve as a 'Green
Initiative' for the library as well as the Lemont community. The
outdoor space would also serve as a learning and 'discovery garden', a new program for children to embrace
gardening, nature and the environment. The project was finally approved in the
Fall and I started layer composting the site, organically. Through the winter,
I finalized a garden design and completed grant forms to sustain the garden. In
the spring, we started indoor seeding and moved outdoors as the weather finally
changed. The group of children that
became involved in the project stayed dedicated to our environmental and
organic ethics. We also donated our supplements to the Bethany Church Pantry.
With the Library Garden Project
underway, the officers of the PTO. at Oakwood Elementary, asked me to assist
them with a Children's Garden in the school's courtyard. With volunteers and funding from the PTO, we
layer composted the site last Fall, to get rid of the weeds organically. In the winter 2010, I designed a simple plan,
that would be easy to maintain and
utilized to attract butterflies. This garden would also serve as an outdoor
learning space. The garden is a work in progress and we would like to have it
dedicated as a 'natural habitat' in the
Spring.
Although my passion in the past few
years has been out in the Garden, I remain an artist at heart. I believe gardens can also serve as artistic
and cultural displays within a community. All forms of artistic expression will
add to a community's diversity.
Thank you for your consideration,
Judy Apke
