When speaking with Elaine Kadakia, one quickly learns her passions in life. She speaks glowingly of her family. She sheds light on her lifelong commitment to protecting and advancing women’s rights. And she conveys what a powerful influence art has made on her.
Elaine has been a ceramics student at McHenry County College (MCC) for many years, but is now featured in her first ever solo exhibit at the college.
Now through August 31, MCC will be hosting A Journey in Ceramic Activist Art in artspace 144, located just outside the doors to the MCC gym in Building A.
“The spectacular survey of Elaine’s work represents an extraordinary commitment with clay while conveying and sharing a deeply personal message,” said Tom Vician, instructor of Art and Ceramics at MCC. “All the work in this exhibition was created at McHenry County College over the past fifteen years.”
Now 82 years old, Elaine has been making art since she was a young child. Early in her life, she realized art could send powerful and meaningful messages. As a young adult, Elaine shined during weekend art classes.
“The Art Institute of Chicago had a Saturday school, so I would take the bus and go down there,” she said.
In the early sixties when it came time for her to go to college, she followed her passions the Art Institute where she pursued a Bachelor of Arts with an emphasis in Art Education.
“We worked in all different kinds of modules—plastics, ceramics, drawing, painting,” she said. “It was a well-rounded education to introduce you to all the mediums you might teach at some point.”
Learning about various artists, movements, and artistic styles that included the Arts and Crafts movement, Art Deco, early twentieth century fashion illustration, and Art Nouveau all captured her imagination while influencing her own art-making world view.
“I kept drawing as I was raising my two daughters,” Elaine said. “When we moved to Huntley in the early 2000s, my sister Josie was taking classes at MCC; then I started taking classes.”
Over the years, the ceramics classes at MCC have provided Elaine with countless opportunities to implement her ideas through wheel-throwing, hand-building, relief carving, digital transferring, decal ornamentation, underglaze painting, air brushing, soda firing, and three-dimensional printing.
“With Tom’s instruction, I learned different mediums, different ways to handle clay, and just kept going,” she said. “I realized it was a way to express myself about some of the things that were important to me, such as women’s issues.”
For over thirty years, Elaine has been an active member in the American Association of University Women, which parallels her interests of equality in the workplace, reproductive rights, and the advancement of women’s leadership roles.
Elaine marched for women’s rights with her daughters in 1976 at the Equal Rights Amendment rally in Springfield and recently supported both the reproductive rights rally in Woodstock and the “Me Too” protest in McHenry. The ceramic artwork in this exhibition uniquely shows a highly confident individual stance forcefully showing a deeply felt ideology.
One of the first pieces Elaine created in her ceramics classes at MCC was “Hidden Women,” a series of three sculptures inspired by women in burkas. The piece is featured in her art exhibit.
“In a lot of countries, women can’t go out of the house without a male present,” she said. “I was inspired to create this piece after reading about these women and the power and control dynamics of the societies they live in.”
Earlier this year, Elaine realized she had accumulated quite a collection of work and approached Tom with the idea of doing a show.
“He was all for it,” she said. “He got on the ladders, fixed the lights, helped with placement and labeling—he’s been very supportive. I honestly can’t say enough about Tom and everyone at MCC. All of this would not have happened without their instruction, ideas, and encouragement.”
Elaine plans on continuing her classes at MCC for a long time to come.
“It’s a life-enhancing experience,” she said. “You start with a lump of clay in your hands and all of the sudden you’re making something. I enjoy the challenges and the opportunities to experiment on your own. It’s always a surprise when something comes out wonderful.”
There will be an artist’s reception at the gallery with Elaine on Thursday, August 25 from 2 – 4 p.m. The reception is free and open to the public.
