NCI ARTworks partners with Lumber Lane Gallery in Seneca

Press Release - For immediate release
Contact Julia Messina, Executive Director, outreach@nciartworks.com or 815-866-5167

PERU, IL (Monday, August 25, 2025) – NCI ARTworks partners with Lumber Lane Gallery in Seneca and Heritage Corridor Destinations Welcome Center in Utica to present the work of Doug Dalrymple

According to NCI ARTworks Executive Director, Julia Messina, “We are doing something unique at NCI ARTworks. We are partnering with other art venues to contemporaneously showcase the work of local and regional artists. This multi-venue program will broaden the exposure of these artists’ work to more potential buyers from throughout the Starved Rock region, thereby creating a continuous revenue stream for both the artists and the venues.”

Messina continues, “Individual small galleries cannot continue to exist as islands unto themselves, utilizing the current donations/grants fiscal model; with the federal budget cuts for arts grants and the general pull back on non-essential spending that is endemic to the actual economic situation, the math just doesn’t math. The choice is to either close up shop or pivot and try to develop innovative solutions to address the shortfall.”

In order to address this issue, NCI ARTworks has chosen the latter path: they have launched a partnership with Lumber Lane Gallery in Seneca, Illinois, and the Heritage Corridor Destinations Welcome Center in Utica, Illinois. Throughout the month of August and into September, each of the three venues is showcasing the work of a single artist, Doug Dalrymple.

Dalrymple’s work is on display at Lumber Lane Gallery in Seneca through September 3^rd, and it is currently on exhibit at the Welcome Center in Utica until September 17^th.  Both of these smaller exhibits are preview shows of Dalrymple’s full exhibit, which will premiere at the NCI ARTworks Gallery opening reception on September 12^th from 6 to 8pm. It is free and all are welcome. A preview of his work is available at: https://www.nciartworks.com/september-2025-at-nci-artworks.html

In addition to the multi-venue exhibition program launched by NCI ARTworks, this nonprofit arts agency will continue to raise funds through its annual Arts, Culture & Wellness trips in the US and abroad and at its annual fundraiser honoring the best of the best young talent in all of the arts throughout the tri-county area. Information is available at www.nciartworks.com.

“Art is not only culture, it is also business. When communities support venues like NCI ARTworks, residents end up enjoying a standard of living that encourages talented people to stay and contribute to the cultural and economic life of the community. 

While art may not be considered a physical necessity like water and air, it serves to nourish the soul and create beauty from harsh realities as well as showcase the beauty of the world around us. Art inspires critical thinking, and it provides a platform for expressing ideas and concepts. That is the wonder of art, the reason people from around the world explore the world—to experience the breathtaking majesty of architectural marvels that withstand millennia of natural and manmade disasters and war, to look so deeply into a painting that it touches your soul and you connect with it on a visceral level, and to creatively dissect the instability and fragility of the world around us,” stated Messina.

Meet Douglas Dalrymple: A Chicago-based Artist who has moved to the Illinois Valley and works with a variety of mediums. His story unfolds amidst the dirt roads and cornfields of Clive, Iowa, where he was born and raised. His journey into the realm of art began early, thanks to a congenital hyper-growth defect in his right hand. To aid his fine motor development and enhance his writing skills, his mother introduced him to the tactile world of art using crayons, pencils, chalkboards, and tempera. Despite being widowed at a young age and left to raise her family as a single parent, Doug’s mother managed to provide him with private watercolor lessons with his junior high art teacher, igniting a flame for art that would burn for a lifetime.

Doug's artistic explorations flourished at West Des Moines Valley High School, where he delved into a wide array of mediums - from graphite, charcoal, and watercolor to the tactile delight of clay, woodcarving, and silk screening. The guidance and encouragement from his remarkable art teachers, Steve Cunningham and Gene Brown, propelled him toward envisioning a future adorned with artistic endeavors. A significant nod to his budding talent came during his senior year when he was granted a scholarship to immerse himself in life drawing at the Des Moines Art Center. This accolade led him to the portals of the College of Art and Design at Iowa State University. Here, his artistic repertoire expanded to embrace textiles, jewelry, and furniture design alongside his already extensive medium mastery.

However, life had a different script; after three enriching years at Iowa State, Doug transitioned into restaurant management, married, and started a family. As fate would have it, his intrigue with computers and electronics veered his path toward the technology frontier in the early 1980s. Climbing the ladder to IT executive management, Doug often found his artistic background to be the secret sauce in his toolkit for creative problem-solving.

The call of the canvas was irresistible, and after a 35-year hiatus, encouraged by the chorus of family and friends, Doug rekindled his romance with brushes, choosing the comforting embrace of watercolors as his starting point. His artistic journey took a fortunate turn when he got the opportunity to hone his watercolor skills under the tutelage of the esteemed Chicago artist and teacher Ed Hinkley. In retirement from IT, Doug has been adventuring into new territories of artistic expression, exploring music, woodcarving, jewelry designing, digital design, and the futuristic realm of 3D modeling & printing.