Patterns in nature net Norway, Illinois woman first place in Starved Rock Art Show

Recognizing patterns in nature has helped many an artist reach their potential, and as of Sunday afternoon that includes Carrie Woeltje.

Woeltje’s alcohol marker rendition of a giant swallowtail butterfly she saw in her front yard in Norway, Illinois, has netted her first place in the adult competition of the fourth annual Starved Rock Art Show, announced Sunday at the Visitors Center.

The butterfly piece took her two months of her spare time to complete and it is something Woeltje saw in the front yard, which had been restored to a native prairie state by her husband. She mentioned being drawn to the patterns on the wings, having found appealing very abstract shapes in her high school drawings and now seeing so many of them in nature.

“That inspires me,” said Woeltje, who creates her art as a hobby during breaks from her job at a department head at Farm and Fleet in Ottawa. “Markers are my favorite, but I like ink drawings as well. I’ve been drawing since I was a kid, took heavy art classes in high school and majored in art at College of DuPage. I was into photography for a while, but this is what I enjoy now.

“This is the first time I’ve ever won a competition like this, so it’s very exciting. I’ll have to enter them more often now.”

Both second and third places in the adult competition went to Katie Batkiewicz for her acrylic paintings of “Cascade Falls” and “Let It Snow,” respectively. Fourth place went to Edna Olson for her water color “Stacking the Deck” and fifth place to Batkiewicz for her acrylic “Lake McDonald.”

In the youth portion of the contest, both first and second places went to Shreya Mokashi, the winning colored pencil work of hummingbird entitled “Fluttering Harmony” edging out her drawing “Soaring Blue Jay” for the win.

Third and fourth places went to Helena Lopez with her charcoal works of a white-tailed deer and a woodpecker, respectively, while fifth place went to Lucy Gutilla for a painting in acrylics of mountain flowers.

This is the third year for the annual art show and it didn’t draw quite as many entries as in past events, but Starved Rock naturalist Lisa Sons said she was pleased with both the quantity and quality of the work submitted as well as from the diverse area from which they came. Artists from as far as Chicago to south central Illinois participated, and more than 400 visitors to the national park voted for the winners.

“We’ve had so many people come in to ask for trail suggestions or just to look around the Visitors Center, have come in here to see the exhibits and actually placed the votes for what they felt was the best work,” said Sons, who is an artist in her own right. “It’s gone well. I enjoy art, I enjoy that others enjoy it, too, and can express themselves with what they see on the trails.”