New leader of Dixon art gallery a hometown boy with worldly experience

DIXON – For Philip Atilano, home is where the art is.

It’s where he grew up, it’s where he discovered a passion for creating that would become a career – and it’s where the new executive director of The Next Picture Show has found a place where he finally can keep both feet on the ground.

That doesn’t mean he’s standing still. Far from it.

Atilano has spent the last few months asking himself, “What’s next?,” and not wasting any time coming up with an answer.

After the 41-year-old Dixon native stepped into the job on Jan. 1, he’s made several changes at the nonprofit community fine arts center: new exhibits, new classes, even a whole new floor of added space.

The changes incorporate much of what Atilano has learned and seen in his travels – and that’s a lot.

“Being home and being close to my family is what did it for me,” he said. “This opportunity opened up, and it was all about timing.”

This isn’t Atilano’s first time at TNPS. He displayed his art there early in his career, has been an exhibition judge at times and also helped occasionally with community art projects affiliated with the gallery.

He was asked to take over as executive director when Bonnie Kime stepped down in January 2016, but had to decline because of other commitments. Michael Glenn stepped into the role, and by the time he retired, Atilano had been back in the area for about 4 years.

He moved to Sterling with his wife, Julia (Swartley) Atilano, and their two children, and the next time the executive director position opened up, he was ready.

“I’m excited about this opportunity, and I’m really looking forward to making this place excel,” Atilano said. “I just kind of got burned out on traveling. I was in 40 states in seven years. I’m married. I wanted to stay married. I have two young boys. It was time to stay on the ground for a while.”

Atilano long has had a passion for art – “since the time I could pick up a pencil” – especially drawing.

“It was kind of my form of escapism,” he said. “Drawing and my imagination had just been inspired by art. I didn’t really know what opportunities were out there for an artist.”

Atilano honed his skills in art class at Dixon High School, where he graduated in 1999, and improved upon them at Sauk Valley Community College, where he earned his associate’s degree in 2001 before attending the Milwaukee Institute of Art and Design. He graduated in 2005 with a bachelor’s in fine arts with an emphasis on drawing.

While figurative drawing was his specialty, Atilano enjoyed other classes that expanded his artistic palette, such as sculpting and painting.

After completing his studies at MIAD, he worked for eight years at Spolar Studio in Milwaukee as lead artist and project manager. He then became an exhibit designer with Milwaukee’s Betty Brinn Children’s Museum, where he designed spaces to display exhibits and created several of his own.

Some of his works were exhibited throughout the nation and around the world. It wasn’t long before Atilano started putting in a lot of miles, too, spending seven years with Conrad Schmitt Studios of New Berlin, Wisconsin, as a foreman and lead artist.

While there, he led projects at the University of Notre Dame’s basilica, the Paramount Theatre in Aurora, and state capital buildings in St. Paul, Minnesota, and Pierre, South Dakota.

Architecture and art often can be one and the same, especially in older buildings. Religious buildings can be especially ornate, and quite an undertaking to preserve and restore.

Atilano has scaled scaffolding in cathedrals, basilicas and churches throughout the country, restoring murals, frescoes, stained glass, ornamental plaster and gilding with 23-karat gold leaf from Italy.

His wrapped up a large-scale restoration project in December at St. Joseph’s Catholic Church in Westphalia, Missouri, which underwent four months of repainting inside.

The next project he tackled was even bigger: restoration work at the Minnesota capital building in St. Paul. For nearly 20 months he led a crew of 25 who tackled work inside and outside the capital.

“My job was to be the first on the scene, do samples and get approvals from the architects and design committees, and I would be there until the project finished,” he said. “The typical time frame would be about 3 months for a standard project, but the Minnesota state capital was an exception because it was a full interior/exterior restoration, and it was massive – it was a $490 million project. All of the artwork was pretty exquisite.”

Now he’s turned the downtown art gallery into his next major project.

The Next Picture Show opened in 2004 in an 1854 building that underwent a complete renovation. The main gallery level has a wide variety of exhibits from artists near and far. Before the COVID-19 pandemic, it also hosted small concerts. The lower level of the building is where most of the classes and workshops take place, with some space reserved for special exhibitions.

Throughout most of its history, however, there had only been two levels of the building open to the public.

Under Atilano, the upstairs has one storage and office space to host the occasional exhibit and workshop.

Growing up, Atilano didn’t have a place in town where he could exhibit his works, but he wants that to change for the current generation. He aims to broaden the demographic and artistic scope for classes and exhibits, giving more people a platform for their work.

TNPS also recently received a grant from the Lee County United Way to expand the number of classes offered.

He’s also looking at more than just pictures at The Next Picture Show.

“I’m not solely looking at 2D and 3D work, but also exploring writing, poetry and fashion,” Atilano said. “I’m trying to bring in different types of art to expose the public to things they may not normally see. I really want to encompass everything, and focus on the key words of ‘community fine arts center.’”

He also brought back paint parties, where students learn how to turn a blank canvas into a work of art they can take home.

The gallery also serves as the meeting place for the Sauk Creative Writer’s Group, where writers work on and share tips in drafting novels, memoirs, poetry, prose and short stories.

Atilano also is trying to lower the costs of classes and create scholarship-like programs so more children can afford to explore their creative sides. After life on the road, settling back down in the Sauk Valley and working in his hometown has been a welcome change for Atilano.

“For being a town of 15,000, there’s a lot of culture here,” he said. “With the theater, Stage Left, us, it’s kind of like a game of chess where we have the right pieces in play, we have the right people leading it. It’s exciting. It’s kind of like a cultural revolution. It’s really cool to see what’s going to happen and the potential that’s there.”

Pay a visit

The Next Picture Show, 113 W. First St., is open from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., Tuesday through Saturday, or by appointment.

For information on exhibits, art classes or to donate, find it on Facebook, go to nextpictureshow.org, email director@nextpictureshow.org or call 815-285-4924.

Exhibits around Dixon

Through Sept. 3: Absolutely Abstract at TNPS, 113 W. First St.

Through Sept. 30: Black and White at KSB Commerce Towers, 215 E. First St.

Sept. 10-Oct. 22: Farms and Barns exhibit at TNPS

Sept. 22: Graydon Cafarella memorial and auction, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Oct. 1-Dec. 31: Birds of a Feather at KSB Commerce Towers

Oct. 29-Dec. 10: Water Street Studios exhibit from Batavia

Dec. 13-Jan. 7: Sydni Reuban and Heather Shore exhibition