Mother and Son - an exhibit at the Swedish American Museum Center

Congratulations to Edgewater resident Ken Nordine on the exhibit at the Swedish American Museum Center entitled Mother and Son. The exhibit features the sculptural works of his mother Theresia Danielson Nordine, along with his own creative works. It opened on January 19th and will close on March 18, 2007.

The exhibit celebrates the creative life of Ken’s mother, who was born in Sweden in 1891 and came to America at the age of 16. She married Nore Nordine, who came to America at the age of 17, in Cherokee, Iowa, where Ken was born.

Later, the family moved to Chicago and Theresia had a career in real estate. She discovered her talent for sculpture in her mid 50s after commissioning a sculpture of her daughter that was not successful. She decided to try her hand and found it both interesting and rewarding.

Ken, Theresia’s oldest son, is famous for his Sunday midnight broadcast on WBEZ (91.5 FM) of a program called Word Jazz. Ken has been nominated for Grammy awards for Spoken Word and has 11 albums to his credit. But, at the exhibit, he is showing his visual artistry sometimes based on his reactions to historical event and sometimes events and experiences from his family life. Most recently, his works have been based on mathematics and morphing images.

Throughout the exhibit are colorful banners with quotes about colors used in Ken’s book “Colors.” Each color has a poem describing it. There’s still time to see this exhibit and learn more about one of Edgewater’s creative talents.