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Eldon Ahner· Scott Bramstedt· Cheryl Cannon· Jane Stumpf Childers· James Cleland· Esther Emmerich· Nancy Friederich· Roger Grodeon· Joyce Hutchinson· Sue McConnell· Bob Mueth· Tom Meyer· Dick Sax· Elizabeth Schnur· Meryl T. Schroeder· Nancy Webb· Amy Webb· Susan Webb· Anna Wiese· Elfred Worms·
The Mascoutah Heritage Museum's current featured exhibit is Visual Images.Visual Images brings together works of art by many artists with ties to Mascoutah. Each artist or heir owns the copyright to his or her work. Please respect the ownership of the images on this page by crediting the artist, should the image be used outside of this web page.
Eldon has worked with stained glass projects for 25 years. Having enjoyed drawing, coloring and cutting glass since his childhood, it is a natural talent to create glass projects and then build them. Most projects are done for people with a specific purpose in mind.
Eldon's grandfather was an architect and builder whose many structures are still in use around the country. The Kirkwood, Missouri train station is one of these structures. "My grandpa and I would have enjoyed working together on construction sites."
All projects start with someone's idea. Then, after getting all facets of the idea put together, a final product develops. "I hope to continue building with glass until the Lord sees otherwise."
Scott attended Mascoutah schools, and graduated from Southern Illinois University Edwardsville in 1982. He also attended some classes at Southwestern Illinois University. He is currently employed by Boulder Exhibits in St. Louis, designing trade show exhibits.
Historic Mascoutah has been part of Cheryl's life for about twenty five years. Her husband, Dick Cannon, graduated from Mascoutah High School, class of 1950. His friends became Cheryl's and the community with its rich farmland, stark yet beautiful and peaceful, bacame a place Cheryl loves to visit, to photograph and to enjoy the great people they call friends.
For years, Cheryl was a watercolor artist, always watching how light played against darkness. Her subjects, mostly portraits and flowers, always seemed to her to be up close and personal. For her, photography became a natural transition. Later, she expanded her portfolio to include landscapes.
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Jane Stumpf Childers is a native of Mascoutah. The daughter of Ted and Carolyn Stumpf, she attended the Mascoutah Public Schools, enjoying high school art classes conducted by Elizabeth Schnur. Jane currently lives in Overland Park, Kansas, with her husband, Buck, and their 17 year old twin sons.
During her professional career she has been a member of Gateway East Artists' Guild (in the 1970s), has taken painting workshops with Charles Rhinehart in Belleville, Illinois, and took studio art classes at Belleville Area College with Dale Threlkeld.
Jane received a Bachelor of Fine Arts from Southern Illinois University Carbondale in 1985. Her body of work to date includes private commissions and several mural projects.
Jim has been collecting and working with rocks and gemstones since he was a child in Mascoutah. He graduated from Southern Illinois University in 1970 with a degree in biology, then combined postgraduate work in geology with the running of the Carbondale Rock Shop for a number of years. In 1975, he opened the Southern Illinois Gem Company, combining his interest in geology with his growing design skills as a jeweler.
He and his wife, Ginger, eventually moved to St. Louis, opening another jewelry business, Designs in Gold. Their success has allowed Jim to focus on the designs and building of art jewelry reflecting his sense of the organic form.
Some of Jim's jewelry is inspired by insects and nature. Other pieces are inspired by the traditional forms of the Japanese mon, incorporating depth, texture, movement, and color.
Click here to view Jim Cleland's website
Esther Emmerich lived in Mascoutah for most of her adult life. In the early 1950s, after a career as bookkeeper for St. Louis Dairy Company, she became a florist and was the proprietor of Midtown Floral. In the late 1970s she decided to retire and devote full time to doing what she enjoyed most - painting! Two of her favorite subjects were roses and houses. A very prolific artist, upon her death Esther left her collection to her goddaughter Jane Stumpf Childers.
Esther was a member of Gateway East Artists' Guild in Collinsville, Illinois. She took painting classes with Charles Rhinehart in Belleville, Illinois, and also took studio art classes at Belleville Area College with Dale Threlkeld.
Esther participated in numerous art exhibitions in the area including the 25th Annual Town and Country State Amateur Art Exhibition, as well as shows at St. Clair Square, downtown Belleville and others.
Nancy Friederich began her artistic career later than most artists. She picked up a brush for the first time at 34 years of age, and has been hooked every since. She was living in Mascoutah during her artistic epiphany. After taking studio classes one night a week for ten years, she had a thirst to learn more. She had the opportunity to go back to school in her late forties, and received a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree from SIUE in 1996, graduating first in her class. She then received Master of Arts and Master of Fine Arts degrees from Fontbonne University in St. Louis.
She has participated in many local and national art shows, including Salute to the Masters in Fairview Heights, Illinois, and Art on the Square in Belleville, Illinois. At the present time, she is on the adjunct faculty at Southwestern Illinois College, teaching art history and painting. She continues to paint every spare moment.
Roger is a Mascoutah native. He began sketching while he was in grade school, and then continued in high school. He took several courses at Mascoutah High School and at Belleville Area College.
Roger enjoys sketching outdoor scenes as a hobby. Shown here is the Facht Farm, located one mile south of Mascoutah. The Facht Sisters were the granddaughters of Phillip H. Postel. The Facht Farm was the farm where Roger's father was born and raised.
Joyce was born into a military family that traveled a lot. To pass much of her time, she liked to draw flowers even as early as about five or six years old when her family lived in Long Island. She spent many hours on the dining room table just drawing to her heart's content. She doesn't remember playing a lot of dolls or even watching TV, just drawing and, occasionally, lying out in her backyard on a nice spring or summer day looking at the clouds rolling by trying to see what she could see in them and then rising above them to see what was past them.
She is now married and has three children. They are an artist / musical family. She teaches art out of her home. She tries to produce as much art as she has time for. She has also started painting murals. She loves to garden, photograph her flowers, and then do renderings of them in oil or color pencil. She says, "Georgia O'Keefe is one of my all-time favorites and it's no wonder. What better way to share something you love than to create more of it for all to see?"
Click here to view Joyce Hutchinson's website
Art has been a part of Sue all her life. Throughout school, from kindergarten on, she can remember many of the projects, art work, and art-related activities that she enjoyed. She studied art in college at Bradley, then added a teaching degree, and became an art teacher. Even more than creating art, which she has done all along, she has enjoyed seeing students gain self-esteem, appreciation, prizes, scholarships, and pleasure through art in her classes.
Starting in 1958, teaching art to 6th, 7th, and 8th grade students at the U.S. Army school in Vilseck, Germany, until "retiring" in 1994, she has taught at many levels. After teaching junior college classes in Belleville, and teaching adult groups, she returned to full-time teaching at Mascoutah High School when her youngest was in 8th grade. After an enjoyable time at MHS, she moved on to teach at New Athens Community High School.
Much of her work during the past five years has either been done with a group of retired art teachers, or in conjunction with the Rembrandt Society (an organization of high school students and their sponsors), or on vacation trips. Some of her other work has been of a design or commercial art nature, much of it simply for groups, friends, and family.
Robert Mueth was born and raised in Mascoutah, Illinois. He served in the United States Navy from 1951 to 1955. He attended Southern Illinois University, Carbondale, graduating in 1958. In 1956 he married Edith Hamilton; they have four children and eight grandchildren. He opened his own insurance agency in 1962, retiring in 1988.
After retirement, Bob started woodcarving and has carved over 125 ducks and other birds, as well as character carvings. At this time, due to macular degeneration he is no longer able to do realistic carvings.
Thomas Wayne Meyer was born March 27, 1939, in St. Louis, Missouri; his mother's family had long ties to Mascoutah. As a young child he had many interests and hobbies. With limited finances and resources, he found creative ways to learn and experience new things.
As an adult Tom served his country in the Navy during the Vietnam War. He was one of the founders of the Shiloh Muzzleloaders, learned to build his own guns, and created the beautiful firearms seen in the display. He was the Illinois state archery champion in 1971 and 1972. In his fifties he learned how to play the violin and competed in state senior championships.
Tom assisted charities and individuals in need. This assistance was always very private. He died December 31, 2001, and is fondly remembered and deeply missed by family, friends and co-workers.
Born in Belleville, Illinois, in 1928, Dick attended Cathedral Grade School and High School. He attended Belleville Area College where he was a staff artist for the school's first yearbook.
Dick joined the Air Force Reserve and was called to active duty in 1950. He continued to pursue his artistic passion, doing pencil sketches of military life. Discharged after two years, Dick returned home, found employment, and married Margie Moll, his sweetheart. In 1974, the opportunity to buy a Mascoutah business came up. Dick ran Western Auto and a convenience store. Later they added a Radio Shack franchise and a Phillips 66 gas station.
When Dick semi-retired, he took a few watercolor classes and some woodcarving classes. Of the many things Dick created, most have been given to family members. It has become a family tradition. Family and art will always be Dick's focus and love.
Originally from Murphysboro, Elizabeth earned a B.S. in Art Education from Southern Illinois University Carbondale. After completing a two-year Master of Fine Arts degree, she taught grade and high school art in Canton, Missouri. Upon coming to Mascoutah High School, she started the art department and developed it over the years.
Meryl T. Schroeder was born in 1921 in Clay County, Illinois. He practiced law in Mascoutah for over 50 years prior to his death in 2006.
Meryl was a self-taught artist and craftsman. He created many stained glass windows, including several for St. John's United Church of Christ in Mascoutah. Woodworking was another area of interest. Over the years, Meryl made lamps, shelves, and cabinets. In addition, he worked with clay, creating lamps and bowls.
The Air Force brought the Webb family to Illinois in the seventies, and the decision to stay in Mascoutah was her own. Nancy and her four daughters grew and thrived in this fair city.
Nancy worked at Southwestern Illinois College for 25 years as their graphics artist. Since retiring, she works with two of her daughters for a 150-year-old mail order homeopathic medicine company. She designs and illustrates the catalogs and ads that her daughter, Nancy, writes as the creative director for the company.
The arts seem to be in her veins as her mother drew and wrote poetry, her brother paints in a studio in Dallas, and her daughters include a sculptress, a dancer / choreographer, an artist / home-school mom, and a catalog writer with a passion for the flute.
After graduating from Mascoutah Community High School, Amy earned her Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in printmaking and drawing at the University of Iowa, then went on to earn her Master of Fine Arts degree in book arts at Mills College in Oakland, California.
Born in Japan, Amy has continued her sojourn around the world, with Mascoutah as her base. She moved from San Francisco to Waterloo, Belgium, and now lives in Providence, Rhode Island. Married to David Brown and mother of two children, she is a home school mom, passing on her love of life, art, and music while doling out the three Rs. She works as a contract illustrator and costume designer through her family company, Mockingbird Design. A month in Mascoutah every summer now gives her kids a taste of the midwest.
Susan Webb and her husband, Henry Grimmett, live and work in Portland, Oregon. She has two children, and all love the unique quality of life in Oregon.
She is an artist in clay, and has been highlighted in American Ceramics magazine.
Now, however, she has given up her starving artist lifestyle and is dedicated to her growing glass company. As entrepreneur and president of Glass Alchemy, she casts her spell over the borosilicate colored glass rods her company produces. Her glass is especially coveted by glassblowers.
Anna Wiese was born February 10, 1859 in East Prussia. She was married to the Reverend William Wiese in Konigsberg in 1879. With her husband and children, she came to this country in 1887, making their home near Red Bud. They moved to Mascoutah three years later. Her husband died soon after that, and Mrs. Wiese and her sons moved to St. Louis, where she operated a boarding house. Mrs. Wiese was such a warm, kind person, and in the short time she was here she made many friends. Her home in St. Louis became the home of many from Mascoutah for a short time or a period of years.
Mrs. Wiese eventually moved back to Mascoutah, and became a very active part of the community. We believe she started her painting while still in Germany, as her initials on some of the pieces are those of her maiden name. Many of her pieces she gave to friends as gifts. Others she gave to church and community groups as prizes fro various fund raising or special award events.
Anna Wiese died in her home in Mascoutah on September 15, 1945, and is buried in Mascoutah City Cemetery. Her art on display at the Museum is on loan from descendants of some who received them as gifts, purchased them at auctions, or are gifts to the Heritage Museum from the Dingfelder family.
Elfred was the second president of the Mascoutah Historical Society, serving from 1978 - 1979. His greatest interest was travel. Elfred took groups of people to Great Britain, Central Europe, Spain and Morocco, and he took numerous trips on his own and with his family.
This panel is the second of three window panels he was making for his home. Elfred and his brother-in-law, Meryl Schroeder, created a moveable two-panel dining room window for his home. They also created a large stained glass window for Saint John United Church of Christ in Mascoutah. Elfred died in December of 2004.