Like a lot of his contemporaries, Ed Paschke Sr. had to drop out of school and go to work during the Depression. He got a job driving a truck for a Chicago bakery, met his bride there, and was launched on a lifelong blue-collar and small-business career that included construction work, farming, and demolition. In the evenings and on weekends he would come home to his workshop and turn clumps of wood and clay into whimsical, brightly painted sculptures–birds, animals, human heads–while his two young sons looked on.
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The Paschke family moved around, from city to farm to suburb. Wherever they settled, a workshop would be established, either in the garage or in the basement. The boys knew their father was home if the air was filled with the smell of sawdust and the whine of a power saw. Paschke Sr. was a strong, tough-loving man with a temper that could be spectacular and scary. He was also a disciplinarian, administering a hand to their backsides when he had to. When he did, it felt like that hand had an iron bar in it instead of ordinary bones. He was reticent by nature, more of an observer than an extrovert–but also a storyteller, a country-music lover (and player) who could hold his own socially. Most of all, he was a hard worker whose creative impulses found expression when he picked up a carving tool or paintbrush. To his younger son, who was named for him, “it was a magical process–watching him breathe life into inanimate materials.” And the son said to himself, “I want to be just like that. I want to do these things, too.”
“I thought his work should have been seen more than it was,” the son says. “Then I ran into Ann Rosen [a former student, now executive director of the Suburban Fine Arts Center]. She said, ‘Hey, we’re still waiting for you to put together some kind of show for us,’ and something just clicked regarding my dad.” “Paschke Sr./Paschke Jr.,” a memorial show and sale of Ed Paschke Sr.’s work, along with four pieces by his son, opens with a reception from 6:30 to 8 tonight at the center, 1913 Sheridan Road in Highland Park, and continues through January 5. It’s free. Ed Paschke will discuss his father’s influence on his work at 1 PM tomorrow; admission to the lecture is $10. Exhibit hours are 9 to 5 Monday though Saturday. Call 847-432-1888 for more information. –Deanna Isaacs
