Even at 99, artist’s skills,
faith, undiminished
Addolorata Villa resident still ‘draws’ notice

By Hilary Anderson
contributor

Retirement is not on Stanley Gorski’s agenda. The 99-year-young artist-in-residence at Addolorata Villa, Wheeling, still has much work to do.
He’s too busy creating religious artwork for the Villa’s Sunday bulletin, among others. Gorski calls it “payback.”

“The Lord has been good to me,” said Gorski who attends daily Mass. “He’s put me on the earth for many years and I’ve had a good life. Now I want to pay back for all that I’ve received.” He donates most of his artwork.

He dates his love of drawing to his childhood, when he used to copy cartoons from the Chicago Tribune’s Sunday comics section. He had no formal art training as a child other than what he says the nuns at St. Ann School (18th and Levitt) taught him.

The oldest of 12 children, Gorski left school at 14 to help support his family, first as a docker, loading trucks for an advertising company, Meyer-Both.
It was a place he was meant to be.

“I fell in love with what the artists there were doing,” Gorski said. “I went to evening classes at Crane High School but never finished.” In order to become an apprentice artist for the company, Gorski said he took a cut in pay from $10 a week to $7. But it put him on a career path.

Later, Gorski attended evening classes at the Art Institute and then the American Academy of Art, also after his workday. He ultimately became an illustrator of men’s fashions.

His job was being an artist, but he shared his life with the girl across the street, Adeline. They were married 70 years. “She was a good wife, a good companion,” Gorski said. “She made it possible for me to work long hours and pursue my career.”

The couple made church the center of their lives, along with their children—Jim, Ted and Judy—and became involved in many of its activities.

It was at St. Odilo Parish, Berwyn, that Gorski first began sketching religious figures.

Then, when he and his family moved to Elmhurst, Gorski provided the artwork for his parish bulletins at Mary Queen of Heaven. A sign with pictures that Gorski once drew still stands outside the church. It lists Masses and activities. Gorski’s painting of the Blessed Mother still hangs in the parish rectory. In 2003, that parish gave him its “Lifetime Achievement award” for his contributions.

Gorski points out that Adeline had received the parish’s “Woman of the Year” award.

Gorski drew for Meyer-Both for 43 years before the firm folded. At age 57, he landed a commercial artist job with the Chicago Tribune, producing pen-and-ink drawings of furniture and later sketched the outsides of houses for the real estate section. He retired at 65, but continued as a free-lance artist doing special projects for Sears, Dominick’s, Santa’s Village, Jack’s Men’s Store, Benson Rixson, Airroom and the Hub. He also drew coloring books for Dominick’s and Santa’s Village.

Gorski occasionally had his wife and children pose for some of his artwork.

Gorski’s real love was, is and always has been his religious artwork.

“I love to draw our Blessed Mother and the Sacred Heart,” he said. “My favorite is Jesus on Palm Sunday riding on a donkey.” He said the drawing, done in acrylics, was created for a Benedictine missionary stationed in Taiwan.

“I combined two images—one of the Good Shepherd and the other the Sacred Heart—into one picture,” said Gorski. He said he researched his technique at the Art Institute so the picture would hold up in Taiwan’s high humidity and heat.

“It was like Jesus was standing in your living room,” said Gorski’s son, Ted. “I said God was holding my dad’s hand while he painted the picture.”

Gorski researches his subjects [saints] often with the help of his daughter and other family members.

“He has filing cabinets full of pictures and information,” said Ted Gorski. “He recently learned how to use the computer, which he often uses now for lettering.”

When Gorski gets stuck on how to draw something, he said he prays to the Sacred Heart for inspiration. It must work well, since his artwork is being used for holy cards, leaflets and appeared in Catholic newspapers and religious communities’ informational material.

Gorski’s most recent challenge was how to depict Memorial Day on the Villa’s Sunday bulletin. His final product was a drawing of a mail and female soldier carrying a wreath of flowers to the cemetery.
Art still fills his life.

Gorski had two full-time job offers at age 92. “We were worried Dad would accept one of them,” said his son. “We sometimes think he is burning the candle at both ends.”

When Gorski moved to Villa Addolorata, he transformed his one-bedroom apartment into an art studio. His sleeping quarters are now in the living room.
It takes Gorski about 8 to 10 hours to do a sketch for the Villa’s Sunday Bulletin. Other more complicated drawings take double or triple that time. He works a few hours at a time, taking short breaks in between. He still enjoys swimming and ice skating when time allows. But he said he seldom watches TV.

“It’s too time-consuming and besides, there’s not much of interest on it,” he said. “My artwork makes me happy. I’m still alive and so far behind!”