The Quiet Resilience: Why Sketching Your Neighbor Is a Civic Duty

Written By Ottawa Center for the Arts Board Member Doug Dalrymple

In my previous life—the one involving four decades of IT executive meetings and enough fluorescent lighting to tan a mole—"resilience" was a buzzword we used for server clusters and disaster recovery. If the system crashed, you had a backup. If the backup failed, you prayed.

But out here in the semi-rural heart of the Illinois River Valley, social resilience looks a lot less like a cloud server and a lot more like a drafty room filled with people trying to figure out how to draw a human foot without it looking like a cluster of sad bratwursts.

Lately, the national mood has been fractious and gloomy, leaving families and communities isolated and irritable. We’re siloed and cranky. But I’ve found a loophole: the Ottawa Center for the Arts (OC4A). It’s the "social glue" for our region, and it’s a lot stickier than people realize.

The 1930s Called, and They’re Right

I’ve been spending some time looking back at the American Artists' Congress of 1936. Those folks saw art as a "public utility"—something as necessary to a functioning democracy as clean water or a paved road.

Today, the "rural chill" is real, but the OC4A is our regional furnace. We aren't just a couple of old churches in Ottawa; we are the Arts hub for the entire Illinois River Valley. We’re told that rural America is a "cultural desert," but between our fantastic performing arts schedule and our visual arts excursions, I’m fairly certain we’re actually a tropical rainforest of activity.

The Chemistry of the Common Table (and the Trail)

The OC4A doesn't just wait for people to come to us; we take the art to the landscape. We organize plein air excursions into Starved Rock State Park, where the challenge isn't just capturing the light on the sandstone, but doing it without a tourist accidentally knocking over your easel.

When we aren't in the woods, we’re out on urban sketching outings, documenting the character of Ottawa and our surrounding river towns. Back at the hub, we host weekly open studio sessions, drawing and painting workshops, and our monthly figure drawing sessions.

But it’s not just the visual crowd. If you’ve spent any time at the Ottawa Center for the Arts, you know the walls are usually vibrating with music and the energy of the performing arts. Whether it’s a performance of a popular regional band, a choir, original music by a local songwriter or a theatrical production, the goal is the same: providing a space where people have to be "neighbors" first and "ideologies" second.

There is a certain social chemistry that happens when you’re working with your hands or sharing a stage. You can’t glare at someone when you’re both wondering why the anatomy of a knee—or the timing of a bridge—is so needlessly complicated. In these moments, you aren't a "Red State Guy" or a "Blue State Gal"; you’re just the person who has the kneaded eraser or the sheet music I need to borrow.

The ROI of a Paintbrush (and a Stage)

When I’m wearing my board member hat for the OC4A or NCI ARTworks, I hear a lot about "Return on Investment." In my IT days, ROI was easy: you buy a faster processor, you get faster data. Simple. But in the civic world, people want to know why we should fund arts workshops when we could be, I don't know, buying a slightly larger snowplow.

Here’s the snarky truth from a guy who’s managed both budgets: the snowplow clears the road, but the arts give you a reason to drive down it. Investing in the OC4A isn't about the paint; it's about the "up-time" of our region’s sanity. If we don’t fund the spaces where people can actually look each other in the eye over a palette or a script, we’re just building very efficient roads to a place where nobody wants to talk to each other.

The Artful Second Act

My own "Second Act" has taught me that you don't need a 40-year career in management to lead a community. You just need a sketchbook and the willingness to be a little bit bad at it in public.

So, if you’re feeling like the world is tilted on its axis, don't just shout into the digital void. Come down to the Ottawa Center. Join us at the park for a sketch, or sit in on a music workshop. Join the quiet resilience. It turns out that the best way to save a community isn't through a press release or a political rally—it’s through a shared palette and a healthy dose of communal humility.

And if we happen to draw a few bratwurst-feet along the way, well, at least we’re doing it together.

The Hopewell Arts Collaborative, in partnership with the Ottawa Center for the Arts and North Central Illinois ARTworks, will be organizing and facilitating the Open Studios, Workshops and other visual arts events.

Join in the Collaboration:

Upcoming at Ottawa Center for the Arts

Don't just watch the news—make something. Here’s what’s coming up at the Center and throughout the Illinois River Valley:

Open Studio & Workshops | Weekly – From watercolor, acrylic & oil painting to performing arts, and music workshops, there’s always a chair (or a stage) waiting for you.

Plein Air Excursion: Starved Rock & Matthiessen Parks | Monthly April to October – Meet us at the trailhead. We provide the inspiration; you bring the easel (and the bug spray).

Urban Sketchers: Ottawa and other Illinois River cities | Monthly April to October – We’re hitting the streets to capture the architecture and character of our downtown.

Figure Drawing Sessions & Workshops | Monthly – Grab your charcoal and join us for our long-running sessions. No judgment, just art.

Ready to find your own creative center? Visit us at the Ottawa Center for the Arts in downtown Ottawa or check out our full calendar online. Let’s get to work.

Based in Ottawa, Illinois, Chicagoland artist Doug Dalrymple traces his creative roots to Clive, Iowa, where he first engaged with art as therapy for a congenital hand defect. Following studies at Iowa State University, Doug pivoted to a successful 40-year career in IT executive management, utilizing his artistic background for creative problem-solving before finally returning to his true passion in retirement. Having honed his watercolor skills under Chicago artist Ed Hinkley, Doug now works across a diverse range of mediums—including woodcarving, jewelry design, art modeling, and 3D modeling & printing—embracing a "second act" defined by renewed exploration and expression.