Rock Falls Electric Utilities

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Rock Falls provides green, affordable, and reliable power to consumers and is transitioning our generation to a cleaner, more diverse portfolio in a responsible fashion while ensuring reliable supply and proving stable costs to our customers college experience also included study at the University of Illinois’ veterinary program across town. From there, she worked at the Veterinary Centers of America hospital in Aurora, working in diagnostics and imaging while learning about ultrasounds, Xrays and MRIs — “a very fun experience,” she said.

After subsequent stints at clinics in Sycamore, Morrison and Reno, Nevada, McLaughlin hung up her stethoscope five years ago to spend more time with her children — but her passion for pets never went away, and she looked for a way to balance kids and a career.

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“I was working on things that I could do to get back into helping animals again,” McLaughlin said. “It’s hard for a clinic to hire someone from 9 to 2 when the kids are at school. So I realized that we didn’t have any mobile vets around here, or anything that could to someone’s house. I know that clinics are pretty busy right now and it can be hard [for a pet] to get in for the basic things.”

Another pet project of hers has been graphic design, which she’s used to create a logo for her business, a website (unleashedcare.com), and her own “certificate of bravery” cards for each pet she cares for. She picked up the idea when she worked at the animal hospital in Aurora.

“Everyone loved it, so I made sure that I wanted to do that with this,” McLaughlin said. “Now they’ll put it on the fridge before I walk out the door.”

Her logo also adorns her work shirt, which is also part of her treatment approach.

“I know there are a lot of dogs that are anxious of ‘white coat syndrome,’” McLaughlin said. “There are a lot of dogs that aren’t used to seeing people in scrubs or in the white medical jackets that the doctors wear, and a lot of times they will get very nervous when they see those things because it’s something they are not used to. So I went with some basic scrub pants and T-shirts so that way they wouldn’t feel anxious with somebody strange coming into their house. They take to it pretty well.”

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Dogs and cats make up most of her patients, but she’s helped others, too: she can trim a bird’s nails (as long as someone else can hold them), or identify whether a pet’s teeth need worked on. Part of the licensing that allows her to have her business involves continuing education on animal care; she’ll take on the study of an animal she doesn’t usually encounter.

As with anyone who cares for people’s pets which can be such an important part of people’s lives — McLaughlin knows how important her role is, but she hopes as word gets out about her business, more doors will open.

“It’s kind of what I wanted it to be,” McLaughlin said. “There’s still a lot of trying to get people to trust, with a lot of older people set in their ways that a clinic must do everything. Some people don’t trust technicians because they don’t understand what we do, or that we’re literally like registered nurses. It takes a lot of schooling, a lot of learning and a lot of heart for us to be able to do what we do: take care of their pets and treat them like our own” — but, she said, “We’re fully trustworthy.” n emember cracking open a box of colored pencils in school and finding inspiration in its rainbow of colors? Red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, violet … there was nothing you and Roy G. Biv couldn’t create.

When Unleashed Care owner Chelsey McLaughlin isn’t busy tending to other folks’ furry friends, she’s got her hands full at home, where she tends to her own little animal kingdom, from top: her cats, Rias and Videl; her rabbit, Graham; and on the facing page, her dog, Alita. “My mom said that ever since I could talk I’ve wanted to be a vet,” she said.

Then there was the white one. Sometimes, that one didn’t even see the inside of a pencil sharpener. But for a Sterling artist, working with a white pencil is the highlight of his day.

Matt Jagitsch brings his subjects to life with the strokes of nothing more than a white pencil against a backdrop of black, and though his pieces live in a world of shadows and light, they’re no less compelling than pieces found at the end of the rainbow. They may be a little more challenging to create, but rising to that challenge is part of what appeals to the artist.

By Cody Cutter Sauk Valley Media JAGITSCH cont’d to page 14

Artist Matt Jagitsch, seen here at his home studio in Sterling, said he enjoys the challenge of creating pieces with depth and feeling, using only a white pencil and a black piece of paper.

“It’s a primitive form of medium,” Jagitsch said. “The challenge of creating something that’s got depth and feeling to it, just having a couple of tools makes it a fun challenge.”

A look around his home studio shows just how much fun he’s had. Willie Nelson, Leonardo da Vinci, 1930s-era farmers, and even a few four-legged felines keep him company from behind the glass of framed pieces that line the walls of Black Sheep Studio.

Creating pieces with a white pencil on black paper takes a different approach than using a broader palette, or even pieces using a black pencil on white paper. With white-on-black works, the spots on an animal, a person’s eyes, the openings of a mouth aren’t drawn onto the paper — the paper itself takes care of that, with the black areas revealing details after Jagitsch draws the outlines in white that make the darker spaces stand out. It’s like a drawing in reverse.

“It’s fun to plan out because it’s a reverse way of drawing,” Jagitsch said. “In conventional drawing, you’re drawing the shadow and shading, but with these, you’re drawing highlights and letting the paper be the shadow and shading. They’re fun to plan out, and as soon as you start going, especially with animal fur and all of those strokes, it goes pretty quick.”

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It’s a talent that he rediscovered only a few years ago after a one-time middle school art class assignment, and he’s reaping plenty of praise for it at local art shows.

The first time Jagitsch, 53, wielded the white pencil was nearly 40 years ago, as a teen growing up in Jacksonville, Illinois, 30 miles west of Springfield. It was just a one-off school assignment then, and he would later try out other mediums — watercolors, oils, sculpting — as a college student at Eastern Illinois University, but that white pencil had left an indelible mark in his mind.

He would go on to work in yet another medium when he was planning a career: house paint. He started a house painting business when he moved to Dixon 25 years ago. Today, he and his family — wife Michelle and sons Nathan, Brandon and Connor — live in Sterling, where they’ve been for the past eight years.

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On his Black Sheep Studio Facebook page, Jagitsch said that he’s “back in the saddle” after a 25-plus year hiatus from art. Once he got the saddle, he needed something to put it on — a horse, maybe? But not one of a different color, just a white steed brought to life by Jagitsch.

CODY CUTTER/ CCUTTER@ SHAWMEDIA. COM

“THE GUARDIAN”

This drawing of a silverback gorilla won Best of Show at the 2021 Grand Detour Arts Festival.

JAGITSCH

Jagitsch continued painting houses, but when COVID hit, he found himself with more time on his hands than paint. He needed something to do in his spare time, and that’s when he thought about that middle school assignment. His interest rekindled, he started drawing again.

“When COVID hit, everybody had a little more time on their hands,” Jagitsch said. “My wife is an elementary teacher in Sterling, so she was working remotely from home and I was a little more at home than normal. That was all it really took for her to go, ‘We need to find something for you to do.’ So I just started drawing again.”

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Jagitsch said he enjoys showing his work at events and exhibitions, like this one, “One White Pencil,” at the McLean County Arts Center in Bloomington, Ill., earlier this year. “One of my favorite things is to be able to talk to people,” he said. “You’re seeing their face, listening to their comments, and that’s really where it’s at.”

Jagitsch draws on smooth, jet black Strathmore Artagain paper, which is a little thicker than the standard construction paper. He uses Faber-Castell Polychromos artist pencils, one that’s vegetable oil based and another that’s wax based, depending on which one he feels will produce the best results

Among the people he’s drawn are a series of blues artists including B.B. King, Muddy Waters, John Lee Hooker, Buddy Guy, Stevie Ray Vaughan and Leadbelly. His drawing of Willie Nelson features the famous country singer embracing his iconic guitar, “Trigger.” For the black signatures that are on the real Trigger, Jagitsch used an electric eraser to remove the white pencil strokes, leaving the black paper to replicate the autographs.

Jagitsch said older people tend to make for better drawings, with the lines and character in their face: “Their face tells a story, and people can make a connection with them better,” he said.

Pencils and erasers aren’t the only tools in the artist’s arsenal: Jagitsch also keeps Q-tips on hand for blending his pencil strokes. While some artists spray fixatives on their pieces to preserve them, Jagitsch prefers to leave them un-sprayed for a better look.

In nearly three years of drawing in his spare time, he’s created more than 200 different pieces. The first drawings stayed close to home, but as he got better, pieces made their way to local art galleries such as The Next Picture Show in Dixon, and others in Bloomington, Highland Park, Marengo, Peru and Rock Island.

Even with all the pieces he’s created in white and black, there are some splashes of color in his studio — the ribbons his pieces have won in the art shows that he’s entered.

Jagitsch’s first local Best of Show award came at the 72nd Annual Grand Detour Art Fair in September 2021 with his drawing of a silverback gorilla. He’s also taken top honors back-to-back at the 73rd and 74th Phidian Art Shows the past two Aprils; with his drawing of Leonardo da Vinci in 2022 and with “Don’t Breathe,” a closeup of a leopard, most recently.

Jagitsch has come to enjoy being at the art shows and receptions; he not only gets to meet the people who appreciate his art, but also fellow artists.

“To put your expressions on a piece of paper, and to see people appreciate it and like to see it, one of my favorite things is to be able to talk to people,” Jagitsch said. “You’re seeing their face, listening to their comments, and that’s really where it’s at.”

Jagitsch’s latest exhibit is at The Next Picture Show’s Human Form Art Exhibition, which runs until July 15, where he has a series of drawings of elderly people from rural America of decades past. The same series also will be exhibited in September at the “From Harm to Hope” show at NCIArtworks in Peru. Other upcoming solo shows are in St. Charles and Pontiac, and also in September, he will exhibit some of his works back home in Jacksonville at the David Strawn Art Gallery.

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Can’t make it to a gallery or show? Jagitsch’s works are also on Facebook and Instagram at Black Sheep Studio.

“If you would have told me two years ago that I would be doing what I’m doing now, and showing around the state, I would have thought you were crazy,” Jagitsch said. “It’s funny: Once you do one, then you find some other stuff and you have another gallery that contacts you to see if you’re interested in showing there. It was just kind of an unexpected snowball of events, which is great. I love it.”

The accolades and recognition are great, Jagitsch said, but that’s not why he continues to create drawings.

“In my head, I’m still a kid that loves to draw,” Jagitsch said. “Now I can put these drawings in frames and show them in studios and art galleries all around the place. It’s been fun.” n ooking for a new yard game to play?

All you need are some kubbars and kastpinnars. Konfused? Don’t worry. You’ll get the hang of it.

The game is called Kubb, (pronounced “coob”), and while it dates back nearly 100 years, it’s been picking up steam only recently in the Twin Cities.

In a nutshell, the object of Kubb is to throw sticks at small blocks in order to knock them over — but there’s more to it than that. It’s like a little bit of billiards, bocce ball, and horseshoes all rolled into one, with some geometry, physics and strategy thrown in for good measure.

By Cody Cutter Sauk Valley Media

Andy Terveer of Sterling has been playing Kubb for a while, and he’s become something of a local guru of the game. He’s hosted annual tournaments in town and competes in others throughout the Midwest, all while spreading the word about Kubb throughout the Twin Cities for nearly a decade now. It’s taken some time to catch on locally, but he’s passionate about getting more people to enjoy the game.

“In my own words, it’s the world’s greatest lawn game,” Terveer said. “It’s a lot of games kind of combined into one with its own unique twist.”

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At left: Dan Bushman of Rock Falls winds up his baton toss during a game of Kubb at Andy Terveer’s Sterling residence. Bushman has played in tournaments Terveer has organized in town in recent years.

CODY CUTTER/CCUTTER@SAUKVALLEY.COM