State employee continues doing portraits of Illinois soldiers

A collection of pencil portraits of fallen service members from Illinois continues to generate emotions more than a year after its young creator began publicly displaying his simple tributes.

On Friday, artist Cameron Schilling's "Portrait of a Soldier" made a return stop at Chicago's James R. Thompson Center, featuring drawings of soldiers, Marines and sailors who have been killed in the line of duty since Sept. 11, 2001.

When the exhibit debuted at the state office building in May 2006, there were about 130 mounted sketches ringing the atrium. The gallery of the honored dead has grown by more than 40 portraits, including that of Army Capt. Travis Patriquin, 32.

The former Lockport resident died in December 2006 from injuries he received in a bomb explosion in Iraq.

"Each person up there represents a life," Patriquin's mother, Connie, said following a tear-filled news conference with other Gold Star family members to introduce the updated exhibit. "They played baseball, they played soccer, they went to Boy Scouts, they did things in their community to make it a better place. Then they went into the service to make the world a better place."

"Portrait of a Soldier" started modestly in 2004 when Schilling, then 20, felt compelled to do a pencil sketch of a fellow Mattoon native, Army specialist Charles Neeley, who had died in Iraq. Schilling, a self-taught artist, gave the portrait to Neely's parents.

In 2005, the Eastern Illinois University political-science major began making graphite-pencil drawings of other Illinoisans who died while serving their country. He said he eventually contacted the office of Lt. Gov. Pat Quinn in hopes of getting suitable photographs on which to base his portraits.

Quinn, who attends the funerals of Illinois war casualties, helped coordinate the initial exhibit and subsequent displays across the state, which continue. The 11-inch-by-18-inch drawings are high-resolution copies; the originals are donated to surviving family members.

"He really captures the essence of the person, and I know that's true because family members, when they see it for the first time, say 'That's my son,'" Quinn said. "There's something really personal about the portraits that are drawn. I guess it's the effort put into it."

Schilling now works for Quinn as a staff member in Springfield, under a one-year fellowship. He said it takes about two hours to do his grayscale, photo-realistic drawings, which typically depict soldiers in detailed close-up. Much of his effort is spent recreating his subject's eyes, Schilling said.

"If this was a photo, I think people would see it a little bit differently," Schilling said of the reaction to his drawings. "I don't know what it is. I think it creates some type of lens by which to look at them, instead of (being) just a number or something you hear on the evening news, or a name."

The artist said his exhibit is purposefully non-political and is meant as a tribute to soldiers who have made the ultimate sacrifice. "Portrait of a Soldier" helps bring Gold Star families together but can also, unfortunately, re-ignite feelings of grief for some of them, Schilling said.

Schilling said he is about eight drawings behind in representing all of the Illinois military fatalities. He said he expects there will be new deaths, too, in the coming months. Schilling plans to continue making the drawings, barring a disabling injury to his hand or an abrupt end to U.S. involvement in Iraq and Afghanistan.

"I think that I'm kind of married to it," he said. "I've just got to stick it out. This isn't something you do halfway."

"Portrait of a Soldier" concludes its two-day display at the Thompson Center on Monday, in recognition of Veterans Day; the building's ground-floor lobby will be open from 6:30 a.m. to 6 p.m., Quinn's office said.

Schilling's drawings can be viewed at www.portraitofasoldier.org <http://www.portraitofasoldier.org/> .

Mike Ramsey can be reached at (312) 857-2323 or ghns-ramsey@sbcglobal.net <mailto:ghns-ramsey@sbcglobal.net> .