Eileen Leunig (left) and Leslie Renken were among participants in Bradley University’s Osher Lifelong Learning Institute education series spotlighting local women artists. Before devoting themselves to the arts, Leunig worked for Caterpillar and Renken was a Peoria Journal Star photojournalist. (T. Alexander photo)

PEORIA – A dozen students of Bradley University’s Osher Lifelong Learning Institute crowded around a horseshoe of tables in a conference room at Peoria NEXT Innovation Center on a recent Tuesday afternoon to witness presentations from two local artists with divergent styles and mediums, but a shared love for the arts.

Appearing as part of OLLI’s “Conversations With Women Artists” series was Eileen Leunig, a local arts proponent who practices photographic art in multiple mediums and who, along with her husband, Doug, are the minds behind Big Picture Peoria, the non-profit organization that is responsible for most of the city’s downtown murals.

Also offering a presentation was Leslie Renken, who spent 30-plus years as a photojournalist with the Peoria Journal Star, but who now is free to spend more time pursuing her passion as a jewelry designer.

An example of Leslie Renken’s handmade jewelry (Photo taken from Renken’s website)

“This is part of a research and documentation project. As most of us know, women have had a hard time finding as many opportunities as men in our society, and art is one of those areas,” said Kristan McKinsey, founding curator of the Peoria Riverfront Museum and director of the Illinois Women Artists Project, which was founded by the late local artist Channy Lyons. “Channy started this project to kind of rescue women artists from obscurity once they’ve been forgotten by time or circumstance.”

To help achieve this, Lyons originated an online database that tracks and preserves information about Illinois female artists, which can be viewed at illinoiswomenartists.org/directory/. The portal allows viewers to read artists’ stories, search an Illinois female artist database, view online exhibits and explore programming ideas for symposiums or other events celebrating women artists from Illinois.

“It’s a database not only of past artists but also those who are living and working now,” said McKinsey, who offers lectures to groups about the history of local women artists. “It’s a good way for an artist to leave a legacy, to have their work preserved for the future.

“I get descendants of artists contacting me to give me information or to correct information. Curators, scholars and professors contact me, as well as people who have just a general interest.”

McKinsey invites two female artists to attend each OLLI session, allowing each around an hour to discuss and show their art and share personal stories about what led them to their artistic medium.

An example of Eileen and Doug Leunigs’ “light painting” technique shows time-lapse photography capturing a volcanic eruption while the couple were on vacation.

“How did they become interested in being an artist? What was their career path like, and what were their challenges? I encourage the artists to bring examples of their work to show or they can do a PowerPoint presentation to display their objects during the study group,” she said.

Leunig told the OLLI group that she was a “mid-career hire” at Caterpillar, Inc. in 2001, working in educational publishing, following a career as a managing editor for a textbook company.

Before her hiring by CAT, she also worked as a freelance writer and photo editor. Leunig left Big Yellow in 2009 and, along with her husband, has largely devoted her life to the Peoria-area arts scene ever since.

“Doug had taught me photography when we first got married in 1998,” she recalled. “We got one of the early digital cameras and we’d go out and photo-shoot. From there we got our first gallery show in 2009, called ‘Picture This,’ at Exhibit A.”

Leunig went on to detail how the couple began experimenting with “light paintings” that originate from photos in dark environments up lit with flashlights. During COVID, they began experimenting with digital photo collages utilizing Photoshop, which remains a favorite medium of the couple.

“The great thing about Photoshop,” she said, “is that you can change your mind as many times as you’d like.”

Eileen and Doug Leunig are perhaps best known, however, for their community art work, which includes the placement of 35 canvas murals around the city, predominantly in the downtown and warehouse districts. Another 18 murals are scheduled for dedication in 2025.

Leslie Renken, who started at the Journal Star in 1993 and retired in May 2024, began her career as a photographer and after 18 years shifted roles to that of a reporter, covering fine arts, health, and lawn and garden beats as a scribe. The Peorian had always had an affinity for art, developing an interest in photography in high school and enjoying the support of her newspaper editor father, who installed a darkroom in the family’s basement. She eventually attended college as a photography major.

Members of the OLLI listen to a discussion of photographic art Tuesday at Peoria NEXT Innovation Center. (T. Alexander photo)

“Art was in the background through all of this. Over the years I tried a lot of things; I took pottery classes. Textiles are close to my heart.,” she said. “As an adult I took my first jewelry class at the Peoria Art Guild, and I just kept taking classes over the years that ended up being professional-level. I attended the New Approach School of Jewelry in Virginia Beach for two weeks and learned how to set stones and do wax carvings.

“I’ve developed all of these skills over the years, and now that I’m retired I have time to do these things. At some point I had to make a decision on what I wanted to focus on, and I chose jewelry.”

Though Renken does not offer her artwork for sale to the public, her work can be viewed on Instagram at TwiLitVine or online at TwiLitVine.com.

“I’m really just doing this for my own personal edification, and occasionally I sell a piece to a friend,” Renken said, adding that she was “gearing up” to begin public sales of her jewelry, which is cast with precious metals, such as sterling silver and gold.

Having developed her passion as a jewelry artist to a professional level, the former photojournalist is enjoying her new role within the vibrant Peoria arts community.

“The Women Artists Project is wonderful, and the idea of women promoting and giving exposure to other women is a wonderful thing,” Renken said. “I was delighted to be included in this (Osher Lifelong Learning Institute class) and be able to share my passion for art. Kristan (McKinsey) is doing a wonderful job carrying the torch on the project that Channy Lyons started.”

For information about Bradley University’s OLLI programs, trips and classes, visit www.bradley.edu/academic/continue/olli/.