Illinoisans sing and dance and design tall buildings. They paint landscapes and play Hamlet. They compile legends rooted in the fantastic, create portraits on film. And no matter where they live, Illinois artists are, well, Illinois artists.

Still, there are some distinctly regional threads in this state's cultural tapestry. Chicago, we can all agree, has inspired beautiful buildings and electrified the blues. And the small towns of southern Illinois have given us the art of the tall tale.

So this year, in our fourth annual arts issue, we've chosen to celebrate the regional threads in the state's cultural tapestry.

"What a place turn-of-the-century Chicago must have been," writes Lee Bey in an essay that begins on page 16. Architects were perfecting the skyscraper and reshaping prairies into neighborhoods. "Genius was born in the vortex of this activity."

But Chicago's cultural heritage runs deeper. "Lots of places have buildings and museums and philharmonics, John Carpenter writes in his essay, which begins on page 20. "But we've got the blues." Not just any blues. Chicago has "stripped-down, straight-ahead, fill-up-the-shot-glass blues." The music came to Chicago by train. Most of the great bluesmen rode the Illinois Central straight up from the Mississippi Delta. But it was Muddy Waters who cranked up the Delta sound, creating what has come to be known as the Chicago blues.

Meanwhile, the storytelling tradition of southern Illinois can be likened to bluegrass music, writes Paul Turner in his essay, beginning on page 26. The bottom tip of the state lies farther south than the capital of the Confederacy. Yet it's not quite Southern. Not quite Midwestern either. "The southernmost 22 or so counties of our state," Turner writes, "have a topography that differs mightily from most of the rest of Illinois, and a folklore tradition that is all their own."

These traditions — the architecture, the blues, the folklore — make up part of the best of Illinois.

For more, read Jennifer Davis' story on page 30 about Quincy, a community on the westernmost edge of the state that was cited as one of the 100 best small art towns in America. Or take a look at the painting on the next page, and on our cover. Winter Light earned Springfield artist Kevin Booton the blue ribbon in the professional watercolor category at last summer's State Fair.
The Editors

12 / December 1999 Illinois Issues

Winter Light, watercolor, by Kevin Booton

Illinois Issues December 1999 / 13