"Wings are so terribly hard to dry..."

~Travis Dreaming~

Robert John Guttke

I applied to Rockford College and was informed I would have to present my portfolio before being accepted. This I dimly remember: Standing on the green, rolling lawns of the campus, surrounded by trees, these beautiful buildings, and near to the art building with my art work (lots of scratch board drawings; a technique I greatly enjoyed) from a junior college under my arm. I was all alone. It was a sunny spring day yet I felt I had just climbed aboard the Mary Celeste. A single figure came down a side walk; a funny little man with narrow shoulders, grey hair tucked under a barre, dressed in a dark wool suit and clutching books reverently to his chest. But most startling were his spectacles with lenses that appeared to be three inches thick. He smiled at me and said hello.

I thought he was very strange .

Then thought wouldn't it be ironic if this was the man I was here to see? 

He was. 

I nervously presented my art to this kind and gentle man. Was he British? He didn't talk like anyone I had met before. His hands moved elegantly, like butterflies, with his every word. He put me instantly at ease. Then came the forever unforgettable moment. "What do you wish to achieve with your art?" he asked, very seriously. "Absolute perfection," I shot back, very flippantly. He tilted his head a bit, looked over those impossible glasses, and smiled a little dimpling smile. "Remember," he said, "Wings are so terribly hard to dry."

I started classes at Rockford College in the Fall of 1973. Philip Dedrick was my teacher and my mentor for three years and after graduation he remained my friend & family for twenty-six years.

~Fallen Angel~

Odilon Redon