12/18/18

From Camp to Champaign: Howard Kanter

By Camp Chi

Camp

We all know camp is a beautiful place. The trees, the blue skies, the campfires, and the lake make up just part of camp’s beauty. But not all of the great views at camp are nature and scenic. We have many buildings throughout the 600 acres, and instead of keeping all of them brown and boring, for many years, we have been adding murals all around camp. The man behind most of the murals- Howard Kanter.

Howard, or Howie at camp, is an Chi alumnus who has worn just about all the hats one can wear- camper, staff member, supervisor, parent, staff parent, and now artist in residence. For the past number of years, Howie, a natural artist who teaches art in Des Plaines, has been coming to camp and working with our Noar campers to paint murals all around camp. While he is at camp, Howie takes the time to offer cabin times and specialties in the art center ranging from t-shirt making to sketching and nature art.

Now, Howard has been been given a solo exhibition in The Memorial Union Gallery at the University of Illinois. 30 years ago, while a student at the University of Illinois, he was part of an art exhibit in the same gallery and has aptly titled this exhibition “Some Years Later.” The gallery will run through January 3rd, 2019.

This fall, Howard added another hat to his collection- parent of a college student. Carli, a SIT of 2016, began her freshman year at the University of Illinois, where she is studying in the school of Art and Design. As she explores the footsteps her father laid for her, Howie has had the chance to return to his old stomping ground, both at Chi and at U of I, and is very proud.

Check out this sampling of some of Howie’s work, both at Chi and in the exhibit.

Here are some of Howie’s camp murals (in addition to the one at the top):