By Carrie Dodt
LAKE GENEVA — A new exhibit by Geneva Lake Arts Foundation members has opened at Gallery 223 in downtown Lake Geneva.
The show, which opened Jan. 2, 2026, runs through Feb. 15.
The Geneva Lake Arts Foundation is nonprofit foundation that owns and operates the gallery at 223 Broad St. The hours are 10 a.m.-5 p.m., Friday-Monday.
On display are works in such media as painting, drawing, photography, pottery, glass, jewelry, sculpture, mixed media, weaving, fiber and wood.
One of the artists in the show, Susan Disbrow Schroeder, is an Arlington Heights, Illinois native who has lived in Lake Geneva for more than a decade.
She works primarily in oil, while also exploring pastel, encaustic wax, and sketching. Susan has been drawing and painting in oil since early grade school, developing a lifelong connection to creative expression.
Although her professional career led her into interior design, Susan remained deeply rooted in the arts.
She is a licensed, NCIDQ-certified professional interior designer and has overseen numerous commercial, healthcare, educational, and residential projects throughout her career.
After years of working within the structured demands of architectural and interior documentation, she now focuses on her lifelong love of creating more personal artwork across a wide range of subject matter.
Susan’s inspiration comes from travel, walking the surrounding environment and architectural spaces near her home, and photographs shared by her sons and their wives from across the country and abroad, including Japan.
Creating art has always felt like home to her—both challenging and restorative—and offers a sense of freedom beyond the constraints of her design background.
Currently on display is an abstract oil painting that reflects her enjoyment of working intuitively with color and shape. Also featured are oil giclée prints inspired by photographs taken by her son at a butterfly haven in Virginia.
Susan is a juried artist and a member of Oil Painters of America and the Geneva Lake Arts Foundation, which she joined in the fall of 2025. She was educated at the Illinois Institute of Art and the SIU Carbondale School of Interior Design and holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Business from Roosevelt University in Chicago.
Another of the artists is Lori Indovina Valus who has been involved in art, design, and photography throughout her life.
A graduate of the Art Institute of Chicago, she has spent more than a decade teaching art in elementary and secondary schools in McHenry County.
Her graphic design and illustration work has been published for more than 25 years and has earned numerous awards from professional newspaper associations at the state, national, and international levels. Her wildlife illustrations have also been exhibited and published in wildlife rehabilitation manuals.
Valus’s preferred medium is watercolor, which she has focused on for the past 30–35 years. She also continues to create pen-and-ink drawings that reflect her background as a commercial illustrator.
Nature is Valus’s primary source of inspiration. Living behind Moraine Hills State Park in McHenry—and with a marsh in her own backyard—she is surrounded by an abundance of natural subjects that influence her work. Her nature photography has gained recognition within the conservation community, and her images of wildlife from the Black Crown Marsh are currently being used by the Illinois Department of Natural Resources to support fundraising efforts for preservation of the entire wetland basin.
She has been a member of GLAF since its earliest days, beginning at its original location in the indoor mall on Main Street.
The Foundation currently is having a winter sale – 10% off everything in the gallery.