Looking for Sculpture and All That Leads up to It
Changing The World
Omri, Julie, and Kathleen outside the United Center
Left: The Spirit sculpture, United Center; Right: Certificate of Special Merit for The Spirit
Virginia McCaskey, Owner of the Chicago Bears, and Michael McCaskey, then-Chicago Bears CEO, at the studio for review
George Halas and the Chicago Bears Hall of Famers, 26’h x 15’w, white bronze on black granite, by Julie Rotblatt Amrany
PORTRAITS/CHICAGO flyer detailing specifications of Quest for Exploration
A metal armature is built with supports at points of weight or stress. Wet clay is then pounded on the armature creating the beginning form. Note the maquette in the early stages, and the artists’ drawings
The sculpture grows in size and detail as the artists continue to shape the form
Julie Rotblatt Amrany and Omri Amrany at the Adler dedication of the Lovell Installation. Everyone involved was incredibly grateful and proud of the work that had been developed, created, and forever memorialized in such a fitting setting.
Astronaut Captain James A. Lovell standing alongside Quest for Exploration, Adler Planetarium, 2005
Left: Defenders of Peace Veterans Memorial at College of Lake County; Right: Lake Forest American Legion Memorial 2025
Left: Mark Twain, by Gary Tillery; Right: Prometheus, proposal for University of Illinois at Chicago
Left: Harry Caray, Famous Cubs announcer, by Omri Amrany and Lou Cella; Right: Ernie Banks at Wrigley Field
Mother St. Frances Xavier Cabrini, Holy Name Cathedral, 2022. Pope Francis liked the sculpture so much that a 1st Edition was created, and is now sited at the Vatican
Left: Our Lady of Mount Carmel, 1999 for outside prayer garden at Mount Carmel High School, Chicago; Right: British scientist Rosalind Franklin, discoverer of DNA, outside Rosalind Franklin University
Left: "Generational Transformation"; Right: "Whirlpool"
It was natural for Kathleen Van Ella to walk around looking for sculpture potential, like a scout with larger eyes. In 1994, her Lake Forest agency PORTRAITS/CHICAGO, created in 1980 to present Portrait Painters and Sculptors, had been the lead in for The Spirit, the heroic sculpture of Michael Jordan in flight, commissioned by the Chicago Bulls at the United Center. “The traditional portrait bust,” Kathleen writes, “had been the standard, now it could be the monument!”
Artist Sculptors Julie Rotblatt Amrany and Omri Amrany had proved incredible achievement with The Spirit, and set a sweeping new expectation for sports sculpture.
In 2005, there was a similar scenario with the Chicago Bears with PORTRAITS/CHICAGO being the lead-in.
Today, in 2025, after many more commissions in the world of Sports, a recent AI search has listed R/A (Rotblatt Amrany) Studio the #1 sports sculpture studio in the world.
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Now, we turn your attention to a favorite space story with Lake Forest connection: Astronaut Captain James A. Lovell.
In 2004, Kathleen Van Ella of PORTRAITS/CHICAGO made a concept inquiry to Captain Jim Lovell, and to the artist sculptors, then to the Adler Planetarium and Astronomy Museum in Chicago.
The Planetarium wanted to celebrate their 75th Anniversary with a new mission—to go beyond astronomy and tell the human story of space exploration. And Jim Lovell wanted a strong museum to display his personal space artifacts, in a moment of pure synchronicity.
Julie Rotblatt Amrany and Omri Amrany received the commission to design and create a large installation honoring astronaut James A. Lovell for permanent placement in the main lobby of the Adler Planetarium. The artists named their piece Quest for Exploration.
Kathleen was privileged during the installation creation to sit on the project working board at the Planetarium as a representative of the artists, who were hard at work designing and creating Quest for Exploration.
Seeds of the project had been germinating in Kathleen for at least five years beforehand. And the ‘just perfect’ aspects of this project coming together were amazing to witness. “A simple intuition (like Jim Lovell should have a sculpture) evolved into a good idea,” Kathleen stated, “and finally emerged to material reality.”
The following images showcase the clay stage of Quest for Exploration, highlighting the ancient, lost wax method of creating bronze sculpture:
Julie and Omri’s remarkable design commemorates the stellar moment when Jim Lovell used his thumb alone to measure the sleeve of space he and Apollo 13 crew had to navigate in order to get home to Earth.
He is wearing his flight suit and carries his flight journal. The artists have masterfully achieved weightlessness with balance on one foot.
Kathleen is humbled with the scope of Public Art. She has seen the excitement of sports sculpture, the inspiration of religious sculpture, and the tenderness of family commissions. Her view is both traditional portrait, and also contemporary symbol. She believes present day public art to have a mission: to proclaim the world as good and savable. There is power in public art to influence the way people view things, and thus a power to Change the World.
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“Thank you for reading and hearing our stories. There are more …. and with Grace … will be more.”
–Kathleen Van Ella, PORTRAITS/CHICAGO
–Kathleen Van Ella, PORTRAITS/CHICAGO
Be sure to view the story Portraiture: Preserving Intangible Wealth to learn more about Kathleen’s story