Red Cross Disaster
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The ad had been placed by Jeannett Walczak, owner of Jettsett Gallery at 3350 N. Paulina, for the “911 Show: Artists Respond to September 11, 2001.” When Keller’s framed painting, priced at $500, was accepted for the exhibit, she understood that Jettsett would get 40 percent of the proceeds if it sold but would donate 20 percent of that to the Red Cross. Keller planned to donate 20 percent of her share as well, leaving her enough to recoup material and frame costs. The show opened January 12 with a standing-room-only party. The gallery was crammed with work–125 pieces by 50 artists hung salon style on every inch of wall space–and the overflow crowd lined up outside in the winter night waiting for a chance to get in. Walczak had put together an eclectic panel to discuss the artist’s role in times of crisis: moderated by WLS radio host Jay Marvin, it included painter Ed Paschke. Keller was impressed.
This week Walczak surfaced, by phone, to tell her side of the story. She says she warned Lillig up front that she couldn’t take responsibility for his small, unframed piece. As for the rest of it: “I’m going through bankruptcy. There might be a couple of artists I still owe money to, a couple hundred dollars at the most. I collected all the money after the gallery was closed and just didn’t contact the artists.” Walczak says she was spending a year in Greece when she got the idea of running a gallery with a coffee bar and a friendly atmosphere; she opened Jettsett as a combination cafe and gallery three years ago. The food never worked, and in the last year she gave up even buying coffee: the only people who were coming by were the artists, and they drank for free.
