Eddleman's pencil drawings capture familiar sites

ALTENBURG, Mo. -- Jeanie Eddleman is well-known for her pencil drawings of landmarks in Cape Girardeau and Bollinger counties. Now the artist has stretched a bit north, with a new exhibit depicting Perry County sites.

On display at the Lutheran Heritage Center and Museum in Altenburg are 17 of Eddleman's works, including the Burnt Mill in Saline Township in northwest Perry County and the Perry County Courthouse, built in 1904, which is situated on the square in Perryville, Mo. The majority of the exhibit consists of historic sites and buildings of East Perry County, about 25 miles north of Cape Girardeau.

"Jeanie's Perry County works haven't really been seen," said Carla Jordan, museum director. "Some are new within the last few years, and some of the pieces were in private collections. They've not been shown all together."

Among Eddleman's newer pieces is a rendering of Tower Rock, the imposing 90-foot limestone formation in the Mississippi River a few miles east of Altenburg. President Ulysses Grant in 1871 proclaimed the island a national landmark. Eddleman based her piece, created in recent weeks, on a photograph by Ken Steinhoff, a former Southeast Missourian staff photographer.

Another recent work, a historic street scene of Wittenberg, Mo., a Mississippi River town that no longer exists but at one time was a thriving river port, is based on a photograph by Phil Nash, also a former Southeast Missourian photojournalist.

Eddleman's medium of choice is the graphite mechanical pencil, and although her work is in black and white, it has the ability to evoke the feeling of color, whether in the trees surrounding a house, a sunflower or a hummingbird.

"I'm comfortable in black and white. The shadows and shadings come naturally to me," said Eddleman, who began her art career in 2004, when she retired after teaching art to students in kindergarten through 12th grade for 27 years in Zalma, Mo.

On her decision to leave the classroom and concentrate on her art, Eddleman said, "The good Lord took me in this direction. I enjoyed teaching and enjoyed the kids. Once I made that decision, everything was made clear to me. This is what the good Lord wants me to do."

Eddleman first started creating portraits, and while she feels she is a skilled portrait artist, at the time she found it unsatisfying. A breakthrough came when she drew Wimpy's, a Cape Girardeau drive-in burger joint -- complete with carhops -- in business on North Kingshighway from 1942 to 1963. Eddleman remembered frequently eating there as a child, a fond family memory. Shortly thereafter she was asked to produce a drawing of an iconic and ornate house in Marble Hill, Mo., and with that she had found a niche.

"I learned something -- buildings have character," Eddleman said. "I enjoy putting the building together with its history and with the memories people have of a certain place, whether it's odd or unusual or just holds special memories for people.

"There's nothing like hearing someone say, ‘Remember when we visited there?' when they view one of my drawings. That's where I find a lot of my gratification," she said. "Each person brings their own experiences and their own memories to the drawing when they view it."

Jordan has a favorite in the exhibit -- Die Grosse Schule.

"All the drawings make me say, ‘Wow,' but my favorite is what we call The Big School, a building that is part of the museum here. It was built in 1845 as the first church here in Altenburg and then served as a school for 102 years, until 1970. Jeanie rendered it as it originally was -- with its rock block exterior," Jordan said.

When not at work in her studio in the Bilderbach Art Plaza at 5 N. Main St. in downtown Cape Girardeau, Eddleman is active in the regional arts community. She serves as president of the Cat Ranch Art Guild and chairman of the Tom Runnels Memorial Scholarship Fund. Runnels, Eddleman's uncle, was a professional sculptor who died in 2000. She also is operational manager of Westray Photography Studio in downtown Cape Girardeau and a member of the Arts Council of Southeast Missouri. Eddleman accepts commissions to draw buildings and portraits of people and animals.

Her books, "Shadows of Cape Girardeau Yesteryears" and "Images of Bollinger County -- Graphite Drawings and Narratives," both are in the Library of Congress and are available for purchase at the Westray studio.

"It's an honor to have an artist of Jeanie's caliber in our main gallery," Jordan said. "Everybody who knows art in Southeast Missouri knows Jeanie. She has helped so many young artists get started, and brings energy to the regional art community."

The Eddleman exhibit will run through April 1 at the Altenburg museum, which is open from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. daily. More information about the exhibit is available by calling the museum at 573-824-6070.

nhadler@semissourian.com

388-3630

Pertinent address:

75 Church St., Altenburg MO

5 N. Main St., Cape Girardeau, MO