Celebrating the Artistic Excellence of My Beloved Friend, David Fode

BY ANDREW MORKES, FOUNDER AND AUTHOR OF NATURE IN CHICAGOLAND

Today is the one-year anniversary of the sudden passing of my friend, David Fode, a talented artist, who was an even better person. We were friends for nearly 40 years.

Beyond simple friendship (which is really never that simple and which takes a lot of work to nurture), Dave and I shared a bond as creative people. I’m a writer and amateur painter and Dave was first an illustrator, but later a stained-glass artist whose work is internationally known. In addition to owning his own studio, HaeuserHeil, Dave worked for several stained glass art studios during his career. As lead artist at Gaytee Palmer Stained Glass Studios, he restored windows by many world renowned artists including LaFarge, Tiffany, Heaton, Butler & Bell, Mayer of Munich, Zettler, Emil Frei, Munich Studio, and Connick, according to the studio’s website.

In this essay, I’d like to spotlight Dave’s work as an artist and his love of music.

An additional story about Dave

I wrote a long essay about Dave that traces our relationship from our high school days to our early 50s, when he passed away. It also discusses the qualities that made him such a good friend. Please read “Remembering David Fode” if you’d like to learn more about him and the fun and adventures that we had during our nearly 40-year friendship. 

Dave and I supported each other as we grew artistically. On long evenings in fromnt of the campfire (we camped together with our boys for many years) and in our phone conversations, we’d discuss our current projects and challenges and encouraged each other through difficult periods. We even collaborated a few times. Years ago, Dave created illustrations for several of my poems that were published in Strong Coffee, and I’m grateful to have worked with him in this small way.

Dave created the above work (as well as an ink stamp with the same image) for me when I just started as a writer. He said, “A writer needs a way to advertise himself, so I made this for you.”

Dave created the above work as a way to commemorate our 1991 cross-country trip to New Mexico and beyond. It hangs on my wall in my office, and I love occasionally looking at it while taking a break from work.

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Dave’s illustrations—often in black and white and, as he explained to me, and inspired by comic strips—are very offbeat and sometimes gory, dark, and a little scary. But amidst his drawings of the undead, the tormented, the depraved, and the twisted (many of which were published in horror zines), Dave also created a lot of whimsical art that mirrored his quirky personality. Here are some of his works that make me laugh, think, or simply appreciate his talent.

Dave reached his peak as an artist after falling in love with the art of making stained glass in 1999 or so. His work—which is inspired by the Munich style—brims with vivid colors, whimsy, a wonderful and skewered view of the world, and unfettered creativity. This was a time of great change in his life. In 1990, Dave and I took our first road trip across the country. 12 states in 14 days. As 20- and 21-year-olds, we were free in the wilds of the American West. We both fell in love with that region, especially the amazing Anglo/Native American/Latino culture of New Mexico. Dave was enchanted by New Mexico and moved there with his first wife in the early 1990s. He lived there for nearly a decade. I visited him twice a year. But in 2000, Dave returned to the Midwest, got divorced, moved back to Wisconsin to live with his grandfather, and eventually met his wonderful wife Cynara. It was during this time that he became fascinated by stained glass art. “When I paint on glass, I’m at play,” Dave said at a 2008 reception that celebrated the inclusion of one of his works at the Waukesha Public Library in Wisconsin. (Click here to learn more about this work.)

Until last year, I owned only one of Dave’s stained glass works—a hyper-realistic image of my son as a one-year old. In true Dave “form,” I commissioned it, but he refused to accept payment upon its completion. Here it is.

Last year, Cynara gave me one of his works, which featured Amy Winehouse. “Amy,” as I’ll call it for the purposes of this essay, is beautiful and haunting and almost brings Winehouse back to life in a way. When Dave was still alive, I admired “Amy” for its artistic virtuosity, its vibrant colors, and its photo-realism seasoned with some artistic liberties. I consider it one of Dave’s masterpieces. As he did in at least one of his other works, Dave incorporated notes from a song into his work. In this work, he included musical notes from Amy Winehouse’s “Love is a Losing Game.” In another work, Serenade, which can be viewed at the Waukesha Public Library, Dave incorporated the opening notes of “All You Need is Love,” by The Beatles. On the day of the artwork’s installation, I took a wonderful video of Dave playfully pointing out the notes on his work as the song was played. Check out the video here.   

Dave loved music, and listened to it regularly as he worked in his studio. I’m also lucky to have been given a towering collection of his CDs that he played as he made art. Dave had eclectic tastes: Billie Holiday, Tom Waits, Genesis, King Crimson, lots of what we call classical (Copland, Gershwin, Rachmaninoff, Mahler, Mozart), Edith Piaf, and, of course, Amy Winehouse. Dave loved alternative and punk rock, too. When he lived in Chicago, we regularly attended concerts—seeing X at Metro, REM at Alpine Valley, the Primitives and Sugarcubes at the Riviera, and Scrawl, The Reivers, and Yo La Tengo at Lounge Ax. And Dave was the first one to play Nirvana’s Nevermind to me on cassette in his car. Random factoid: I still remember where we were when I first heard that amazing album: driving west on 111^th Street near Pulaski Road on Chicago’s South Side.    

But back to “Amy.” As we’ve reached a year since his passing, I now appreciate this work in a different way. I’ve come to love the fact that I own a work of his that he spent months and months working on. It started as an idea in his mind that he soon transferred to a rough draft and then actual work on the window. With time, creativity, a vivid imagination, as well as hard work and the ability to overcome a wrong turn or design or fabrication challenge, he made something that’s beautiful. I’ve come to like the idea that Dave spent months and months communing in a way with this art, rather than–on my end–just appreciating the finished work—beautiful as it is. I feel as if Dave sometimes is here in some form as I sit gazing at several of his works I’ve grouped beneath “Amy” in our living room.

I recently listened to an interview with Dave on the podcast, TALKING OUT YOUR GLASS. First, I loved hearing Dave’s voice again, and I have to admit I’ve listened to this podcast several times to conjure him back into my life. Second, the podcast provides an interesting look at Dave’s artistic influences, his creative development, his artistic process, and a glimpse at his work on “Amy.” Here are a few things that I learned about “Amy,” and his art in general, from the podcast:

• Dave created “Amy” for pleasure, not as a work-for-hire. This is noteworthy because he did not keep many of his creations.  
• It took him eight months on and off to complete the work.
• The pretty floral border on the art represents “being taken too soon.”
• He discovered his love for stained glass after being inspired by the famous Irish illustrator and stained glass artist, Harry Clarke.
• He loved using classical stained glass styles to make modern people and things—such as Amy Winehouse and C3PO and R2D2 from Star Wars fame—look stylistically old. In the podcast, Dave said, “You have something that’s very contemporary that’s done in a traditional kind of way, it sparks the imagination of a lot of clients because they think stained glass is just what I’ve seen [in the past], but they see something like that and they realize that anything can be turned into stained glass.”  
• His advice to young aspiring artists: “Always keep your mind open. Don’t ever think that you’ve learned everything. There’s so many different things that can be done. Just because you’re looking at someone’s work and thinking there’s only way to do it. You can always come up with another approach and make it different—and even better.” 

You can check out the podcast here.

Here are some of my favorite stained glass art works from David. As you can see, he had eclectic tastes and interests, which went from classic religious art to flights of artistic fancy.

This last photo is an example of his work at a church–Saint Ann’s Chapel in Canyon, Texas.

Last October, Cynara gave me the gift of being able to visit Dave’s studio in Wisconsin to soak in his world (his studio was largely untouched since the day he died) and select some art, books, and stained glass-making tools as a way to remember him. It was a powerful experience to be left alone for much of the time in my friend’s studio and vast art library. Seeing the sheer amount of research that he conducted to make his art, the projects in various stages of development, and the inspirational images of other artists’ work that he had collected in his studio provided me with a fascinating glimpse into his world. This was one of his happy places, and I could see how he could lose himself in his work (for better or worse). The “captured in time” mood of his studio made me feel as if Dave would just walk through the door at any moment. It’s a feeling I’ve only had a few times in life when visiting the worksite or home of a recently deceased loved one. I felt the same way for years in my dad’s workshop—although he’s been gone for more than 25 years. In Dave’s studio, I soaked in that feeling knowing that would be the closest I’d ever feel physically to my friend again.    

Dave was a lovely person, and his loss leaves me still shocked and sad a year later. Unfortunately, words and wonderful memories can’t change the fact that he left this world much too soon. But Dave’s art was beautiful and thought-provoking (at times), and it will be his legacy (along with his wonderful children and wife). When the last of those who knew and loved Dave are gone in a hundred years or so, his work will continue to grace homes, churches, libraries, synagogues, and other places around the world. The owners of his art will look in happiness, wonder, and, sometimes whimsy, at the work of a very talented artist. Dave’s art will continue to make people feel happy or laugh when they’re feeling sad and, for some, inspire them to create their own art. Dave, of course, also lives on in peoples’ memories of his goodness and wicked sense of humor. With that said, I’d rather have both Dave and his art in my life. But a wish is not the same as reality.

Thank you, Dave, for your friendship and for the beauty that you gave the world through your art. And I’m still working my way through your CDs and finding new music to love.

Copyright (text) Andrew Morkes, except quoted material from the podcast, which is held by the Talking Out Your Glass podcast

Copyright (photos) (The Fode family holds copyright to images of his work.)  

Copyright (videos) Andrew Morkes and the Fode Family

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Looking for some great nature destinations in Chicagoland? If so, I just published Nature in Chicagoland: More Than 120 Fantastic Nature Destinations That You Must Visit. It features amazing destinations in Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, and Wisconsin. Click on the title to learn more. The book (306 pages, 210+ photos) is only $18.99. Click here to learn more and purchase the book.

Dave and his son Ira appear in some of my adventures in Nature in Chicagoland. I don’t say this so you’ll buy the book. Rather, I just feel lucky that the book now serves as another way to remember my special friend. Since his death, I’ve begun to think about my book in a different way–as sort of a time capsule of my friendship with Dave and our adventures together with our sons.

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ABOUT ANDREW MORKES

I have been a writer and editor for more than 25 years. I’m the founder of College & Career Press (2002); the editorial director of the CAM Report career newsletter and College Spotlight newsletter; the author and publisher of “The Morkes Report: College and Career Planning Trends” blog; and the author and publisher of Hot Health Care Careers: 30 Occupations With Fast Growth and Many New Job Openings; Nontraditional Careers for Women and Men: More Than 30 Great Jobs for Women and Men With Apprenticeships Through PhDs; They Teach That in College!?: A Resource Guide to More Than 100 Interesting College Majors, which was selected as one of the best books of the year by the library journal Voice of Youth Advocates; and other titles. They Teach That in College!? provides more information on environmental- and sustainability-related majors such as Ecotourism, Range Management, Renewable Energy, Sustainability and the Built Environment, Sustainability Studies, and Sustainable Agriculture/Organic Farming. I’m also a member of the parent advisory board at my son’s school. Stories about my work have been published in the Chicago Tribune, Chicago Sun-Times, Daily Southtown, Beverly Review, and Practical Homeschooling.

In addition to these publications, I’ve written more than 60 books about careers for other publishing and media companies including Infobase (such as the venerable Encyclopedia of Careers & Vocational Guidance, the Vault Career Guide to Accounting, and many volumes in the Careers in Focus, Discovering Careers, What Can I Do Now?!, and Career Skills Library series) and Mason Crest (including those in the Careers in the Building Trades and Cool Careers in Science series).

My poetry has appeared in Cadence, Wisconsin Review, Poetry Motel, Strong Coffee, and Mid-America Review.