Board of Directors
The Oak Park Art League Board of Directors is comprised of dedicated community members. The Board is responsible for the governance and finances of the non-profit organization. The Board sponsors many fundraising projects throughout the year. Individual Board members chair committees and aid the staff in specific program projects.
OPAL members are encouraged to share ideas and thoughts with Board members. Anyone who is interested in volunteering for the Board should contact the Executive Director or any Board member. Board membership is voluntary. As a member of the Board, volunteers serve a two-year term and are able to serve for three consecutive terms.
If you are interested in joining and volunteering on the OPAL board, please review the Board Packet.
Please fill out and submit the Board Application to the Executive Director or any Board member.
Thank you
President of the Board: Linda DeViller
Linda DeViller received her BFA in Fine Arts from Bridgewater University in Massachusetts and her MA in Art Education from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. Her thesis research explored possible alternatives to traditional art and design instruction for the midlife adult learner and was the catalyst in becoming reconnected to her own creativity. Linda enjoys facilitating art experiences for adults, giving them a space to explore and create, and has hosted a monthly Open Studio for midlife women since 2013. She has volunteered for workshops and programming for the Art Institute of Chicago's Family and Community Programs, was a facilitator for inter-generational programming at a senior living facility in Rogers Park, and has been a part of the curatorial team for FIGMENTChicago since 2014
Secretary: Maria Gedroc
Maria Gedroc is an artist, designer and art educator who has been in more than 125 art shows and galleries, including the Oak Park Art League, Dancing Krow in the Oak Park Harrison Arts District, Chicago Public Library, Ferguson Art Gallery at Concordia University Chicago, and It's Liquid in Venice and New York. Her artwork is included in the Chicago Art Scene by Crow Wood Publishing and Motif, a creative arts journal. Ms. Gedroc received her Masters in Arts Administration from The School of Art Institute of Chicago.
Treasurer: David Baker
David Baker is a broadcast engineer with a BS in Electrical Engineering from the Illinois Institute of Technology and a BA in Television Production from Columbia College Chicago. David’s interests lie in both the technical as well as artistic side of television, and he has utilized these skills and interests throughout his career. He's also Chair of the Civic Information Systems Commission, a citizen volunteer commission that advises the Oak Park Village Board on technology, information management/resources and policy issues. He enjoys writing, listening to music, guitar and international travel in his spare time, and credits oil painting and charcoal drawing during childhood as his introduction to the love of art.
Buildings & Grounds: Lou Thetard
Lou Thetard, along with his wife Denise and two grown children—Sam and Anna, have lived in Oak Park for 29 years. Lou is a retired administrator, former Dean of Students, from the Maine Township school district. Prior to being an administrator, Lou taught Art and Photography and coached at Maine West High School in Des Plaines for 10 years and at Virden High School for three. Lou graduated from Illinois Wesleyan University with an Accounting degree, but saw the light and obtained a BS in Art Education and an MS in Art Education from Illinois State University. Lou has been involved in various school/extracurricular programs and activities in Oak Park while his kids attended the Oak Park schools, most notably on the board of the OPRFHS Huskie Booster Club for 3+ years. After a long hiatus from the visual arts and feeling the need to give back, Lou looks forward to joining the OPAL board and preparing for the next 100 years.
Community Outreach: Margot McMahon
A lifelong-environmentalist, internationally- awarded Margot McMahon sculpts, writes and paints human, plant and animal forms to say, through art, her hope that decisions be made to support life on earth. She has been called the “Studs Terkel of the sculpting world”, for her humanistic portraits, most recently the Gwendolyn Brooks Monument for Gwendolyn Brooks Park which google maps indicates has 2,300,000 views. The Smithsonian, The Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago History Museum, Soka Gaikkai International, Mobil Oil, the Chicago Botanic Garden, the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation and Steans Family Foundation and Yale University have collected her sculptures.
If Trees Could Talk (A National Book Award (NFPW)), A WWII Saga and AIRDRIE were launched by Aquarius Press(2021.) Shades of Positively Pandemic Anthology: Soul to Soul (2021). Sculpting Forms of Nature, Remembering Fifty Anthology (Yale University 2020). The Fifth Season: 2020 First Place Mate E. Palmer Book Award (IWPA). MIT Press: Transforming Nature (2018). Soka Gakkai International (Tokyo, Japan): Art/Culture Award. Margot taught at Yale University, Yale Norfolk, Art Institute of Chicago, DePaul University. The Gift of Art (Yale University P&P 2018).
New Board Members , 3/2024
Shira Slack
Ginger Brent
Thomas Yates