J. Dawn Mercedes, Professor Of Art At Oakton College, 46
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Dr. J. Dawn Mercedes died Sunday, December 25, 2005, of brain cancer in
her Vernon Hills, Illinois, home, at the age of 46.
An associate professor of art and graphic design at Oakton Community
College, J. Dawn Mercedes was described as an outstanding teacher who
could bring out the best in students.
"She was a natural teacher," said Linda Korbel, dean of languages,
humanities and the arts at Oakton in Des Plaines. "She had it in her
bones. She could take the most complicated subject and make it
transparent to students and help them get to where they needed to be."
Born Dawn DenUyl in Indianapolis and raised in Ft. Wayne, Indiana, Dr.
Mercedes showed from an early age a deep enthusiasm for everything she
undertook, said her mother, Sandra Fisher.
"Everything she did, she did with intensity," her mother said.
After she graduated from high school, she changed her name to J. Dawn
Mercedes and moved to the Chicago area in 1980, where she worked as a
graphic artist and freelance photographer.
With a passion for the arts, she attended the University of Illinois at
Chicago, Illinois, and received a bachelor of fine arts degree in
photography, film and electronic media.
With her partner, Dr. Lauren Vitek, whom she met in 1986, Dr. Mercedes
moved to Columbus, Ohio, so she could work on her master's and doctoral
degrees at Ohio State University's Advance Computing Center for the
Arts and Design.
"She was driven to advance herself," said Vitek.
With a PhD in art education, she was hired by Oakton in 2000.
At the college, Dr. Mercedes was on the faculty senate, the academic
committee, the art gallery committee and this past year a member of the
contract negotiation team.
"She was a very engaged member of the faculty, and she was an
incredible asset to the college," Korbel said.
Sandra Wittman, a former colleague, took one of Dr. Mercedes' courses
after Wittman retired.
"She was so kind with the students," Wittman said. "She was able to
tell them what they needed to hear without sounding critical of the
work they did so far. She had them doing incredible things."
In addition to teaching, Dr. Mercedes created art using computer
software and multiple layers of scanned photographs and imagery.
In July, a week before she learned she had brain cancer, she completed
a solo exhibition called "Transformations" at Laredo Community College
in Laredo, Texas. Her pieces have been exhibited at California State
Polytechnic; the College Art Association exhibition; St. John's
University Gallery in Jamaica, N.Y.; Ohio State University Gallery; and
Gallery 400 in Chicago.
Her work is also featured in the book "Colors," a limited edition
publication that is in the collection of many major art institutions,
Vitek said.
"She was a very kind person," Vitek said. "She was always considerate
of everyone: her students, her family and her friends. She was able to
get a complicated idea across to people in a very direct way but a kind
way."
In addition to her partner, survivors include two brothers, Dirk and
Devin DenUyl, and a sister, Darcy Scott.
Chicago Tribune
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