John Allen Cassidy

1964 - 2017

Bloomington – John A. Cassidy, 52, passed away Friday, February 17, 2017, at his studio residence in Bloomington's Cultural District.
John was born July 8, 1964, in Peoria, the son of Robert "Bib" A. and Delores Wyzlic Cassidy.
Surviving are his mother, Delores Wyzlic Cassidy; three sisters, Linda (David) Ogle of Spring Bay, IL; Karen Clark of Bellevue, IL; and Donna (Ray) Kral of Mapleton, IL; numerous nieces and nephews, great nieces and nephews, and a great-great niece. He was preceded in death by his father, Robert "Bib" Cassidy. He is also survived by his estranged brother, Bobby.
John graduated from Manual High School and Bradley University, where he received his Bachelor of Art and Master of Art degrees in English. Upon moving to Bloomington in 1995, he pursued his career in art, while employed as the manager of Babbitt's Books and then The Movie Fan, both in Normal.
John created works in a wide range of drawing, painting, printmaking, mixed, and encaustic media. Primarily an abstract artist, Cassidy also worked in representational and non-objective styles. His subject matter ranged from still lives, the figure, portraiture, and imagined landscapes. He was awarded an Individual Artist Grant in Fine Arts by the City of Bloomington's Cultural District.
His art exhibition record spans thirty-two years at numerous venues throughout the state. From commercial to academic galleries, art centers to libraries, coffee houses to book stores, hospitals to community health centers, John's exhibit venues reflected his vision of art experiences belonging to all people.
Participant and advocate of public art, he demonstrated plein air pastel drawings during Art In The Garden at the David Davis Mansion, a state historic site. In conjunction with a public lecture by Andrei Codrescu, visiting author at Illinois State University, John collaborated on large scale collaborative drawings with eight other artists in the Exquisite Corpses display at the Bloomington Public Library.

John's solo shows include: Learning Simple Things at the McLean County Arts Center, 2012 and Works on Paper, 1996 - 2007 at the Joe McCauley Gallery, Heartland Community College, 2013. Chicken Foot Gourd Bowls, his two-person exhibit with Danell Dvorak, at the McCauley Gallery was on view October through December 2016. Planning is underway for a retrospective of his work, hosted by Matt Erickson.

He was the curator of the first fine art collection for the Community Health Care Clinic's newly renovated facility in Normal, featuring his own work and pieces by other local artists, in April 2016. His work is included in the private collections of authors Andrei Codrescu and Carol Hill, Illinois Poet Laureate Kevin Stein, John Migas, M.D., as well as many other artists and collectors.

As an educator, John's teaching career began with English courses as an instructor of record and adjunct faculty member at Bradley University. His teaching experience includes community education art classes at the McLean County Art Center, and Heartland Community College. He also served as a guest artist in Springfield and Warrensburg with the Arts-In-Education program of the Illinois Arts Council, a state agency.
In addition to visual art, John was highly passionate and knowledgeable about literature, music, film, and culinary arts. Always learning, he was generous to his family and friends, sharing his wisdom, humor and decidedly unique points of view.
Cremation has been accorded, a private memorial service will be held at a later date. Online condolences may be shared with the family at eastlawn-bloomington.com