"Some historians say that to focus on the personality of a famous figure is to neglect the context in which he/she lived. My argument is that personality provides a way to attract students to history because it allows them to make a personal connection to the past." - Joe Illick
Welcome to JoeIllick.com
Joe Illick's woodcuts first went on display in two coffee houses in San Francisco during the summer and fall of 2005. In the autumn of 2006 his presidential woodcuts were shown in the J. Paul Leonard Library at San Francisco State University. Selections of the same were displayed at Herbst Hall in San Francisco City Center in conjunction with the City Arts and Lecture presentation on the American presidency in June 2007. During October 2007 the woodcuts -- thirty of the 43 Presidents and approximately thirty more -- can be seen in San Francisco's Open Studios, as well as the Noe Valley Ministry during a musical show on American politics. During October 2007 the 43 presidents, as well as other woodcuts, were on view in San Francisco Open Studios. In the winter of 2007/2008 the presidential woodcuts were displayed at the Institute for Governmental Studies, UC, Berkeley. In November 2008 these same woodcuts will appear in the library shared by San Jose State University and the city of San Jose.