Rebecca Russow’s art journey began unexpectedly during her freshman year at Illinois State University. Enrolled in a general education art class, she created a large foam and plaster sculpture that her professor compared to the work of Henry Moore. Mistaking the comment for an accusation of copying, she replied, “Where does he sit?” The professor smiled and said, “You’ve got a lot to learn.”

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Encouraged to keep going, Rebecca graduated with a comprehensive art degree and went on to teach art for seventeen years. A temporary assignment as a school principal turned into an eleven-year detour from the studio. With a full-time job and three children, there was little time for personal artmaking. A fellow artist once told her, “Art waits for you”—and it did.

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During her time as principal, she founded a lunchtime digital camera club, which led to photographing a colleague’s wedding. That single event launched a ten-year retirement photography business, eventually earning her the role of Preferred Wedding Photographer for Eagle Ridge Resort & Spa in Galena, Illinois.

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The photography chapter closed with the onset of COVID in 2019. During that period of isolation, Rebecca took online classes and discovered a deep passion for collage and encaustic art. When her husband proposed wintering in Florida, she was reluctant to leave her home studio—until she found Clay More Ceramics in Naples. There, she rekindled her long-dormant love for clay.

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Upon retiring, Rebecca gave a graduation speech in which she shared that she’d never had a grand career plan. Instead, she credited her success to being flexible, taking risks, staying honest, and always being willing to learn. “You don’t have to fake it,” she said. “You just have to be honest, willing to admit that you don't know everything, listen to others and understand that there is always a lot to learn.”

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Today, Rebecca exhibits her encaustic, collage, and ceramic work in galleries throughout the Chicago area. Her art has been collected internationally (by people not even related to her!) and she serves on the boards of both the Chicago Alliance of Visual Artists (CAVA) and the Elmhurst Artists’ Guild. She continues to learn, create, and find joy in her eight grandchildren—and is profoundly grateful that art waited for her.