GENEVA – Her Art Shoppe at 10 S. Third St. in Geneva is just that, owner Angelo Dangles said – his art created for women.
“It’s the ladies I sell my art to. It’s ‘her’ art,” Dangles said. “ ‘Her’ would be my customers, anybody I sell my art or jewelry or tank tops that depict my artwork to.”
Dangles opened the shop about a week ago after two things happened: He retired as a corn futures trader at the Chicago Board of Trade and the Christian Science Reading Room did not renew its lease after 35 years.
“I’ve owned the building for four years. I’m 67, retired five years ago, and I didn’t like being retired,” Dangles said.
So he’s repainted the store and displayed 40 framed pieces.
He also has about 25 of his pieces as a silk screen or digital design on women’s tank tops, in addition to jewelry.
A Geneva resident since 1978, Dangles said he is a self-taught artist, painting with water-based products or tempera metallic on acid-free rice paper. He began painting on newspapers because he liked their texture and the way they got crumbly.
“I never took a lesson,” Dangles said. “I don’t want to learn what everybody else learns. As you paint, you find out different things. I think it’s more creative than to take a lesson, but that’s just me. Louis Armstrong never took a trumpet lesson. I do not consider myself to be a Louis Armstrong, but I am completely original.”
Dangles is working on store hours and a website, but there is a ribbon-cutting scheduled for 5 p.m. April 17. For information, call 630-232-9482.
The Christian Science Reading Room moved to 1035 E. State St., a recording at the room’s phone number states.