Indiana Weslyan University Theatre

Best of the Northwest is chamber's only business expo

Crossroads Regional Chamber of Commerce will hold just one Business Expo this year. The Best of the Northwest Expo will be held June 2 at SS. Peter & Paul Macedonian Orthodox Church Hall, 9660 Broadway, Crown Point.

The Business to Business portion is from 2 to 4 p.m. and the event will be open to the public from 4 to 6 p.m.

A business seminar will be presented from 2 to 2:30 p.m. by Julie Olthoff, VIA Marketing Inc. She will present simple tips on making your brand relevant to clients. Larry Geller of Larry Geller & Associates will speak from 2:45 to 3:15 about attracting new customers and how to retain them.

Consumer seminars will include a Financial Panel with Andrew Kyres of First Financial Bank and Matt Evans of Legacy Advisors Wealth Management ,from 4 to 4:30 p.m., and a Fitness Panel with Angela Ramos of Inspiration Fitness Camp, TJ Lux of dlux Evolutionary Personal Training and Joe Despoy of GNC speaking from 4:15 to 5:15 p.m.

Booths and sponsorships are still available. Admission is $5 and the proceeds will benefit the Food Bank of NWI. Call the chamber office at (219) 769-8180 or (219) 663-1800 for more information.

One-day leadership event

Indiana Wesleyan University will host a Chick-fil-A Leadership event from 8 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. Friday featuring some of the world's best leaders speaking about the leadership principles that matter most. The broadcast, live from Atlanta to the Star Plaza Theater in Merrillville via satellite, is a catalyst for new ideas and better leadership practices.

Tickets are $49, with snacks and workbook, if purchased today, and are available at (866) 221-0017 or www.indwes.edu/News/2011/IWU-to-Host-Leadercast-Event/. Tickets are $69 at the door. Proceeds will benefit the Boys and Girls Club of Northwest Indiana.

Spaghetti for a cause

You don't have to heat up the kitchen May 12. Just go to SS. Constantine & Helen Hellenic Cultural Center at 8000 Madison St., Merrillville, where the St. Helen's Ladies Philoptochos Society will be serving its famous Spaghetti Dinner from 4 to 7 p.m. with a choice of sauce, salad, bread sticks, dessert and coffee or punch.

David McDowell's Glass Menagerie | Buzzbin Magazine

David McDowell has been making stuff since about the time he could sit up, or so his mom says. And he’s had a love of glass, stained and otherwise, since he attended Indiana Wesleyan University. He graduated with a degree in ceramics, but perpetual breathing problems resulting from inhalation plagued him when working in his chosen craft. And so he’s turned to glass and mixed media.

“I started by simply asking, ‘How do you make that?’ Nobody makes some of this stuff anymore, so I knew I had to figure out how to do it,” said McDowell. And then, as soon as he figured it out, he started breaking all the rules.

After graduating and heading back to Ohio, glass took a backseat to making a living — until a love of local coffee bars intervened on fate’s behalf: “I’ve been going to Muggswigz [Coffee & Tea Company in downtown Canton] since three weeks after they opened,” he said. “That’s where I met a barista friend who wanted a bottle etching — my first commission.”

That project, “Kentucky Sky,” has led to every commission since, including the Sandy Valley High School tree sculpture, constructed for the very district he had attended in his formative creative years.

“I had never heard of ArtsinStark when they first approached me about doing a sculpture at Sandy Valley High School. Within five minutes I had the whole project mapped out,” said McDowell.

Years ago, he had used scrap and junk glass to make little trees, lit inside by Christmas tree lights. So, using scrap glass and metal from as many schools in the Sandy Valley district as possible — from transparent and textured glass taken from administration office doors to cornerstones from old buildings — he would once again create his glass tree, this time larger than life. And he’d do it with the help of the students at Sandy Valley.

So what’s the infatuation with old glass? “There’s this ‘X-Files’ episode with Peter Boyle. He has this psychic ability so that when he touches something, he can interpret the entire story of its owners, its history, everything. I like to try to do the same thing with the found glass I use. Put it together and make stories out of it,” said McDowell.

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