Memorial Service for Scott Sikkema
It is with heavy hearts that we announce the passing of Scott D. Sikkema.
Scott Sikkema 1963-2023
CAPE will be hosting a Memorial for Scott on Wednesday, December 6, from 5:00pm to 7:00pm at CAPE.
Please RSVP to attend and share this invitation with friends and colleagues. We hope to see you there.
Please feel free to share your memories below.
Scott’s passion for CAPE’s work was driven by his unshakable belief in the creativity of children.
Scott loved working with artists, teachers and staff to exchange ideas and develop new ways to bring creativity into the classroom. Throughout his professional career, and in his work with CAPE, he was dedicated to working side-by-side with teachers and teaching artists in developing the profession. Scott joined the CAPE staff in 2002 and for the next twenty years, had a significant impact on CAPE’s programming and research. An internationally recognized arts and education leader, Scott was a planner, researcher, writer, teacher, curator, and collaborator.
Scott Sikkema championed Art Education as a path to change the world one day at a time, and his work shaped how children experience art in schools throughout the Chicagoland region. Scott built a lasting network of collaborating cultural resources that brings art to thousands and thousands of school children in communities across our region every day.
His career began at the Kohl’s Children’s Museum, where he produced The Hundred Languages of Children, Chicago’s first exhibit of Reggio Emilia pedagogy and student art. Scott’s passion to build school capacity that engages children with art grew as he planned and led family workshops, teacher workshops, and summer programming in the suburbs and the city. Scott built his first multi-year collaborations between Kohl’s and elementary and preschool programs in the Chicago Public Schools to make sure every child had a chance to tell their tale.
When Scott moved to the Terra Museum of American Art, he brought the vibrant connections that expanded on-site arts programming for young learners. His intentional drive to serve young learners connected the Terra’s unique resources through purposeful educational programming with the Chicago Commons, the Shedd Aquarium, the North Park Village Nature Center, and the Chicago Arts Partnership in Education (CAPE).
As an educator himself, Scott taught teacher workshops and graduate coursework at National Louis University, Illinois State University, and Columbia College. Scott used that pedagogical expertise to shape policy on Intuit: The Center for Intuitive and Outsider Art’s Education Committee. Working to serve those who bring art to our classrooms, Scott build the capacity of educators through lasting collaborations between Chicago’s most prestigious institutions, including the Newberry Library, the Chicago Historical Museum, the Garfield Park Conservatory, the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, the Intuit Gallery for Outsider Arts, the Roger Brown Study Collection, the Conservation Design Forum, the Puerto Rican Arts Alliance, the Second City, and the Chicago Blues Foundation.
As the Education Director at CAPE, Scott retooled partnerships to focus on long-term, autonomous teams that pair teachers and artists in our schools. Supporting inquiry-based proposals from the adults with direct student contact, Scott constructed a collective professional development network that influences teaching and learning throughout Chicago and the suburbs. Because of Scott, more and more children use and apply contemporary art practices and forms in our schools.
Scott worked to establish research as an aesthetic and pedagogical practice, central to teaching and learning and to artmaking through collaboration that resulted in CAPE’s Artist/Researcher model. Scott helped write federal, state, and regional grants that helped fund CAPE’s emergence as Chicago’s pre-eminent afterschool arts programming resource.
Scott’s lasting legacy is defined by the connections he built between museum educators, principals and school administrators, teachers, artists and colleagues. The lasting networks he built continue to shape how our students grow and interact with art in their classrooms, their community, and their lives.
Please join us in remembering Scott by sharing your thoughts, memories and images.
Link to Scott’s official obituary
Link to the Memory Tribute Page
Link to make a donation in memory of Scott Sikkema
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I met Scott around 1999 or so, when I was asked to speak, along with Lincoln Brigade veteran Chuck Hall, at a Robert Capa exhibit at the Terra Museum, where Scott was working at the time. The experience was wonderful and it began a friendship with Scott. He was also a regular at Jury’s, where I worked as a server while I was in nursing school. We all loved him there. He was intelligent, witty and one of the nicest people I’ve ever met in my life. His dedication to bringing art to underserved communities was the cherry on the sundae. He will be missed.
Submitted by Jerry Stefl, remarks made at the Memorial Service on Dec. 6, 2023:
Regarding Scott
I have known Scott for over 30 years and have worked with him in many
capacities in and around the Chicago area.
When he was at the Terra Museum of American Art as the education chair, Scott
asked me to be on a panel of educators during the run of Arthur Wesley Dow and
the American Art and Craft Movement exhibition to discuss the legacy of Dow to
American education philosophies in a contemporary setting. Following the Dow
exhibition by a year or so the Terra mounted an exhibition, developed by gallerist
Judy Saslow, of American Self-Taught Art which became a blockbuster for the
museum. Scott and I designed a series of teacher workshops developed around
self-taught art with panels, visits to galleries and to Intuit: The Center of Self-
Taught Art. It was an extensive immersion into the realm of self-taught art for
Chicago area teachers.
Scott became a member of the Education Committee at Intuit and remained one
for a little over 20 years. He was a vital member of this committee and always
had valid suggestions and comments to make. In fact, this past summer when he
was so ill, Scott compiled a list of websites highlighting self-taught artists in
Intuit’s collection and others we have exhibited in the past. We have now used
this list with our teaching fellows so they can share various artists with their
students during the normal class periods and take them on a virtual fieldtrip. This
document will become something we can add to and make available to Chicago
educators and other art educators throughout the state.
It was during these times of us working together that I nominated Scott to the
Illinois Art Education Association as Museum Educator of the Year. He was given
this award with his mother and father in attendance to his great delight. It was
awarded during one of the annual IAEA Conferences.
I have worked with Scott and CAPE for many workshops and long-term projects
involving multiple schools and educators. We completed the last 5-year project
this past May, STEAM Ahead, and just completed those 5 years with a book for K-
6 grade teachers bringing the arts into a STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering,
and Math) program to further enrich the learning experience of students. Our
findings were presented at the annual conference of the National Education
Committee in Washington DC this past spring. They awarded and sponsored the
grant which Scott wrote. Scott was not well enough to attend this event.
Even well into this past summer, Scott would email that he was feeling better, and
we should plan a late lunch or early dinner at an Italian neighborhood restaurant.
He wanted to miss the crowds for lunch or dinner. It was something we did for
years. It never materialized for this past year. Yet, I have in my heart forever
those meals and all the times we spent together.
I must say Scott was always kind, considerate, and complimentary. His council
will be sorely missed!
Thank you,
Jerry Stefl
Education Chair; Intuit: The Center of Self-Taught Art
Associate Professor in the Department of Art Education; The School of the Art
Institute of Chicago; Emeritus
Past President; the Illinois Art Education Association
I’m incredibly saddened to hear about Scott’s passing. I had the privilege of working with him as a teaching-artist through CAPE, and through his unwavering support, compassion, and drive he gave so many students an arts education that they wouldn’t have received otherwise. Many of my memories of him are us working together at school sites, which says a lot about how closely he supported us educators and the students. Scott did so much good here in Chicago, and I’m grateful to have known and worked with him. He was a true proponent of education through the arts and he will absolutely be missed.
I have know Scott as a gladiator for arts education and a tireless advocate for the research needed to build connections between art making and its important connections to lifelong learning. And then, there was my times with Scott over coffee at Lill Street between studio time, driving to a workshop in a terrific downpour ( we were late) and the occasional breakfast meet- ups every year to talk about life and living. At the end of this school year, we both left the full- time work world and made a promise to do breakfast once things settled out for both of us. I will miss him.
During my 10-year association with CAPE, I always thought of Scott as their Ray Stantz. He was the heart of the team. Always warm and kind, his positive energy and brilliant mind made everyone he associated with feel better and do better work. It’s a wonder how someone so uplifting could also be such a good anchor, making sure that flights of fancy still served the needs of the project, the teachers and artists and students. His feelings were so genuine: when we worked on the “Origins of Now” project with the Japanese American Service Committee, one of the Nisei who talked about her WWII incarceration experience with the students said Scott understood and empathized so well that she dubbed him an honorary Japanese American. He felt her anguish, and in doing so uplifted her. Scott did that with many. He will truly be missed.
Remembering Scott
His mesmerizing and unforgettable smile,
Silent yet strong presence,
His candid yet insightful comments
Will always live on
More so,
Linger
Longer
Not just in our hearts
But through all the lives
that CAPE has touched
Indelibly marked by
Scott’s dedication
and commitment to the arts.
Until then…
This is very sad news. Scott and I were friends and colleagues in grad school at UIUC in the late 80s. I’ve always considered him a great friend, even though we had lost touch in the last few years as miles and demanding careers separated us. As others here have said, Scott was kind, patient, and highly intelligent. He had a sharp wit and was one of the funniest people I have ever known. We spent many hours together as art history students and teaching assistants, as well as in our personal time outside of the academic environment. Scott taught me a lot about movies, music, popular culture, and literature. He will always have a special place in my heart and memory. He is sorely missed.
Scott was an inspiration to me and a joy to work with. When I began my work at CAPE, I had just made the decision to leave a university position due to difficult family circumstances. My work at the university was vibrant and engaging. I was incredibly sad to be leaving. I was lucky enough to receive some work from CAPE, and I immediately knew that my new work life would be challenging, interesting and even more vibrant than what I experienced at the university. I absolutely adored Scott and am thankful to have had such an amazing colleague. Scott’s commitment to teachers and students was thoroughly commendable, and an inspiration to me. Every day and in many ways he encouraged teachers and their students to be leaders, tapping into their self of agency. He encouraged everyone around him to think, to create and to reflect, inviting our whole selves to contribute to the work at hand. He was an empowering soul to me. I will miss him and I can only hope that he is at peace.
I’m so sorry to hear this terrible news. Scott was a true leader, arts champion, and a gifted educator who worked with integrity and authenticity. He was also a lovely human being, always sharing a smile and showing genuine kindness in any conversation, workshop, meal, or moment you were fortunate to be with him. I’m sending all my best to the whole CAPE community. I believe we are all better for knowing and learning from Scott.
I joined CAPE in 2007, and the years I spent with the organization fundamentally changed how I think about collaboration, partnership, education, and what art-making means and can mean, and Scott was a huge part of that. As we are in October, I’ll remember how much he loved Halloween, and in one of our first school visits we talked about the student pumpkins on display and how he performed fright when the students approached them with their costumes. He was a rare combination of connecting with students and teachers in simple and powerful ways, and at the same time could facilitate thought-provoking discussions of contemporary art critique. He held a sense of humor and playfulness about him which made the work truly joyful. Thank you Scott, for sharing some of your time with me, and I hope you are now at rest.
Note sure where to even start with this…Scott believed in me when many around me didn’t. Scott’s passion for the arts, support, and kindness helped and continues to help so many. Here’s to angels wearing ascots! With love and a broken heart…B!
Scott was such a caring creative and generous soul. Over our enduring partnership with CAPE, I could always count on Scott to support for the work we do in schools. Ever enthusiastic and compassionate, I have nothing but great memories of our work together. Thoughts of love go out to the CAPE family and all those who have been blessed to be part of Scott’s circle. He will be missed, but the world is a better place because he shared his life and talents with us.
Deepest sympathy to Scott’s loved ones and the CAPE team on this profound loss.
Scott was truly an arts education visionary and it was such a gift to feel his support for the work I’ve been doing with Chicago Public School students for nearly 10 years through CAPE.
Scott believed that children could make experimental, idea and inquiry-driven art, collaboratively, that did not have to look like any art by children that anyone might recognize in any predictable sort of way. He championed the sometimes strange projects and results I have been a part of. He trusted that after what were sometimes many months of floating around, making seemingly nothing, we would eventually land on the ground and have something for people to look at and discuss.
I learned so much from Scott and we tried to stay connected in recent months. In late August he shared new writing with me, that I loved, and he tipped me off to an interesting Italian publisher that I was unaware of. He never stopped learning and thinking, which is maybe all you can ask of an arts educator. I was looking forward to ongoing exchanges, and I am sorry that they are not to be. His ideas and influence will endure, however, and will continue to inform the work I do with kids.
Scott’s legacy is immeasurable in the artwork of children throughout the Chicago area. His dedication to documentation and valuing of assessments, writing and research propelled so many of us to do so as well. He advanced art education in ways that will continue to be felt for years and years to come. Counting yourself as colleague and friend deeply enriched your life. Scott thought deeply, cared greatly and always, always put the good and growth of others first. I will always be blessed to know him; I will relive in memory as he shared Chicago history and geography with me; and encouraged—always encouraged my own thinking. I will miss Scott greatly.
When I read this wonderful celebration of all that Scott Sikkema represents in the arts and education world in Chicago, I was immediately thrown back to the 20+ years that I spent working with him, imagining with him the bigger and better things that CAPE could be in the lives of children, teachers, and artists. Scott was eternally patient, kind, and positive. He helped others (like me!) think through problems and find solutions. He was steadfast in his commitment to a rich vision of contemporary art as it could and should be in education and inquiry. This morning, I looked at a Youtube of Scott thanking donors and participants. He looked right into the camera and spoke from the heart and that voice brought tears. What a loss for CAPE; what a loss for Chicago. THANK YOU SCOTT. Your legacy will continue, no doubt about it.
I’m so sorry to hear about Scott’s passing. His enthusiasm for the arts and sharing them with the lucky children in the city of Chicago will have an indelible impact on their future. His memory will live on through the art they make.
Scott Sikkema created a seismic change in the Chicago Public School’s Visual Arts Education Program by: (1) enlightening decision makers regarding the importance of guided creativity in relation to the development of the skills necessary to compete for 21st Century employment and (2) reinforcing the teacher’s process of creating transformational Visual Arts projects.
Many teachers could not have elevated their Visual Arts Curriculum without him.
HERE’S JUST ONE EXAMPLE: I worked at an elementary school in Bronzeville…which has since been closed down because of low enrollment due to gang infiltration. The first and last year I worked there…the Principal of the school had…euphemistically speaking…“diverted” all the funds allocated for the Visual Arts Program. As a result…there was only $300…donated by a local church…to work with…spread over 400 students…spread over the entire school year.
Scott volunteered to help change that trajectory and we agreed to a meeting at the school.
Frighteningly…while Scott was walking from his car to the school…he was shot in the neck with a bullet…more than likely from a Bebe gun. If the bullet had landed higher…Scott could have lost his eye.
The reaction of the school’s Front Office…to this violent act…was hauntingly laissez-faire.
However…that violent act did not deter Scott from continuing to collaborate and the result was student work that was shown in a high end Bronzeville Art Gallery.
Scott Sikkema was a Warrior Angel for Creativity…and…I’m very confident…he still is.
I, and so many other Chicago arts educators, are a product of Scott’s generous leadership. He will be missed, and his absence will leave a large hole in Chicago. I am holding the entire CAPE staff and board, and Scott’s family and friends, with loving care.
I’m so sad to learn this news. Scott’s razor sharp intellect and optimistic resolve wholly shaped my teaching and art practice during my 7 years as a CAPE teaching artist. During regular PDs he challenged and championed us on points that may otherwise have been missed, and encouraged us to take uncomfortable risks in the pursuit of wonder–all from behind that knowing, kind grin. I feel lucky to have learned from him, and will forever consider myself an Artist Researcher in the world.
I am so saddened to hear this news. I always appreciated the joy and rigor that Scott brought to our work at CAPE. He was so supportive of all the facets of our engagement with classrooms, and also our work as individual artists. What a beautiful legacy of dedication, sustained inquiry, and love. I will miss his invigorating presence and generous spirit.
Scott was so passionate and committed to the artists who were a part of the CAPE family. I learned so much from his leadership during my time with the organization. Sending so much love to all of his family and friends. I know his great presence will be deeply missed by so many.
I am just finding this thread. And so grateful for it. I’m in NC now but lived the majority of my adult life in Chicago. I worked as a teaching artist with CAPE as well as in the office as a program coordinator. It has been so lovely to read your words about him. I live in NC now and feel far away. I was trying to think of who to reach out to at CAPE and all I could think was… I’d reach out to Scott if course. don’t know who else to put on this email to each out to. Because he was my go to at CAPE. Because he played well with others. And with me. When I was working in the office ahe and I had a game of hiding some little toy of his. Because his smile lit up the room. Because he anchored me when I was stressed out about things. Because I lost contact with him over the years and I miss him and I wish I had reached out sooner.i can still see his smile. I can still see the way his face changed when he was proud of the work,of our work, of your work. I am heartbroken. As you are too. Gonna go stand on the backporch and face my body to the north and the west and holler out to you that I’m thinking about the CAPE family and that I grieve Scott Sikkema with you from afar
Reading all these things about Scott warms the hearts of the Vander Bleek family from back in Scott’s hometown of Fulton, IL. Like all of you, we are heartbroken by this loss. Our family of 14 knew Scott–whom we called “Scooter”–from school days through his college years. It didn’t matter which of the 12 kids were home or if it was Mom or Dad, Scooter was one of those many visitors who knew that knocking was unnecessary, and even frowned-upon, at our house. And those of you who knew Scott professionally would find it humorous that, while he tolerated being called Scooter, he really did cringe every time it was used. That was part of the fun.
Even back then, Scott was a gentleman. He was kind to everyone and the model of politeness. We kids thought it was funny that he referred to his parents as, “Mother” and “Father.” He was formal, and we were NOT. It was with nervous laughter that Scott watched the way our large family jabbed and picked at each other (our parents and the kids).
Our many cherished evenings with Scott were spent chatting and playing games. Scott was older than most of the kids, and he was gifted at all board games, especially where language and trivia were involved. Remarkably, Scott knew every actor and actress in every movie from the beginning of time through the 70’s. Looking back, that’s impressive. But, hands-down, the most remarkable things about Scott were his patience and understanding. These traits are consistent with the many of the other comments about Scott’s masterful teaching of children and adults.
You see, it takes a lot of patience for an adult to play password with elementary and middle school children whose vocabulary is limited. Oftentimes, Scott, a college student at the time, had to take a 9-year-old opponent away from the game table to help that kid read or understand the word for which they must give a clue. One time, Scott quietly read the word to the child, and the child lit up, saying, “I know what that means! That’s the lizard that changes colors!” Scott roared with laughter, not AT the child but at the situation and with the delight of teaching and learning. He felt awful when the child felt hurt. That’s when Scott tenderly explained that a COMEDIAN is a person who makes people laugh.
Well, Scooter, you made us Vander Bleeks laugh and smile every time you graced us with your presence. Even when you paid us a visit after many years of being in the Big City, you remembered that our door was open, and you knew to come up the back steps.
Today and always we remember with fondness all the time we spent with you.
God Bless,
The Vander Bleeks
I am deeply saddened by Scott’s passing, but his spirit lives on through the work of so many arts ideas, collaborations which with his support were realized.
Not only his generosity as a gentle man, but his overwhelming kindness will always be treasured.
My time as a teaching artist with CAPE was one of the impactful, rewarding and creative professional experiences I have ever had. Scott’s positive influence on my career and self-concept as an artist-educator was tremendous. His vision of and influence upon what arts integrated education could be was such a gift to the world, to students, and to teachers hungry for deep engagement and creative collaborative pedagogical practice. I am so sad to hear this and so grateful for the opportunity I had to create my teaching practice with CAPE and Scott. Thank you for the joy you brought to my work, Scott.
I met Scott over 15 years ago when I started with CAPE. I loved the way that he always took part in the teacher PDs and lectures. I even ran into him when I was completing the Intuit Fellowship program with Mr. Green. He was there providing information and helping with a PD that we were attending as part of the program. It was great to be working on hands-on art projects with him as we were practicing before initiating the project with our students. I will miss his quick wit and smile. He was a great man and really did believe that art was for all and in the young artists of tomorrow.
Scott was a creative, kind, and humorous fellow who brought out the best in those around him. He inspired me to push my limits artistically. He will be greatly missed.
Without Scott and Hilesh, I was not led to work for and with CAPE. During the interview, he commented, “You approach your work as if a Japanese Sumie artist depicts the moon without drawing the moon itself.” I deeply miss him, his presence, and his intelligence. Thank you so much, Scott, for creating and inviting me to a real work place and for me to be a member of this totally different American society in the west.
Scott was not only a great educator but also a very very dear friend who will be greatly missed. Over the last 15 years that I , along with Margy Stover, have been involved with CAPE, Scott was always there to support our school Art/design classroom projects. There’s so much that I could say about Scott but I think if you have known you would know how his creative and warm heart personality affected us all in a positive way. I will miss you my friend.
We feel deeply saddened by the news of Scott’s passing. Scott welcomed our team from UC-Irvine with open arms in 2019 in what would become an ongoing collaboration in research with CAPE’s afterschool program. A passionate advocate for inquiry in arts education and learning, Scott was always interested in deep questioning of practice with his community. He was invested and committed to CAPE and to furthering a love for the arts with the teachers, teaching artists, and students with whom CAPE worked. Thank you for the years of collaborative research, authorship, and collegiality––you are very missed. ––The UCI research team (Kylie, Maggie, Lora, and Nikki)
October 12, 2023
Dear Friends and Colleagues,
Many of you know that our dearest Scott Sikkema had been undergoing cancer treatment for the past year, and it saddens me to come with news of his passing in the early morning of October 9, 2023. Scott served as Education Director until early 2023.
Scott’s indelible imprint on the organization can be seen and felt through the program staff he assembled and mentored. Scott had a deep love for artistic practice and the thinking that propels it. He was unflinching in bridging those processes with classroom learning to enliven the lives of teachers and students. He spent years assembling artist-administrators to develop and lead CAPE programs and engage teacher and teaching artist partners in continuous dialogue to expand the work with the students. His work and vision continue at the organization.
As text messages and emails announcing his departure filled my phone and inbox, I recall many conversations with him about his love for post-war Japanese art, vintage lapel pins, ascots vs. cravats, teas, the awe of Yoko Ono, John Baldessari pointing, the design of learning spaces, the habit of a notebook, the art of the everyday.
Please share your comments and memories.
Sincerely,
Mark A. Diaz
Associate Director of Education
In-school Programs and Exhibitions
Chicago Arts Partnerships in Education
My condolences. Scott was so helpful and interested in my practice. I am so grateful to have known him.
I am so sorry to hear this new. It has an honor to work with him at SD 163. My deepest condolences to his family.
Scott was a fantastic person. He will be missed. I actually met Scott when he met for collaborative opportunities with the American Indian Education program with CPS. He was a great force of nature then. I was awesome when he remembered me when we met again when I went to work with CAPE years later. We was a fun presence at all meetings, in-person and online. What made him special is that he got my joke references.
He will be missed, not just at CAPE but in that the world has lost another special human.
I met Scott in 2019 when he was researching exhibition spaces for a future CAPE gallery. I was grateful when he continued to seek opportunities to work with me and ACRE. Our meetings were a bright spot in my experience of the pandemic, his partnership gave our organization much needed hope in a time of great uncertainty. Scott was a pleasure and took such pleasure in his work, a true demonstration of the joyful everyday practice of teaching which is so much about learning. He was an obviously curious and loving human who cared deeply about artists and understood their impact on the world. I feel so lucky that I got to work with him these past few years. All my love to all his loved ones.
What a wonderful tribute to a great man, educator and lover of the arts. He had a lasting impact on everyone who had the honor of knowing him and pleasure of calling him their friend. He was loved by all and is at peace now. He will be deeply missed at Himmels Restaurant where he was a mainstay and lover of the staff and house band, The Tuesdays. He had a tremendous love and knowledge of 80’s pop and rock, dancing away all the time. Miss you, love you brother. Your soul lives on in the people who you touched. You will forever be in or hearts.If there was anyone dancing on their way to the other side, it was Scotty. Rest in peace my friend.