Jan Petry was a longtime art director at the Leo Burnett advertising agency who was an enthusiastic champion of outsider art and served for three decades on the board of Chicago-based Intuit: The Center for Intuitive and Outsider Art, including as board chair.
Petry also was an accomplished artist and sculptor herself, specializing in woodworking.
“Jan Petry was instrumental in establishing Intuit as a premier museum of self-taught and outsider art, thanks to her 25 years of serving as its chair of exhibitions — overseeing groundbreaking shows with talented guest curators — before the museum could afford a full-time curator,” said Debra Kerr, the museum’s president and CEO. “When the museum did begin to grow, she generously shared her knowledge, contacts and wisdom with a grateful staff.”
Petry, 85, died of complications from liver cancer on Sept. 5 at her home at the Admiral at the Lake retirement community in the Uptown neighborhood, said her sister, Jo Ellen Bivens. She had lived in the Lincoln Park neighborhood for more than 30 years until 2012, when she moved to Uptown.
Born Janet Petry at her parents’ home in New Paris, Ohio, Petry moved with her family as a youngster to Richmond, Indiana. After graduating from Richmond High School, she earned a bachelor’s degree in art education in 1961 from Ball State Teachers College, which now is Ball State University.
Petry taught high school for one year in Centerville, Ohio, before deciding in 1962 to move to Chicago to return to school for graduate studies in art at the Illinois Institute of Technology’s Institute of Design. From there, she worked at several small design firms before taking a job as an art director at Leo Burnett.
For the next quarter century, Petry worked on TV and print ad campaigns for clients like Kellogg Co., and she rose to become a vice president and associate creative director.
Donna Speigel, a longtime friend and former Leo Burnett colleague, recalled a creative campaign that Petry oversaw for Kellog’s Corn Flakes.
“It was unlike anything at the time — it involved special effects of live-action kids ‘riding’ on real corn flakes in waves of milk all set to a folksy and warm music track with gentle lyrics. It was pure magic, which was a major pivot from the animated talking critters and commercial jingles of the day,” Speigel said. “That work, as I recall, catapulted Jan’s career.”
Petry retired from Leo Burnett in 1995.
Petry and her life companion, Angie Mills, began collecting art in 1980, initially interested in antiques and then folk art. After attending a groundbreaking show in Louisville, Kentucky, about Black folk art in America, the couple were inspired to begin collecting outsider art, according to a 2002 Tribune article.
Petry expanded her passion for outsider art when she connected in 1991 with several art enthusiasts, including Susann Craig, who were founding Intuit. Petry went on to direct more than 135 art exhibits at Intuit, including curating shows and overseeing pop-up art exhibits in borrowed spaces, and she joined Intuit’s board in 1994.
“Her creativity, drive and confidence propelled her to leadership at Intuit,” said Cleo Wilson, a fellow board member and Intuit’s former executive director. “Although … we didn’t even have a gallery space, in 1993, Jan curated ‘Eccentric Chairs,’ a monthlong exhibition in a borrowed space that featured more than 25 unconventional chairs loaned from collections around the country. The exhibition received critical acclaim.”
Petry brought a keen eye for presentation to her volunteer work as a curator.
“In planning exhibits, she knew exactly how every aspect should appear to a visitor, including placement of the art on the walls and vitrines and what typeface should be used,” Wilson said. “Her passionate vision provided the basis for Intuit’s education efforts and helped establish our brand.”
After spending 25 years as the chairwoman of the exhibitions committee of Intuit, Petry chaired Intuit’s board of directors from 2016 until 2019. Most recently, she had co-chaired a capital campaign.
Currently closed to the public, Intuit is undertaking an extensive expansion and renovation of its West Town space, which will reopen in spring 2025. In the newly reopened museum, the largest gallery will be named for Petry.
“As she moved into the positions of board chair and capital campaign co-chair, she enthusiastically championed the changes now happening,” Kerr said. “Intuit is about to reopen as a renovated and expanded museum, nearly tripling its exhibition space, and Jan Petry was key to making that happen.”
Kerr also recalled Petry’s willingness to step up to help Intuit in myriad ways.
“She was inquisitive, offered counsel and was generous in spirit,” Kerr said. “When the (museum’s) Young Professionals Board hadn’t quite met its financial target to commission a new artwork for Intuit’s collection, Jan raised her hand, pledging the balance of funds to reach the goal. When one of the (teens attending Intuit’s summer program) needed financial support to head off to college, Jan quietly helped.”
Petry’s own artwork included wood sculptures and pastel-stick studies. She presented her work at a variety of shows before presenting her first solo exhibition, titled “Juicy,” at the Carl Hammer Gallery in Chicago in 2008. The exhibition contained 14 works of organic wooden sculpture.
The Racine Art Museum in Racine, Wisconsin, acquired three of Petry’s sculptures for its permanent collection.
“Jan’s sculptures consistently captured that perfection of craft, attention to detail, grace and strength, and wit and humor and elegance that made her work breathe with a minimal yet warm elegance,” Speigel said.
Outside of artwork, Petry enjoyed volunteering at a women’s shelter, playing tennis and spending time at a second home — which she called a “casita” — in Santa Fe, N.M., her sister said.
“Jan was a tastemaker — she had the gifts of creative vision, attention to detail, a precision to her craftsmanship and a discerning eye, whether she was art directing a television commercial, designing a cereal box for Kellogg’s, curating an art exhibition for Intuit, discovering and personally collecting the work of self-taught artists, or designing the home she shared with her companion of 54 years, Angie Mills,” Speigel said. “The vintage condominium they lived in for many decades was an arts outing in itself. They curated a distinctive life story told through design and art.”
In addition to her life companion and her sister, Petry is survived by another sister, Nancy.
A private celebration of life service will be held in November.
Bob Goldsborough is a freelance reporter.