Veronica “Ronnie” Cuculich was born April 4, 1930 in Chicago, Illinois. She grew up in Dixon, Illinois with two sisters, her mother, and father. As a young woman, Ronnie attended Dixon State School. After living in state-operated institutions for many years, Ronnie finally got to live in the community with her friends. She worked in a sheltered workshop, but art-making was her true calling. Ronnie had been drawing and making crafts her whole life. She was the inspiration behind the Arts of Life studio and helped open it in January of 2000. While Ronnie was an untrained artist, she worked with various media and was always drawn to experimentation, creating mixed media works, drawings, and paintings in both oil and acrylic. In Ronnie’s words, “The studio is perfect because I get to paint!” After practicing as an artist for 10 years, and working to open two studios, Ronnie passed away in 2010.
Watch the 45 min documentary about Veronica and the founding of Arts of Life on our youtube page.