Page 41 - March 2022

Portraits by Peter Bucks
Tributes to officers from the CPD Officer, Lodge 7 member and renowned artist
Real Women Wear Badges
n BY MITCHELL KRUGEL AND ESTHER GONZALES
‘We’re born that way’
Area 5 Detective Wendy Weller did not want to sit for this one-of- a-kind portrait by artist/Chicago Police Officer Peter Bucks. In fact, when Bucks finished the only black-and-white he has ever done for Lodge 7 Magazine, Weller didn’t want to see it. In person. She was OK with Bucks texting her the image.
Weller eventually consented. And it wasn’t just because the artist happens to be her husband.
When hearing that the portrait would be done especially for this women’s issue of Lodge 7 Magazine, Weller wanted to represent. Represent many of the attributes that have enabled female officers in the Department to become an important part of the force and those we are celebrating with this special issue.
“When I first came on, that was maybe not a cool thing to do for female officers to be on the street,” Weller explained. “I wouldn’t say tough, but there were definitely less women on the job when I started. But then I think society has changed a little bit and it’s more acceptable.”
While taking an RDO, Weller considers the demands of being a fe- male Chicago Police Officer. For a mother of two girls, RDO means “Run-around Day Off,” trying to catch up on household errands. There just never seems to be enough time, and she sometimes has to give in to being a mom on the job.
“There’s a lot of things that I put in the back that I don’t focus on because my most important thing is my kids,” Weller admitted. “Things have to go on the back burner. My house isn’t the way I’d like it to be, but I make it work because I have to for these kids.”
SEE WELLER, CONTINUED ON PAGE 44
‘Just strong women’
A significant number of Peter Bucks’ portraits have illustrated the powerful presence of female officers
n BY MITCHELL KRUGEL
No man might be more in touch with the feminine side of the Department than Peter Bucks. Of the approximately 70 portraits our artist/Chicago Police Officer has painted for Lodge 7 Magazine, 18 have featured female officers. That ratio is a tribute to the per- centage of female officers in the Department, which is approaching nearly one-third.
That his portrait of 18th District Officer Trysha Solis landed in this issue celebrating National Women’s History Month only seems coincidental. In fact, the story of Trysha, her mother, Ziola, and sis- ter, Stefany, appearing on the previous pages (36-39) crescendos the vast excellence of the women who are Chicago Police Officers. And to enhance this celebration, we have gathered all the portraits Peter has painted of women on the job for one truly exceptional gallery on pages 42-43.
“This last one is a great example with Trysha Solis,” accentuates Bucks, who now works in the 20th District after spending several
years with the gangs unit. “It’s happened to me with female officers that I’ve worked with as partners over the years. And they would be like, ‘X, Y and Z.’ And I would be like, ‘Oh?’ And I can’t imagine if the female officer wasn’t there. It probably could have gone in a differ- ent direction. For the worse.”
Perhaps it is serendipitous for Bucks to land at this crossroads. This issue showcasing the women of CPD resulted in a command performance for Bucks to render the one female officer he had been asking to pose almost since he started doing these portraits in October 2015: Detective Wendy Weller. His wife.
In a matter of a weekend, Bucks produced the charcoal drawing displayed on this page. No word on whether he produced this art- work with his eyes closed. And there’s no need to have Peter answer if this is his best magazine portrait ever.
The fact of the matter is that Bucks sees something dynamic in every portrait of a female officer he has painted. Look at the array
SEE BUCKS, CONTINUE ON PAGE 44
CHICAGO LODGE 7 ■ MARCH 2022 41
WENDY WELLER
Star #21826