ST. LOUIS — Artists who work with the nonprofit group Faces Not Forgotten all receive the same advice: Focus on the eyes.
It was more than 10 years ago that Christine Ilewski founded the St. Louis-area organization that creates hand-painted portraits for families that have lost children to gun violence. Artists have completed more than 300 portraits of those killed across the country, including more than 60 from St. Louis, most age 20 and younger.
"It's the eyes where you get the emotion," said Ilewski, a college art instructor who lives in Alton. "That's where you can connect that this was someone who had so many years in front of them. They were going to have families, go to college, start careers."
