Towns are like people. They have personality, uniqueness and a story to tell.
While Ashley Ann Klockenga, who goes by the name Ashley Ann, has always believed that people “make a community,” she’s come to realize over the years that a community often returns the favor.
“There is a lot of hometown pride out there,” she said.
The west suburban artist and mother of four designs coffee mugs that capture and illustrate the local charms of many of Chicago suburbs and neighboring villages, as well as towns across the country and Canada.
“I am surprised by how different and yet connected” many of the towns around Chicago are, she said. Each town has its own character and unique landmarks, yet they’re all connected by highways, railroads and waterways, she said.
Elgin has a long history of watch making. Crystal Lake has boasted fun at Main Beach for decades. St. Charles’s roots are planted in farming. And Naperville has its famous Riverwalk.
The development of many towns, including Tinley Park and Lockport, has been shaped by rivers and railroads.
Klockenga, who earned a degree in visual communications and graphic design from Northern Illinois University, partners with local coffee shops and other small businesses to create, stock and sell the mugs in the featured towns. The average cost in the Chicago area is $26, she said.
Each mug celebrates the unique stories, history and landmarks of the featured town. Among the towns represented are Oswego, Naperville, North Aurora, Lockport, Palatine, Joliet, Libertyville, Cary, Plainfield, Highland Park and Chicago neighborhood Roscoe Village.
For information, go to sites.google.com/artistashleyann.com/artistashleyann.
Klockenga has also designed mugs for not-so-local communities, including Thunder Bay, Sioux Lookout and Yellowknife in Canada.
She has either lived in or visited most of the communities she features. For the few places she hasn’t been to, she relies on character descriptions from longtime residents.
The mugs are only available at local shops. For example, the Tinley Park mug is only available at Krema Coffee Roasters in downtown Tinley.
“I do an exclusive — one shop — in each town because I want to support local business. A few of the shops offer to ship the mugs, but most are only available in store,” Klockenga said.
In 2024, Klockenga’s Elgin mug became the inspiration for a mural at DuPage Court in that town.
Klockenga grew up in Brookfield. Her husband is a native of Crystal Lake. While the couple was living remotely as missionaries in a First Nation community in Canada, she designed a mug showcasing the charm of that community as a gift for the elders.
“We wanted to communicate our love for the community and illustrate how special that community was,” she said.
Needless to say, the gift was well received.
The following year, when she was pregnant with her fourth daughter, the family moved to another community that was closer to a hospital. During her time there, she came to love the area and designed another mug specific to that community.
“I brought it to a local coffee shop to see if they’d be interested in carrying it and they were. We put 72 mugs on the shelf, thinking that was way too many, but they were all gone within 72 hours,” she said.
That’s when she realized many people, regardless of where they live and what they do, have a deep love for their community. And a business was born.
“We began with our hometowns,” she said.
She and her husband had many fond memories of hanging at Main Beach in Crystal Lake, so she included it in the design. She approached Conscious Cup coffee shop with her idea and the chain wanted one for each of their locations, including Cary, Palatine and Barrington.
“North Aurora started because I had drawn a mug for Plainfield, where I spent my high school years,” she said.
Krema took it, and wanted one for its other locations in North Aurora, Lockport, Tinley and Plainfield.
Since its start, the business has doubled every year, except last year because “we went through a move and I had a health crisis,” she said. “Otherwise, it’s doing well.”
Klockenga said that when she was growing up, she knew she wanted to pursue a career doing “something tangible with my hands.”
Her mom encouraged her to pursue a degree that would allow her to be creative.
“So has been a really cool thing. I get to marry creating by hand and using visual communication skills,” she said. “It’s amazing when your passions meld together and it’s a joy every single time I get to see something new come into the world.
“It’s an honor,” she said, “to continue blending visual storytelling with a shared love for the places we call home.”
Donna Vickroy is an award-winning reporter, editor and columnist who worked for the Daily Southtown for 38 years. She can be reached at donnavickroy4@gmail.com.
