public static ImageIcon loadImageIcon( String imageFile ) {
    ImageIcon   result = null;
    InputStream stream;

    try {
      stream = Model.class.getClassLoader().getResourceAsStream( imageFile );
      result = new ImageIcon( ImageIO.read( stream )  );
    } // try
    catch ( IllegalArgumentException error ) {
      JOptionPane.showMessageDialog( Data.getView(),
                                     "Image Load Error: " + imageFile + "\n" + error.getMessage(),
                                     "Image Load Error: " + Data.APP_TITLE,
                                     JOptionPane.ERROR_MESSAGE );
      BuildariaInventoryEditor.throwError();
    } // catch
    catch ( IOException error ) {
      JOptionPane.showMessageDialog( Data.getView(),
                                     "Image Load Error: " + error.getMessage(),
                                     "Image Load Error: " + Data.APP_TITLE,
                                     JOptionPane.ERROR_MESSAGE );
      BuildariaInventoryEditor.throwError();
    } // catch
    catch ( NullPointerException error ) {
      JOptionPane.showMessageDialog( Data.getView(),
                                     "Image Load Error: " + error.getMessage(),
                                     "Image Load Error: " + Data.APP_TITLE,
                                     JOptionPane.ERROR_MESSAGE );
      BuildariaInventoryEditor.throwError();
    } // catch

    return result;
  } // loadImageIcon -----------------------------------------------------------