Category: Classes and Workshops

Coming Soon!

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We may not be able to count on the weather this time of the year (how about all of this rain?), but we can always count on the Nature Artists’ Guild to come up with some great events, indoors and out.

Coming up in the next few months –

  • On Wednesday, July 15, 2015, from 9 am until noon, members will be meeting on the Joy Path and in the Fragrance Garden of The Morton Arboretum for a paint-out filled with wonderful scents, sounds and sights.
  • The Nature Artists’ Guild exhibit, Viewing Nature, at Benedictine College in Lisle, IL, continues until July 16, 2015.  This gorgeous collection of nature art is located in the Komechak Gallery on the fifth floor of the Kindlon Hall of Learning.  After entering at the main entrance, visitors should proceed to the back of the building, where the elevator to the fifth floor is located in a short hallway to their right.  For more details, please click on the gallery name above.
  • On Thursday evening, August 6, 2015, from 7 until 9 pm, at Thornhill Education Center at The Morton Arboretum, Nature Artists Guild members and their guests will be given the opportunity to see three of our most talented artists at work.  Gail Diedrichsen, Bob Sunyog and Lindsay Sandbothe will be sharing some of their techniques, tips and inspirations at this popular yearly program.  Open to visitors, it is a great chance to interact with these artists, as well as to meet other members of the Nature Artists Guild (and possibly even consider becoming a member in the future). Everyone is welcome to attend this fun and fascinating program!
  • Member Margo Heald has very generously donated over 60 books to the Nature Artists’ Guild!  At our August 6, 2015 meeting, these books (instructional art books to fabulous coffee table books, as well as everything in between) will be available for purchase at a generous discount to our members (cash or check only, please).
  • A new fundraising project will be announced at our August 6, 2015 meeting. Committee members will have twenty 6-inch square canvases to give to members who wish to participate.  These canvases will then be taken home by the artists, to be painted or collaged as they wish, and returned at “referee night” of the Holiday Exhibit.  A display of all the canvases will be part of our 2015 Holiday Exhibit, and the canvases will be for sale, with proceeds going to the Nature Artists’ Guild.

Please be sure to check back for more details about these events as the dates approach.  

Workshop and Framing Demonstration this Saturday, March 23, 2013

Published on by Denise2 Comments

This year’s workshop for the Artisan Shop at the Spring Exhibit of the Nature Artists’ Guild of The Morton Arboretum will be very special.  Not only will we be creating items for our fundraising table at the upcoming exhibit, (please bring acrylics, brushes and a water container, as well as sketches or reference materials in your choice of subjects from nature), we will also have the chance to learn about framing from professional framer (and member), Evelyn Grala! Picture Framing

From 9:30 until noon, we can work on our handmade items for the exhibit, and then from 1 pm until 3 pm, Evelyn will show fellow Nature Artists’ Guild members – how to choose frames that will enhance your artwork, how to creatively re-use frames, how to choose standard frame sizes for ease and economy, the do’s and don’ts in preparing for an exhibit, and finally, a framing demonstration for the “do-it-yourself” artists!

If you can’t stay for the whole workshop, please stop in any time between 9:30 am and 3 pm, work as little or as much as you like, or even take an item home to work on. The workshop takes place on Saturday, March 23, 2013 in Classroom C at Thornhill.

Update – Please enjoy these photos, thanks to Carol Carls, of the Spring Workshop participants hard at work!

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Spring Exhibit Workshop, March 24, 2012

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Our Fund-Raising Committee Co-chairs Nancy Thyfault and Brenda Spitzer have a fun workshop planned for this year’s spring exhibit fundraising table! The workshop will take place at the Thornhill Education Center of The Morton Arboretum on March 24, 2012 from about 9:30 am until about 1:00 pm. Here’s what  we can look forward to –

Join us to create one of a kind treasures for our Artisan Shop (fundraising table).

There are some new things to try out:

Sharon Malec has a wrapped branch project. These look great in a vase. Please bring:

  • Freshly cut branches, fairly sturdy ones
  • Any scrap yarn, any color.

Brenda Spitzer will demonstrate ArtEmboss, a method of embossing metal. The metal can be displayed on its own, or attached to a support, such as a wooden box. Please bring:

  • An old mouse pad (to put beneath the metal)
  • A design no larger than 4” x 4” drawn on tracing paper..
  • Brenda will supply styluses and metal.

ArtEmboss photo credit Dick BlickNancy Thyfault will demonstrate how to transfer of copies of your artwork. These can be used to decorate wood pieces, papier mache items, etc. Please bring:

Laser copies of artwork (ink jet will wash away) which can be made at any office supply store. Make multiple sizes to cut up. Copies sized 8.5 x 11 and reduced down from that work well.

  • Old pieces of jewelry or found objects
  • A burnisher, if you have one (we can share)
  • An old stiff brush for application
  • Acrylic paints & brushes
  • A water container

We will have trays, boxes and other items to decorate or paint on. The embossed metal and/found objects can be incorporated onto your piece, as well.

This workshop will incorporate some new, fresh ideas with some old standbys. Don’t miss it!

You may join us or leave at any time. If YOUR time is short, stop by and pick up something to work on at home.

See you there!

Nancy and Brenda