Learn more about Jill Adzia, Featured Artist of the 2021 Autumn Art Exhibit of the Nature Artists’ Guild of The Morton Arboretum
Thistle, copyright Jill Adzia
Josh Guge, award-winning sculptor of wood and co-founder of The Guge Institute & Art Studio in Elgin, IL, began learning and practicing his art and earning honors for it at an early age.
Josh’s bird sculptures have been chosen to be included in the prestigious yearly exhibition Birds in Art at the Leigh Yawkey Woodson Art Museum in Wausau, WI numerous times. Winter Wren, his sculpture in tupelo with acrylic, joins the work of many of the world’s best contemporary artists in Birds In Art 2021 through November 28.
At the Guge Institute, Josh instructs students in carving, painting, drawing, and other skills related to creating wood sculptures.
The Nature Artists’ Guild will be sponsoring an in-person program featuring Josh and his work at the Thornhill Education Center of The Morton Arboretum on the evening of Thursday, October 7, 2021 beginning at 7 pm. There are also efforts ongoing to possibly make arrangements to share the program live, online, for guild members with that preference. Updates will be shared with members by email. The program will not be recorded.
As always, guests and visitors are welcome to attend by letting the gate attendant know they are there for the Nature Artists’ Guild presentation. There is no charge for entering the arboretum, attending the presentation, or parking for this event. Timed-entry passes will not be required, but all attendees will be required to follow the Ensure a Safe Visit instructions from the arboretum’s Know Before You Go page.
There’s a good chance of crisp autumn weather and active wildlife at 10 am on Friday, October 1, 2021 as members of the Nature Artists’ Guild set up to sketch outdoors at the Willowbrook Wildlife Center in Glen Ellyn, IL. Willowbrook
Willowbrook Wildlife Center at Willowbrook Forest Preserve in Glen Ellyn is a native wildlife rehabilitation facility that provides care and medical treatment to injured and orphaned wild animals. It also serves as a resource to teach DuPage County’s residents about living in harmony with local wildlife.
dupageforest.org/willowbrook-wildlife-center
Although the indoor Visitor Center and exhibits are currently closed to the public, paint-out participants will be able to browse a trail around outdoor habitats of rescued native wildlife or follow a loop through acres of restored woodland, wetland, prairie, and savanna, discovering on their way a resident sandhill crane!
Willowbrook’s permanent outdoor residents include several raptors, other large birds, and medium-sized mammals. Temporary residents have included fox, bobcats, and waterfowl.
Interested members of the Nature Artists’ Guild are asked to contact Linn Eldred (whose email information is in the guild’s Yearbook) to reserve a spot at the paint-out (and receive any necessary weather-related updates.)
Summer may be coming to an end soon, but nature artists still have time to enjoy the beautiful weather while beginning to prepare for the colder months. (As always, please click on the highlighted links for more information and important details.)
Links to the prospectus for the Autumn 2021 Exhibit have been emailed to all members. This long-awaited in-person exhibit at The Morton Arboretum in November 2021 will have extended hours to better accommodate artists and visitors. Much more about this exhibit and Featured Artist Jill Adzia will be coming soon.
A paint-out at the Peck Farm Park is scheduled for Friday, September 10, 2021. The park’s Butterfly House closes soon, so it may be one of the last chances to capture an image of these beauties this year!
Tuesday Morning Coffee Club gatherings continue at the Visitor Center of The Morton Arboretum every week beginning at 9 am. All members are welcome to stop by but will need a timed-entry ticket to enter the arboretum.
Online workshops by Visiting Artist Betsy Rogers-Knox and one of the guild’s own talented members, Carrie Carlson, are open for registration at The Morton Arboretum. Members of the Nature Artists’ Guild will receive an additional discount for the Visiting Artist class if they register by phone and mention their guild membership.
The Nature Artists’ Guild would like to share a number of ways to spend some of the remaining days of summer making and enjoying art-
This weekend, August 21 and 22, 2021, visitors to the Wine and Art Walk at The Morton Arboretum can meet and talk with a member of the Nature Artists’ Guild and view the artist at work. The guild’s table will be set up inside the Visitor Center.
This Sunday, August 22, 2021, artists, friends, family, and all those who appreciate nature art are invited to attend a reception for the Nature Artists’ Guild’s in-person exhibit, Visions of Nature, at the McCord Gallery in Palos Park, IL between 2 and 4 pm.
Next Tuesday, August 24th, 2021, the weekly meeting of the Nature Artists’ Guild’s Coffee Club will begin at 9 am. There is so much to see and sketch within a few yards of the Visitor Center of The Morton Arboretum and all guild members are invited.
Please click on any of the highlighted links for more information and the latest updates.
This video from Ball Seed highlights some of the views, which include acres of flowers, water features, trees and shrubs, and container displays, all available for artists to enjoy and be inspired by. Please click on this link for a guided video tour of the gardens.
Since the gardens will be reserved for this event, interested members of the Nature Artists’ Guild must contact Linn Eldred to be put on the list for attendance and to receive further details by email. Linn’s contact information can be found in the Nature Artists’ Guild Yearbook.
Tomorrow evening, beginning at 7 pm, some of the participating members of the Nature Artists’ Guild will share artwork and experiences from this summer’s Seeds of Inspiration. The artists of this project, like any gardeners, may have a few tales of frustrations and disappointments along with those of successes and unexpected delights.
All members of the Nature Artists’ Guild received an email on July 29 with instructions for attending this online meeting.
McCord Gallery is open to all on weekdays from 10 am until 4 pm and Saturdays from 11 until 4 pm (closed on Sundays.) There will be a reception for artists, friends, family, and other visitors on Sunday, August 22, 2021 from 2 until 4 pm.
Participants in Seeds of Inspiration will be sharing some of their experiences and artwork in an online meeting of the Nature Artists’ Guild of The Morton Arboretum on Thursday evening, August 5, 2021 beginning at 7 pm. Here is a small sample of the work –
Images of artwork for the presentation should be emailed to Terrie McComb by July 31, 2021. All Nature Artists’ Guild members will be emailed instructions for attending the meeting.
Also coming up –
Please share with friends and family
Tuesday Morning Coffee Club at 9 am tomorrow
Gardens at Ball paint-out on August 18
In an online program on the evening of Thursday, August 5, 2021, beginning at 7 pm, members of the Nature Artists’ Guild of The Morton Arboretum will be sharing some of their experiences, inspirations, and artwork from the Seeds of Inspiration project.
It promises to be an interesting and entertaining program as some of the participants discuss how their seedlings, their frustrations, their accomplishments, and their artwork all “grew” throughout the summer.
Detailed instructions for attending this virtual gathering will be emailed to all Nature Artists’ Guild members before the meeting.
Nature Artists' Guild 