Category: Outside Exhibitions

Gardener’s Art Festival Volunteers Needed on June 25th

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The Nature Artists’ Guild has been invited to participate in the annual Gardener’s Art Festival being held on Saturday, June 25, 2011 from 10 am until 4 pm at The Growing Place in Naperville.  Please click here to find out all the details about this popular festival! 

Photo credit The Growing Place

We are looking for artists to volunteer to participate for a 2-hour shift of painting, drawing or sketching during the event.  What a great opportunity to show off your work while enjoying the beautiful surroundings!

   The  Growing Place would love to have four artists for each shift, so please don’t hesitate to sign up if you can – we need your contribution to help make this a success!  Contact Jill Adzia to sign up (you can find her contact information in your Yearbook).

Canterbury Shoppe Drop-Off and Pick-Up This Saturday

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The pick- up date for the Spring exhibit and the drop-off date for the Summer exhibit at the Canterbury Shoppe in Naperville has been changed to Saturday, June 11, 2011 (from 11 am until 2 pm).

The prospectus deadline has also been extended until Wednesday, June 8.  Your prospectus was either e-mailed or mailed to you on March 24th, but if you can’t find it, please contact Paulette McDermott, or leave a comment on this post, and we’ll make sure to get one to you!

Eggs-cellent job!

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The Nature Artists’ Guild liason to The Morton Arboretum, Suzanne Wegener thanked everyone at our meeting last night on behalf of the Arboretum for doing such a great job of painting eggs for their upcoming Cirque Du Soleil promotion.  Suzanne started out with 100 plain tan eggs, and as of last evening, only two were not yet decorated!

As artist Priscilla Humay pointed out after her awesome presentation last evening (thank you, Priscilla!), the Nature Artists’ Guild really does have one of the best settings in the Chicagoland area for an artists’ group.  The Morton Arboretum provides us with inspiring subject matter, a wonderful and helpful staff, quality instruction and promotion, and facilities for our workshops, shows and meetings that are not only modern and comfortable, but historic and absolutely beautiful! 

Sometimes it takes someone outside of the group to notice what we may take for granted.  So, thank you Morton Arboretum for everything you do for our group, and any time you need help in painting a hundred or so eggs, we’ll be glad to do it!

EGG-stravaganza this Thursday!

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You are invited to stop by this Thursday evening before our formal Nature Artists’ Guild meeting to paint an egg or two for Cirque du Soleil.  There will be paints available in Thornhill, Room C from 5-7 pm.

 The eggs will be used for a eggs-ceptional  promotional event at the Morton Arboretum.  Please join us in this wonderful opportunity (click here for more information) to get publicity for our group while also helping the Arboretum!

Please contact Suzanne with any questions.

Beauty of the Earth Exhibit at the Burning Bush Gallery

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Even if you didn’t get a chance to participate in this lovely exhibit, there is still time to visit the gallery and view the artwork of some of your fellow Nature Artists’ Guild members.  The gallery is located at 224 North Main Street in Wheaton, and hours are listed on the flyer below. 

Artwork Copyright Paulette McDermott

The Nature Artists’ Guild is Joining The Circus!

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But thankfully, we won’t be on the high wire!  The Morton Arboretum’s Nature Arts Education Manager and our Nature Artists’ Guild liason, Suzanne Wegener, has asked us to help with a fun new adventure –

Have you heard of Cirque Du Soleil? They have a new performance scheduled in Chicago called OVO (egg). In conjunction with this event The Morton Arboretum will host an egg hunt for families and we have been asked to help out by painting eggs for the event. If you can help out we would greatly appreciate it! Paper eggs can be picked up in the Thornhill offices. Paint them, decoupage them, splatter them, but sign them with your name, they are artist created! I will have examples in the registrar’s office for you to see.  We will need them back by June 1st. Check out their website here to see a preview of the performance.

 I thank you for your help with this event. By participating we increase publicity for our events by raising awareness of our group and the education program at the Morton Arboretum.

 If you have any questions please contact me at swegener@mortonarb.org or 630 719-5642.

Nature Artists’ Guild Invited to Exhibit in “Beauty of the Earth”

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We can all congratulate ourselves on a fantastic job at the Spring Exhibit of the Nature Artists’ Guild.  The weather was mixed, but we still had about 1000 people come through and enjoy the results of all our efforts.  Every comment overhead was completely complimentary, and usually included one or more of the following – “ooh”, “how do they do that?” “wow!”  There was much leaning way, way over to get a closer look – perhaps next time we should hand out magnifying glasses at the doorway!  Congratulations to everyone who arranged, helped with and participated in the exhibit.

Whew! It’s a good thing that we have about a month off with no activities scheduled so that we can all take a rest.  But wait a minute, not so quick –

Our Special Exhibits Chairperson Paulette McDermott has been busy, and  announces that

We have a wonderful opportunity to show our work at the Burning Bush Gallery in Wheaton.  The Burning Bush Gallery is loosely associated with the Gary United Methodist Church, 224 North Main Street in Wheaton.

The exhibit will be titled “Beauty of the Earth”, will run from May 15 to June 12, and can be enjoyed on Sundays from 10 am to 12:30 pm and Wednesdays from 5:30 pm to 7 pm, or by special arrangement.   The exhibit space is limited so we are requesting that members submit one piece that has been juried for the Nature Artist’s Guild exhibits over the past five years.  Sculpture and fabric pieces are welcome.  

There will be an Artist Reception on Sunday, May 22, from 1 – 3 pm.  

Many thanks to Sally Hill for getting the Reverend Asta into contact with the Nature Artists’ Guild.

Please check your e-mail for all the details as well as the required entry form, which should be returned to Reverend Asta by April 27.    If you have questions, please contact Paulette McDermott (her contact information is listed in your yearbook).  Click here for an article about the Burning Bush Gallery.

Guild of Natural Science Illustrators Exhibit at Sterling Morton Library

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On your next visit to The Morton Arboretum, consider taking a break from your hiking, biking, walking, running, drawing, painting, photographing or just appreciating the scenery, to stop in for a visit at the Sterling Morton Library.

Featured in the library through June 4, 2011 is an exhibit of artwork by The Guild of Natural Science Illustrators (GNSI),  Art in the Service of Science.  GNSI was founded in 1968 at the Smithsonian Institution, and a number of Nature Artists’ Guild members, as well as instructors in the Morton Arboretum’s Botanical Art & Illustration Certificate program are also members of GNSI. 

Please click here for more information about the exhibit from the Arboretum, or here for the Sterling Morton Library blog.  You can visit the GNSI website at www.gnsi.org.

The library is open from 9 a.m.-5 p.m. Tuesday-Friday and 10 a.m.-4 p.m. Saturday.

Spring has Arrived at the Canterbury Shoppe!

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The Canterbury Shoppe’s spring exhibit of the Nature Artists’ Guild is up and looking great!   Everything spring-related, from bulbs to birds are beautifully represented by our group of talented artists.   Please take a few minutes one afternoon to stop by and enjoy the exhibit, at 43 E. Jefferson, Naperville, IL  60540.  The phone number is 630-717-5005, and the shop is open on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday and Saturday from 10 to 6, Thursday from 10 to 8, and Sunday from 11 to 3.    

In addition to the original artwork and fine-art prints, there are cards, jewelry and decorative items for sale, all created by Nature Artists’ Guild members!   Be prepared to possibly make a day of it, though.  When you leave the Canterbury Shoppe, the scents of the area restaurants and the sight of all the other unique shops in downtown Naperville are hard to resist!

Looking Forward to Your Latest!

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This is just a reminder of a few deadlines coming up –what a busy month for Nature Artists’ Guild members!

This Friday, February 18, the prospectus for the Canterbury Shoppe Spring Exhibit is due, and Saturday, March 5, the prospectus for The Morton Arboretum Spring Exhibit is due.  Saturday, February 26 is the day to drop off and pick up your artwork at the Canterbury Shoppe.  (You should have received instructions for both exhibits either through e-mail or mail.  If you haven’t received them, please leave a comment below, and we’ll make sure to get them to you.)

These are both great exhibit opportunities for members of the Nature Artists’ Guild – the arboretum exhibit alone attracts up to 1000 visitors over the weekend.   Do you have a few drawings or paintings newly completed or almost completed?   Maybe some that have been sitting around for a while waiting for a new wave of inspiration or just waiting to be framed?   Now is a great time to finish them up and get them hung!  We look forward to seeing your latest work!