Category: Meetings

Schedules, programs, news.

Fundraising Workshop Next Weekend!

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An important message from our Fundraising Chair, Nancy Thyfault –

 Ladies and Gentlemen, mark your calendars! Our Holiday Workshop will be September 17th, 10 am to 2 pm, Room C, Thornhill.

 This is your opportunity to create items for our fundraising table at the Holiday Exhibit. Think you aren’t “crafty”- well, it’s more about creating unique items embellished with your artwork! Please join us and we can get you started.

 We will have wooden trays, boxes and other pieces that you may paint, faux finish or design however you would like to. Nancy Kolar will be there to help with fabric painting on holiday tote bags- what a great idea for “wrapping” a holiday gift! If you think that you may want to paint a tote bag, you can work up a design in the 8” x 10” range to bring along. You could also bring photos for reference. There will other “projects” to work on as well.

You needn’t stay for the entire time. Many people pick up items and take them home to work on. You may stay, bring lunch and enjoy some creative time with your fellow artists!

 Please bring along your favorite brushes and acrylic paints. A container for water is a good idea, too. Thanks to some generous donations, we have plenty of things to work on.

Product Demonstrations and Samples, Thursday August 4, 2011

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At our formal meeting on Thursday, August 4, 2011 at 7 pm, Dick Blick Wheaton store manager Kevin Sandstrom and his associates will be performing product demonstrations and even handing out some free samples! 

Along with his experience in retail management and marketing, Kevin is an experienced freelance illustrator, and  founder of  various artist groups and forums. 

Please join your fellow Nature Artists’ Guild members in  what we expect to be a fun and informative evening! 

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.

Priscilla Humay’s Colored Pencil Landscapes, June 2, 2011

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Priscilla Humay is a talented, established artist, who will be sharing some of the inspiration and techniques behind the creation of her colored-pencil landscapes at the June 2, 2011 meeting of the Nature Artists’ Guild of The Morton Arboretum, from 7 to 9 pm. 

March Billows, © Priscilla Humay

Priscilla’s artwork is included in numerous private and corporate collections, as well as the Bauhaus Archive in Germany, the Chicago Historical Society, and the University of Illinois archives.  Priscilla also participates in and receives awards in such high profile shows as the CPSA International Exhibition.

Educated at the Art Institute of Chicago, the Illinois Institute of Technology and Charles University, Prague, Priscilla’s art has been featured in numerous publications, including the Best of Colored Pencil III and V. 

DesPlaines Settling Down, © Priscilla Humay

Some may know Priscilla as a Visiting Artist Instructor at The Morton Arboretum.  She is also a Certificate Program Instructor at the Chicago Botanic Garden, as well as the Peninsula Art School in Door County, WI and the Art Center in Highland Park.  Priscilla serves as creator and instructor of a host of her own workshops, including those entitled “ Introductory Plein Aire Colored Pencil”, “The Aerial Landscape – Clouds”, “Drawing the Color of Summer”, and  “Land, Sky and In-between”. 

Visit Priscilla’s website, www.humayfineart.com to preview her vibrant, rhythmic landscapes and then join us for an enjoyable and informative evening with Priscilla!

Nature Artists’ Guild Field Trip Next Week!

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Our fellow Nature Artist Guild member Diana Sunyog has arranged for Guild members to have a private tour of the Nettie McKinnon Gallery in LaGrange Park next Friday, April 1st from 11 am until about 1 pm. 

This gallery is a hidden gem featuring over 120 works of art by many major artists, including Hudson River School painters John Frederick and George Aldrich and major American Impressionist painters Edward Henry Potthast, John Henry Twatchman and John Singer Sargent. 

The history of the museum is fascinating, with early works of art being bought from profits of the sale of magazines by 7th and 8th graders in the late 1920’s, all under the direction of principal Nettie J. McKinnon.  Nettie’s determination to make art available to students as an everyday part of their lives resulted in this wonderful collection.  Most of the artists represented are also in leading museum collections across the country.  Please visit www.saltcreekart.org/ for more about the museum’s history and collection. 

Family members are welcome, and Diana mentions that there are a number of nice restaurants in the area from which we can choose for our post-tour refreshment (no PB &J sandwiches for this field trip)! Please contact Ku-mie Kim (her e-mail address is in your Yearbook) if you’d like to come, as the museum would like an accurate count. 

The address of the gallery is –   Nettie McKinnon Gallery, 333 North Park Road,  Entrance 4, La Grange Park, IL  60526 ,  Phone – (708) 482-2400 (ext. 2002).

Join Us At Our March Fundraising Fun Workshop

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Our Nature Artists’ Guild Fundraising Chair, Nancy Thyfault, asks,

Are you tired of hearing that your note cards are so lovely that people won’t use them? Are people telling you that they frame them instead? Are people buying your note cards but not your artwork? If you answered yes, head out to our Workshop on Saturday, March 26, 9:30 to 2:00 at Thornhill. 

 One of the available projects will be painting/reviving stand up picture frames that will display your art- in note card size! We will also learn to create felt flowers with Sharon Malec, paint and decorate papier mache eggs and other fun things.

Bring along your printed note card, acrylic paints, brushes, water container and lunch. We will have frames prepped to paint, but if you have one at home that you feel is ready to recycle, bring it along! Frames must be acrylic paint receptive, so no metal, please. See you there!

The Fiber Art of Sharon Malec, March 3, 2011

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Although we’ve all seen and admired her beautiful creations, soon we’ll also have the opportunity to see just how she does it!  We’re talking about, of course, Sharon Malec, one of the Nature Artists’ Guild’s own talented fiber artists.  At our formal meeting on Thursday, March 3, 2011, from 7 to 9 pm, Sharon will give us some background on various types of fiber art, including quilting and wool needle felting, bring some of her work, and even conduct a demonstration of some of her techniques! 

Sharon’s interest in nature helped to develop her distinctive style of art, and she is now most recognized for her unique and realistic depictions of nature and wildlife in fiber.   Her talents have led Sharon to serve on the faculty at national quilt shows, be published in Quilter’s Newsletter Magazine, and have quilts in the permanent collections of the Museum of the American Quilt’s Society in KY, the Lincoln Memorial library in CA, and the Norris Gallery in IL. 

An excellent instructor, Sharon also shares her knowledge and experience in three books, 64 patterns, and an instructional video.   Sharon’s website is www.malec-designs.com.

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Stencils from your own Artwork – Think of the Possibilities!

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Tomorrow, from 10 am to 2 pm, the Nature Artists’ Guild will be hosting one of our two scheduled spring workshops.  Tomorrow’s workshop will focus on creating stencils from your own artwork, which can then be used on almost anything – fabrics, furniture,  walls, you name it!  You should have received an e-mail earlier this week with the supply list.  At first glance, it may look like quite a few items, but if you read it carefully, you probably already have most or all of the supplies.  If you are just interested in making the stencils, and want to do your painting at a different time, you don’t even need to bring the last few items. 

 The workshop will be held in Room A at Thornhill, so please stop in!

Winnie Wowed Us!

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Last evening at our formal program, Winnie Godfrey captivated us with her artwork, her warmth and her humor.  Seeing slides of her artwork, hearing stories of her art adventures, asking her questions, and getting the chance to see many of her original paintings (including a favorite of hers and most of the audience – Peony, seen in the post below, as well as one part of the triptych also posted below), made it absolutely worthwhile to have braved the cold! 

Thank you, Winnie, for going the extra mile and bringing your gorgeous paintings.  What a wonderful treat!