Category: Volunteer

The 2014 Nature Artists’ Guild Scarecrow is Sure To Bring a Smile!

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The planning meeting for the 2014 Nature Artists’ Guild’s contribution to The Morton Arboretum’s annual Scarecrow Trail went very well, with all kinds of creative ideas bouncing around.  The winning idea is to construct not an actual scarecrow, but a portrait of a scarecrow, in a very recognizable pose!

Members of the Nature Artists’ Guild are invited to show up to Room A of Thornhill, next Saturday morning, September 13, 2014, between 9 am and noon to help with the construction.  Most of the work will involve painting with acrylics, so wear some old clothes and bring your old tubes or jars of acrylic paint and large brushes if you have them.  If you don’t have any, please come anyway, as there will surely be extra supplies.

If you have any questions or want more details about this fun project, please contact Patty Koenigsaecker.  Members will find Patty’s contact information in their Yearbook.

You can view some of our previous scarecrows (such as Betty Birdwatcher, Patty Painter, Suzy Sketcher) by typing in the word “scarecrow” in the Search box in the right column of this blog.

2014 Nature Artists' Guild Scarecrow. Drawing by Patty Koenigsaecker.
2014 Nature Artists’ Guild Scarecrow. Drawing by Patty Koenigsaecker.

Busy Betty Birdwatcher

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There are just a few more days left to visit “Betty Birdwatcher”on the Scarecrow Trail at the Morton Arboretum.  You can find Betty just outside the door of the Visitor’s Center, at the beginning of the one-mile path around Meadow Lake, and will recognize her by her Nature Artists’ Guild t-shirt.

Betty, created by members of the Nature Artists’ Guild,  will be watching her birds until the end of October, and you can visit the trail between 7 am and sunset.

Betty Birdwatcher, photo credit Kathy Wagner
Betty Birdwatcher, photo credit Kathy Wagner

Betty Birdwatcher Needs Your Help!

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This year’s annual Nature Artists’ Guild contribution to the “Scarecrow Trail” at The Morton Arboretum is almost ready for her debut. Betty Birdwatcher will be sporting a spiffy Nature Artists’ Guild t-shirt, a lovely skirt, and her bandanna and hat will be a great help in protecting her from the sun.

Betty’s bird-watching field guide is in her hand, so all she needs now is an old pair of broken binoculars (or an inexpensive pair of toy ones) and a large bird to keep her company as she sets out to spot and sketch the many birds of The Morton Arboretum.

Betty and Friends
Betty and Friends

If you can help her out with either of those items, please contact Suzanne Wegener, our Arboretum liaison, whose information you can find in your Yearbook.  You could also leave us a message by commenting on this post.  

Betty can be found in the “Scarecrow Trail” along Meadow Lake at The Morton Arboretum throughout the month of October .

Remember to Make the Most of Your Nature Artists’ Guild Membership

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We are so excited to welcome  many new members to the Nature Artists’ Guild this year!  We just wanted to check in with all our members, the brand new ones, as well as those that have been around a while, to make sure everyone is making the most of their membership.

Remember, your membership entitles you to –

  • Attend formal meetings (the next one will be in August, and will feature three of your talented fellow members sharing some of their favorite techniques in various media)
  • Attend paint-outs at some great places (there is one coming up in July at Laverne Bohlin’s wonderful garden, and more are being added all the time)
  • Participate in Nature Artists’ Guild exhibitions (either at The Morton Arboretum, where up to a thousand visitors will view your artwork in one weekend, or at various outside venues)
  • Attend workshops (to help create items for fundraising and to learn new skills from fellow artists)
  • Contribute artwork or articles to our quarterly publication, The Nature Artists’ Quarterly
  • Contribute artwork to the annual Nature Artists’ Guild desk calendar

There are also many opportunities for just having fun with your fellow artists, whether by attending a “field trip” to somewhere interesting,  helping to create our annual Scarecrow for The Morton Arboretum,  volunteering on one of the committees or attending the Holiday Party!

Please check the Important Dates tab above to see our current schedule of events.

Workshop and Framing Demonstration this Saturday, March 23, 2013

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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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Meet the Leaf Fairy!

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Patty Konigsaecker has done it again!  The Nature Artists’ Guild’s 2012 Scarecrow that Patty has designed is really too sweet, though, to scare away any birds! In fact, with some of the changes we’ll be adding this Saturday (such as adding a bird’s nest to her bun), she’ll probably attract them!  After we substitute some of her flowers for leaves (hence the name change from Flower Fairy to Leaf Fairy), and change her quote to another more “leafy” one, our Leaf Fairy, with her skirt fluttering in the wind, will grace the shore of Meadow Lake at The Morton Arboretum all through October.

2012 Nature Artists’ Guild Scarecrow, “Leaf Fairy”, design by Patty Koenigsaecker

Please join us this Saturday at Thornhill at the workshop to help construct her! If you have suggestions or supplies that may be useful, please contact Patty Konigsaecker (you can find her contact information in your Yearbook).

Annual Gathering of the Nature Artists’ Guild Elves, Saturday, September 15, 2012

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It’s time again for all the hard-working Nature Artists’ Guild elves to gather together at our annual Holiday Exhibit Workshop!  On Saturday, September 15, our members will be working away downstairs at Thornhill, preparing treasures for our fundraising table at the Holiday Exhibit.  We don’t have the room number yet, but we are always the noisiest ones in the building, so you’ll be able to find us!  All Nature Artists’ Guild members are invited to drop in any time between 10 am and 3 pm.

The word is that we will be creating some pretty doily tablescape accessories, learning decorative metal embossing for embellishing items, and hand-felting ornaments and other holiday decorations.  We’ll have the supplies, we’ll have the instructors, and we’ll have some snacks, so all we need is you (although you may want to bring a lunch if you plan to stay all day).  As always, if there is another project you want to work on, please bring it along – your fellow artists love to learn new techniques!

Don’t forget, we will also be working on our “Flower Fairy” scarecrow to be displayed at The Morton Arboretum’s annual Scarecrow Trail at Meadow Lake throughout October.  Please join us for a fun and productive day at our workshop.   Pointy shoes with bells not required!

Not So Scare(y)crow!

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We don’t know whether she kept any birds away from any crops, but last year’s Nature Artists’ Guild’s debut scarecrow, Patty Painter, was certainly the most stylish one at The Morton Arboretum’s annual Scarecrow Trail, displayed near Meadow Lake all through October!

2011 Nature Artists’ Guild Scarecrow, Drawing by Patty Koenigsaecker

This year, the Nature Artists’ Guild is doing it again, and the theme, contributed by member Connie Devendorf, will be “Flower Fairy”.  We’ve asked costume designer and member Patty Koenigsaecker to once again come up with a sketch, but we’ll need lots of help to pull it all together.

Assembly of the scarecrow will take place at our Holiday Exhibit Fundraising Workshop (more details coming soon), on Saturday, September 15, (drop in downstairs at Thornhill any time between 10 am and 3 pm), along with all of our other workshop activities.

Workshops are always a lot of laughs and a wonderful way to spend some time getting to know your fellow Nature Artists’ Guild members!  Please join us!

Patty Painter and friends, 2011 Nature Artists’ Guild