Featured Artist for the  2012 Spring Exhibition of the Nature Artists’ Guild of The Morton Arboretum, Margo Heald

My family moved from job to job during the depression years of the 1930’s as I was growing up and as a result I did not receive any formal training in art.   Although I had no training, I did find a place to exhibit my love of drawing by being the artist for my high school yearbook for several years.

Hybiscus © Margo Heald

I graduated from The University of Wisconsin, LaCrosse, and taught high school  English for several years in Montana and Wisconsin. Work was put on  the back burner for several years when I stayed at home raising our two young daughters. After a move from Wisconsin to Illinois, I went back to school and earned a Master’s Degree in library science from Dominican University and became a librarian in the elementary school in Westchester, Illinois.

© Margo Heald

This gave me the opportunity to learn calligraphy for doing the scoreboards for my husband’s golf tournaments, designing the golf shop’s displays and for designing posters, displays and book promotions for my middle school library.

I never lost the desire to try to draw and paint and when friends  suggested that I might find a place to learn and enjoy the world of botanical painting at the Morton Arboretum, I was pleased that I could receive training and meet other people with the same interests that I had.

Iris © Margo Heald

I joined the Nature Artists’ Guild in 1996 and a whole new world opened up for me. I have enjoyed the expertise of the wonderful, dedicated instructors and the comradeship of many talented people in the art classes. It all began with water color under the tutelage of exceptional artist-teacher Nancy Hart and has moved through a variety of media to the present when Rhonda Nass began teaching at the Arboretum. Rhonda has been an inspiration to me through her introduction of a new media (colored pencil) and for making it fun and doable through the use of her talent and personality.

Orchid © Margo Heald

Art has always been a part of my life—from the excitement of getting a small water color paint set as a child from Santa to being invited to be the featured artist of the Guild Show this spring. The devoted, talented teachers and friends of the Guild have made my life much richer through the use of watercolor, pen and ink and colored pencil and in the joy of sharing art with others.