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Plein Air Painting In The Creative Mind of George Washington Carver Exhibit
September 4, 2024 @ 5:00 pm - 7:00 pm
Join us on Wednesday, September 4th from 5pm-7pm for this in-person/drop-in program in the Artist’s Garden at Garfield Park Conservatory!
Description
Join us to create some botanical paintings inspired by the current Artist’s Garden exhibit The Creative Mind of George Washington Carver at the Garfield Park Conservatory!
Utilizing the wonderful plants, paths, and vistas of the Artist’s Garden, learn how to paint outdoors! You’ll create incredible works of art while enjoying a summer evening among the flowers, bumblebees, and butterflies at this Chicago Park District gem. Paint and canvases provided; you bring the imagination to find the wild colors hidden underneath.
This program is primarily geared toward adults, but families and children are welcome!
During this drop-in program, paint with self-taught artist, entrepreneur, and founder of Art West LLC and the Art West Collective, Alexie Young, and learn some tricks about how to set up your canvas and painting with watercolors! We will be stationed in the Artist’s Garden outdoor exhibit The Creative Mind of George Washington Carver which features a floral landscape inspired by Carver’s paint washes & botanical illustrations. Painters will be inspired by the lush plantings including yuccas, zinnias, cosmos, coleus, and many more!
What is plein air painting? Plein air painting comes from the French phrase, “en plein air,” meaning “in the open air.” While people have been painting outside for centuries, French Impressionists began practicing plein air painting because they found that painting in nature would allow them to more accurately show the colors and lighting.
How to join:
This drop-in program is FREE for all visitors to the Conservatory with a reservation.
Make your reservation here: https://garfieldconservatory.org/visit/
Chairs, easels, watercolor paints, and canvases will be available on a first-come, first-serve basis. The Artist’s Garden is an outdoor garden, and the program may be canceled due to inclement weather.
Please send an email to access@garfieldpark.org if you’d like to request an accommodation.
Garfield Park Conservatory’s “The Creative Mind of George Washington Carver” exhibit in the outdoor Artist’s Garden https://garfieldconservatory.org/event/the-creative-mind-of-george-washington-carver/2024-07-04/
About Art West Chicago & Alexie Young:
Art West is an arts and entertainment company that has a social mission to rebrand the Westside experience through arts and culture while strengthening the ecosystem within our creative community. Young is also responsible for one of the first art tours of its kind on the Westside that traveled across neighborhoods to visit three fine arts galleries in 2019 and that became the catalyst for Art West to become a staple on the Westside of Chicago.
Young is the former director of the MLK Exhibit Center located on the North Lawndale where she aimed to reactivate the center while increasing the visibility of local art businesses before developing Art West and its new location on the Westside.
Her life’s work is focused on activations, creative place-making and place-keeping efforts while cultivating cultural experiences as a conduit to facilitate mindfulness, self care, healing, and togetherness. Although Young has a strong passion for cultural programming as a mechanism to build stronger relationships in the community, she has been serving clients across the Chicagoland area by providing guided painting classes, art workshops, project management and consulting.
Young takes pride in mentorship, motivating others, and celebrates various art forms while uplifting other creative entrepreneurs to build a stronger arts and culture network called the Art West Collective, a nonprofit that focuses on building opportunities for creative entrepreneurs. Young is a Westside Women’s Award recipient and is prepared to further her efforts to live, work and play on the Westside of Chicago.
