Fun in the Sun with the La Grange Art League

Discover your inner artist at the La Grange Art League with two fun classes where students will learn the secrets to painting with oils outdoors and a chance to learn the basics of painting with watercolors.

Looking to flex your artistic muscles this summer? The La Grange Art League has some really fun programs coming up for pros and beginners alike. The first occurs this weekend, and will appeal to artists interested in taking up oil painting in the great outdoors. In a two-day class, July 21-22 from 9:30 a.m. to 4 p.m., local artist Jacque France will instruct oil painters in her technique in an Oil Plein Air Workshop. According to art league publicist Nancy Miller, the course will focus on some of the tricks to achieving great outdoor oil paintings. "[French] has a lot of really great techniques," Miller said. "It can be difficult to [paint outdoors] because the light changes, the shadows change... you have to find the essence of what you'…

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Traveling Canvases Make Their Mark Near and Far

La Grange Art league presents journals exhibit

When people take trips abroad, they proudly show their passports with stamps from different countries. The La Grange Art League Gallery and Studio, located at 122 Calendar Ave., is gathering journals that have been all over the United States and around the world. Inside, the journals contain unique “stamps” of their own. Starting today and running through Sept. 24, the nonprofit league will present an exhibit where members showcase about 45, 5x8-inch journals from its Make Your Mark journal project. There will be an artist’s reception from 2 to 4 p.m. at the league’s studio on Sept. 24. About 200 blank journals, donated by Blick Art Materials in Wheaton, became traveling canvases of sorts as members, friends and strangers filled pages with…

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Viewfinder

Viewfinder: Artwork at the La Grange Art League

The La Grange Art League is a terrific place to purchase artwork from local artists.

The La Grange Art League Gallery and Studio, has been a part of our community since 1933. It has had various locations throughout the years, but one thing has remained the same: its mission to provide its members the means for the study and improvement of their art, and to promote art awareness and appreciation in the community. Currently there are some terrific pieces of art on display and available for purchase. This week Viewfinder is featuring just a few of the wonderful pieces available. Take a look. There might just be that piece of art you were looking for. If you don't find it in the pictures, why not take some time and visit the gallery to see the full display.

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Matthew Hendrickson

1:09 pm on Thursday, August 11, 2011

That's great to hear! They always seem to have fun programs going on. Thanks for sharing your experience with us Nancy!   more ›

Award-Winning Artist to Present 3-Day Workshop at La Grange Art League

Suzanne Hetzel to teach drawing, watercolors starting July 15.

Award-winning artist Suzanne Hetzel will present a three-day workshop on basic drawing and watercolors from Friday,  July 15, to Sunday, July 17, at the La Grange Art League Gallery and Studio, 122 Calendar Ave., La Grange. “I’m very excited,” Hetzel said about the workshop, which will be presented from 9:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. each day in the second-floor studio classroom with a one-hour lunch break. “I’m very excited to share the information I have.” Hetzel is a member of the La Grange group and said she has given workshops  to many other art leagues.  The cost of the workshop is $225 for La Grange Art League members and $260 for non-members. Those interested in joining would pay $45 as an artist member, or $35 as associate member, said Nancy…

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Artist Doesn't Need Modern-Day Electronic 'Gadgets;' She Has Nature

La Grange Art League will host an opening reception June 5 for an exhibit of Alla Jablokow's watercolor paintings.

The great outdoors and wildlife attracted Alla Jablokow from the time she was born in was called Leningrad, Russia. Jablokow, 81, a La Grange Park resident and watercolor artist, took in everything that she saw from the trees growing in the forests to various animals. Living in the United States for more than 50 years, she found new places with different scenes. Whatever the landscape was, it became a subject of her paintings. She is now sharing 40 years of work in a special retrospective exhibit, which runs through June 25 at the La Grange Art League Gallery & Studio, 122 Calendar Ave. The gallery will host an opening reception from 2 to 5:30 p.m. Sunday, June 5. This is a kind of last hurrah as Jablokow as she slows down her schedule …

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About Town

Spring Classes Offered for All Levels at La Grange Art League

Registration now open for the new schedule of courses, which range in topic from painting to drawing to sculpture.

If you’ve ever thought about taking an art class, a local studio is accepting registration now. La Grange is lucky to have the La Grange Art League & Studio, 122 Calendar Ave., in the community. The gallery sells all types of art from local artists, but not just any artist can sell their wares at the La Grange Art League—a jury selects the work on display. The gallery always has a wide variety of paintings, photographs, jewelry, and other types of art in various price ranges; I have found many unique gifts at reasonable prices there. In addition to the gallery store, the League offers art classes for all levels. If you want to come and learn some techniques and have fun, this is the place to do it. I had the pleasure of dropping in on a …

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About Town

Local Artist No One Trick Pony

Kimberly Kuba started sketching at a young age and has become an accomplished painter, earning her work a showcase at the La Grange Art League Gallery and special requests by area homeowners.

With all the snow we had last week, I thought I would write about a local artist who has work that captures iconic La Grange scenes, set in winter. Kimberly Kuba's beautiful paintings include one of the La Grange Village Hall covered in a blanket of snow and another of the La Grange Theatre sign with snow drifts on it. (Scroll throught the attached photo gallery to get a taste of her work.) I talked to Kuba, a La Grange resident and Lyons Township High School graduate, about her art, and I now know there is a lot more to this artist than just beautiful paintings of La Grange. She has experimented with different subjects in her acrylic paintings on stretched canvas, has her work displayed at a local gallery, and, she's only a freshman in …

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About Town

La Grange Art League Gets Creative with Cardboard

The “Deck the Walls” holiday display at the La Grange Art League is crafted out of cardboard and paper and it’s simply amazing!

If you haven’t seen the holiday decorations that were recently put up at The La Grange Art League, 122 w. Calendar Ave., then you really need to make the trip. The window display and interior decorations were all made out of cardboard. Denise Stehman, of La Grange, headed the Christmas committee. The first meeting took place in June, according to Stehman. “Charlene Byrne was in charge of the window décor and Sarah Carpenter orchestrated the interior décor for the store,” Stehman explained. The window appears to have three huge wreathes, but there are actually six. Byrne, an Indian Head Park resident, had her team cut out over 400 cardboard leaves to create the wreathes.  Jim Hrejsa, the owner of Suburban Auto Services in Cicero, painted …

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