Rooted in the Shadow of Coal: Botanical Treasures of the Waukegan Dunes

July 13 – August 31, 2025

Brushwood Center presents a new exhibition, Rooted in the Shadow of Coal: Botanical Treasures of the Waukegan Dunes. It is presented in partnership with the Driehaus Museum to explore perspectives on art and nature in association with their summer exhibition featuring acclaimed botanical artist Rory McEwen, Rory McEwen: A New Perspective on Nature.

Rooted in the Shadow of Coal embraces the tradition of botanical art while expanding to include a wider range of artists and media, all focused on the resilient plants of the Waukegan Dunes. Each artwork in the show includes a reference to at least one, and sometimes several, of these botanical wonders. What has proximity to pollution done to the site? What does it mean to have this surviving and thriving natural environment next to coal ash ponds? In this exhibition, botanical art becomes a lens to consider health, equity, and nature.

August Artist of the Month: Susan Teller

Susan Teller graduated from the University of Illinois Chicago with a BFA in 1979. She worked at Spring Studio 1979-1982, United Letter, 1982-1984, and the Marshall Fields Advertising Department, 1984-198. She was Staff Artist/ Librarian at the Skokie Public Library, 1997-2022. She currently teaches workshops in paper making, watercolor painting, and book binding. She also teaches classes about women artists, process of making art, and storyboard drawing and development.

See Susan’s art on display at Brushwood Center at Ryerson Woods July 26 – August 28, 2025.