Located among pristine woodlands in the Ryerson historic home in Riverwoods, Il., Brushwood Center at Ryerson Woods promotes the importance of nature for nurturing personal and community wellbeing, cultivating creativity, and inspiring learning.
Author: Megan Donahue
NEW VIDEO
Nurturing Mental Health: The Power of Nature and the Arts
Nature and the arts are powerful contributors to your wellbeing.
Did you know that 1 in 5 adults in the US experience a mental health condition? The most common include anxiety, depression, trauma, and substance use disorders. Mental wellbeing is complex, but nature and the arts can play an important role in nurturing your mental health. Spending time in nature and creating art can reduce stress, anxiety, and depression, improve mood, and enhance positive emotions.
At Brushwood Center, we strive to improve access to nature and the arts, so that everyone can experience these benefits.
Happy Earth Day!
Earth Day Interview with Jess Rodriguez
By Healthcare Foundation of Northern Lake County
Our partners at the Healthcare Foundation of Northern Lake County recently featured an interview with Jess Rodriguez, Brushwood’s Coalition Building Manager, in their newsletter. That interview is republished with permission below. Thanks to the HFNLC for their collaboration!
What brought you to your current work, or why did you feel the need to get involved?
I have always been drawn to nature. It has always called to me. I have been fortunate to have so many experiences, both for myself and with others, where being in nature has allowed us to unravel. To return to our own natural rhythms. Previous to my work at Brushwood, I was a horticulturist at the Chicago Botanic Garden. There, I noticed how my own mind and heart were able to sync up with nature’s way of knowing. I was able to see myself through the eyes of the trees, be called by the birds, and sing the songs of the flowers. I felt so alive and part of something much bigger than myself. My work there gave me all the proof I needed to understand that our connection to the earth is vital to our souls. I became involved with Brushwood’s work because I know that in a time where it may feel like we are constantly losing ourselves, our harmonious ways of being, bringing people back to their center can remind them of what it means to be human. To be one being amongst many. To see that the earth and all its inhabitants offer us all that we need to live and feel alive.
What does Earth Day mean to you, your organization, and/or community, and how are you celebrating it?
Earth Day is timely with the arrival of Spring here in Lake County, IL. Spring is a time of emergence, a time to reach up towards the bright sky and stretch our limbs. Earth Day is a time to reconnect with all the beings that have been resting through the winter. To share our appreciation for one another and allow the warmth to creep into our bodies to energize us for what’s to come. Brushwood Center’s Earth Day will be spent celebrating all that we’ve accomplished with the Health, Equity, and Nature Accelerator and bringing our community in to continue dreaming of our collective future.
Why is it important to educate and involve the community, particularly the youth, in being good stewards of the environment, and how does your organization do this?
Everything we do to the environment around us is a reflection of what we do to ourselves. When we take care of our environment, we take care of ourselves. When we seek knowledge of our surrounding environment, we seek knowledge of ourselves. If we pollute the environment, we are polluting ourselves. How we do anything is how we do everything. It is important to involve the community in being good stewards of the environment because the land that we are on, wherever we are, is our home. Being a good steward of the land creates a strong sense of place for our community, which is important in feeling connection and a sense of community. Brushwood Center, in partnership with various organizations in Lake County, has created a nature-based mental health group intervention program that spans over the course of 8 weeks. This program, known as TIERRA, is focused on first offering participants an opportunity to develop a relationship to the land with the hopes that once participants come to care about the land they will then take care of it. Many participants thus far have stated that the program offered them many tools and strategies to connect with the land and that they have shared those tools with their children and spouses. Through TIERRA, we are seeing that participants are forming a strong sense of community through nature.
How is the health of the environment related to mental, physical, and community health (you can also add spiritual, social, and economic health if you’d like)?
Everything is connected; it is the way of life. So much research has been done and is being done on how nature can help us mentally by providing us with less stress, depression, and anxiety through its ability to offer rest and relaxation. Moving our bodies through nature has been proven to offer us a boost in our immune system as we absorb the phytoncides from the trees, as well as improve our digestive system through simple movement. Nature is often viewed as being nonjudgmental, as the tree, plant, and animal beings treat each of us all the same and therefore can teach us how to treat each other. When we are in nature we might feel a sense of awe and inspiration, sparking a spiritual sense. With care and intention, nature offers an abundance of healing medicine at little to no cost. All of these combined would offer us as a society a shift in our collective health and healing.
What does environmental justice mean to you, and how are Black, Brown, and low income, communities disproportionately impacted?
To me, environmental justice means that everyone would have access to nature as medicine and feel empowered to cultivate their gift that nature has offered each of us. Each of us, in relationship to the land, is able to harness great creativity and inspiration that makes us part of the whole. Black, Brown, and low-income communities have been forcibly and historically placed in polluted environments, thus creating an internalized sense of social pollution. Those of us who grew up with barriers to accessing nature or polluted environments may believe that nature is not for us or that nature is dirty/unsafe. This mindset that was forced upon us therefore diminishes our opportunity to cultivate our gifts. Instead of focusing on cultivating our gifts we are forced to fight for our survival and potentially lose sight of what our purpose on this earth is. We each have a right to allow the earth to speak through our hearts in unique and individual ways and that is why the fight for environmental justice is also the fight for the return of our souls.
Is there anything else that you would like to share?
Wander into nature, leave behind your watch, and turn your technology off or on silent. Allow yourself to be immersed in whatever nature is around you for 15-20 minutes. Notice what is in motion. Notice what nature feels like with your fingertips. Notice what it smells like. Notice what it sounds like. Notice what you feel like. Keep noticing. Return to noticing nature as often as you can and all the ways that the earth is present in your life. Share what you notice with others. Allow nature to guide your heart, and allow your heart to move towards whatever it is truly called to.
Meet Catherine Tully
Catherine Tully is a cyanotype artist from Des Plaines, Illinois, whose visual language is deeply shaped by more than five decades in the world of ballet. Her lifelong engagement with movement, balance, and line informs her distinctive approach to botanical cyanotypes and wet cyanotype experimentation.
Tully’s work is grounded in an attentive dialogue with the natural world, using sunlight, water, plant materials, and other substances to explore themes of impermanence, fragility, ephemeral beauty, and ecological interconnection. Her prints are marked by a dancer’s sensitivity to form and structure, paired with a willingness to explore and embrace the unpredictability of organic processes.
She currently serves as the Artist in Residence at Friendship Park Conservatory.
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See Catherine’s art on display at Brushwood Center at Ryerson Woods April 1 – 25, 2026.
Grasses, by Catherine Tully Media: Wet cyanotype, print
Catherine’s Artist Statement
“Sine sole sileo. Without the sun, I am silent—a truth that guides both the making and meaning of my work. After spending over five decades in ballet, I find my eye most drawn to the elegance of line and form, which nature generously provides in abundance. In my traditional cyanotypes, I collaborate with sunshine and water to honor the delicate architecture of botanicals in Prussian blue and white.
In my wet cyanotypes, various hues drift and mingle, producing multicolored, experimental images that flirt with chaos—a reminder that nature, and life, rarely stay neatly in place.
Each print is a quiet act of presence, a pause to honor the fragile, fleeting moments that often slip by unnoticed. Making art becomes a conversation with the natural world—a way to witness its beauty, feel its impermanence, and recognize how deeply intertwined our lives are with the environment around us. My work invites the eye to observe, contemplate, and consider the delicate interconnections of the natural world, connecting with the tender poetry of life in all its ephemeral richness.”
Image: Queen Anne’s Lace/Wild Carrot, by Catherine Tully Media: Traditional cyanotype, print
Artist of the Month Events
April 25 10:00 am – 3:00 pm | Free Open Art Workshop with Catherine Tully
Open Art Workshop is open to anyone who wants to make something in any area of visual arts and crafts, from the experienced artist looking for a community of others to work with, to the complete novice who just wants to try something out in a low pressure environment, or the family looking for a fun kids’ activity to fill their afternoon – this workshop is for you!
Transforming Internal Experiences for Resilience and Restoration through Acceptance (TIERRA) is the nature-based mental health intervention that was co-developed by Brushwood Center and DePaul University in collaboration with Highwood Library & Community Center, Roberti Community House, Mano a Mano Family Resource Center, Zacharias Sexual Abuse Center, Family First Center, and The HAP Foundation. Community Health Workers and Clinicians from these organizations have facilitated TIERRA to over 85 participants in Lake County from 2024-2025 and while we have received much feedback about the program, the most common piece of feedback we’ve received is that the participants want more TIERRA.
During TIERRA, participants were able to dive into themselves and remember who it is they truly are. In talking to participants, I could see that – without having even known them before- a shift was happening. The tides were changing. What once may have been muddy waters were now clear calm waves reflecting the infinite blue of the sky. The possibilities of their world have broadened.
What each individual could see of themselves and for themselves matched that of what they noticed in nature: abundance, love, gratitude, beauty, peace, transformation. The participants of TIERRA saw nature reflect themselves, in every form and facet. The participants of TIERRA have done something remarkable, they cleared the muddy waters. They walked through the labyrinth of life, they journeyed inward, expanded, and journeyed back outward, expanding. They have rediscovered who they are and without fail, they have rediscovered the iridescent web of interconnectedness.
Which is why they asked for more TIERRA, I knew they were not asking for a second intervention per say but rather they craved more opportunities to spin with the web.
Healing Together: The Artwork of TIERRAis an opportunity for the facilitators and participants of the program to move with that creative energy that they built up throughout the program and showcase their reflections through painting and other works of art. It has been an honor to collaborate with Nydia Gonzalez-Carson on these art workshops to offer facilitators and participants of TIERRA this moment, and hopefully create a ripple effect for more moments of grounding in the creative energy of nature for community healing.
The world is noisy. In an environment saturated with constant alerts, urgent headlines, and an unrelenting stream of information, our nervous systems are rarely given time to settle. While some messages truly demand our immediate action, many linger as ambient noise, subtly shaping our thoughts, elevating stress, and eroding our capacity for presence and rest.
So what can we do about it?
Rest and Recharge: Practicing Radical Self Care in an Uncertain World is a new exhibition at Brushwood exploring this question. The exhibition acknowledges the quiet toll of the noise overload and offers a gentle counterbalance. Through visual art, space, and silence, Rest and Recharge creates an environment that encourages slowing down, tuning inward, and reconnecting with rhythms that sustain us rather than deplete us.
Over forty artists are featured in the exhibition, exploring rest not as withdrawal or passivity, but as an active, necessary practice—one rooted in attention, care, and renewal.
The artists of Rest and Recharge understand this vital link between nature and rejuvenation.
Artists Explore Nature as a Source of Calm
“Immersion in nature can bring peace and calm to otherwise anxious thoughts and feelings. When I walk through a garden or a forest or stand near a waterfall, I feel a connection and a feeling of belonging to something larger than myself. My awareness shifts. It helps me find perspective. The constant change and renewal inherent in nature reminds me that I am also changing and renewing in sometimes subtle, but significant ways. I can breathe a little deeper. My senses are awakened and I feel renewed. My paintings reference natural surroundings that metaphorically represent state of mind.”
–Joan Ackerman-Zimny
Image: Promise, by Joan Ackerman-Zimny Media: Oil paint
“I create works on paper drawn from my personal nature library, built through time spent outdoors and close observation. When a pinecone or stone, a bone or shell catches my attention, I experience a moment of discovery—an immediate sense of joy and quiet amazement that slows me down and invites presence. In an uncertain world, fear can easily dominate our inner lives. For me, returning to nature and to art is a way of resisting that pull. Joyful observation becomes grounding: studying color, texture, form, and cast shadow allows focus to replace anxiety. Each finished work feels like a small but meaningful victory—proof that attention, curiosity, and care still matter. Inspired by Claude Monet, who continued painting through World War I and described his work as ‘the only way I have of taking part in the victory,’ my own practice similarly chooses creation over fear. By sharing these moments of discovery, I hope the work offers steadiness and reassurance—a reminder that attention to the natural world can restore balance, clarity, and peace.” –Margarete de Soleil
Image:Owl Feather, by Margarete de Soleil
Media: Ink and watercolor on Arches paper
“Being in natural surroundings is the ultimate way to rest and recharge. Getting away from computers, TV’s and other devices is balm for the over-stimulated mind. Challenge yourself by walking, sitting or even laying down to let wind, sun and temperature play their part in rejuvenating and elevating mind and spirit.” -Carol Luc
Image: Get Lost, by Carol Luc Media: Photo
Rest and Recharge is on display at Brushwood Center at Ryerson Woods through April 5.
Katherine Lampert received a BFA from the Rhode Island School of Design and an MFA from Northwestern University. She has exhibited internationally, with a recent solo show at the Peggy Notebaert Nature Museum in Chicago. Lampert has been an Artist In Residence at the Cooper Union, a Community Artist In Residence at the Hyde Park Art Center, and received two fellowships from the Vermont Studio Center. She is also the recipient of a Full University Fellowship and a Teaching Fellowship from the Graduate School at Northwestern University, a City of Chicago Community Arts Assistance Program Grant, and a pARTners of Jackson Hole Grant. Her work has been featured in a number of publications, including the Chicago Tribune, Hyperallergic, and Michigan Avenue Magazine, among others.
See Katherine’s art on display at Brushwood Center at Ryerson Woods March 1 – 28, 2026.
Unstudied, by Katherine Lampert Media: Oil based enamel on canvas
Katherine’s Artist Statement
“When I paint, I allow myself to get lost in the process. I welcome uncertainty, an antidote to the necessity of knowing and controlling so much in everyday life. Our experience is so often mediated by technology—filtered through screens, images, and digital representations. Painting forces me to slow down, take time to observe, and ultimately experience a more direct, unfiltered connection to the natural world.
My work is tactile, built from materials such as stained paper and translucent glazes of oil-based enamel. Through layering, scraping, and excavation, I create surfaces shaped as much by chance as by intention—echoing the natural forces that transform the environment. The resulting surfaces are meditative, evoking spaces that shift between the real and the imagined.”
Image: Katherine Lampert at work.
Artist of the Month Events
March 28 10:00 am – 3:00 pm | Free Open Art Workshop with Katherine Lampert
Open Art Workshop is open to anyone who wants to make something in any area of visual arts and crafts, from the experienced artist looking for a community of others to work with, to the complete novice who just wants to try something out in a low pressure environment, or the family looking for a fun kids’ activity to fill their afternoon – this workshop is for you!
Image: Drift by Katherine Lampert Media:Oil based enamel on canvas
A Joyful Black History Month Celebration at Brushwood Center
On February 22, 2026 the community gathered at Brushwood Center for a beautiful and inspiring Black History Month event.
Joyful! A Celebration of Black History Month, is a concert curated by singer Angela Walker, accompanied by a culinary experience by chef Jeffrey Williams.
“Let Out Your Joy”
The program of musical selections by Angela, Patrick A. Pearson, and Tranelle Duffie traced the history of the African American experience and reflected on the role of music in the community. The audience clapped, sang, and cheered as Angela, Patrick, and Tranelle guided them through spirituals and gospel songs, from enslavement to the Civil Rights Movement to the modern day.
“The music was wonderful and the spirit was beautiful,” said one audience member.
Angela M. Walker is a U.S. Navy Veteran, musician, motivational speaker, community navigator, and Veterans’ advocate. She holds a master’s degree in Education and Inner City Studies from Northeastern Illinois University. She has taught at the City Colleges of Chicago and worked as a Veterans Service Officer Representative for the State of Illinois, as well as a marketing consultant and health navigator. She is the founder of The Brave Project.
In addition to her advocacy, Angela offers calming presence and grief support in hospice and hospital settings and promotes expressive therapy and positive psychology through her presentations. She performs as a songstress year-round for local and national Veteran service organizations, civic groups, and private events.
Angela says,”I think when you immerse yourself in the arts, you just lose yourself a little bit, but it also gives you time to meditate and think about the things that are important to you and to think about those inner dreams that need to come out… I’m able to express myself. And when you express yourself, you can let out your pain. You can let out your questions, you can let out your joy. It comes out and you share it with others. And then in turn, the audience shares their joy with you. And I can see that when I’m performing, I can see when people are being receptive to the music and the songs.”
“This Food is Love”
In the kitchen, Jeffrey Williams of From Hood to Table presented a hands-on demonstration about significant foods in African American culture, explaining the culinary history as well as the recipes. With a little help from participants, he prepared fried chicken, macaroni and cheese, greens with smoked meat, cornbread dressing, and cornbread.
Jeffery is a Chicago-raised private chef, and Waukegan urban farming and sustainability teacher focused on solving the food crisis throughout urban landscapes. After six years of supporting and coaching high school students, he found peace and a safe space in his backyard during the pandemic. He connected his passions for cooking and gardening and founded From Hood To Table. He aims to prioritize access to the best and freshest food by teaching communities how to grow and use what they have to make compost and organic inputs. He intends to build a bridge to the past and connect Black and Brown communities to a more sustainable and flourishing lifestyle.
Thank you to Angela, Patrick, Tranelle, and Jeffrey for creating such a special day at Brushwood!
inside Brushwood
The Work is Love: Showing Love to Our Community Programs Team
By Ashley Cullen-Williams
I have to admit something—teamwork hasn’t always been my thing. In the past, I didn’t have strong teams around me. I didn’t experience collaboration as something life-giving. If I’m honest, I resisted it. I thought it slowed things down. I thought it made things messy. I thought it required more energy than it returned.
Then I came to Brushwood.
And something changed.
Walking the trails, watching the trees through the seasons, has changed how I understand connection.
A forest does not rush its becoming. It honors cycles.
There is a season for planting, a season for growth, a season for shedding, and a season for stillness. Still beneath every visible change, the roots remain intertwined. Nutrients are shared. Protection is offered. The system sustains itself because it is connected.
No tree thrives alone.
That is what I’ve witnessed in our Community Programs staff.
Like winter roots below frozen ground, much of their work happens unseen—planning, adapting, checking in, preparing, supporting one another when the days feel long. In spring, their ideas bloom into programs that welcome young people and families to explore creativity. In summer, they hold space for growth and joy outdoors. In fall, they harvest lessons learned and plant seeds for what’s next.
There is a rhythm to it.
A trust in the process.
A willingness to show up for each season without ego.
And this feels like Brushwood’s season.
A season to anchor in our mission.
A season to intervene when the community needs call us forward.
A season to convene partners and neighbors around a mutual purpose.
A season to model what healing, justice, and environmental connection can look like in practice.
A season to support—steadily, consistently, with care.
Our Community Programs staff embody this season. They are rooted enough to anchor. Courageous enough to intervene. Open enough to convene. Clear enough to model. Steady enough to support.
They have changed my understanding of teamwork. Healthy collaboration does not drain you—it fortifies you. It makes you more resilient in harsh climates. It assures that when one branch bends, the forest still stands.
This February, as we talk about love, I’m thinking about love as commitment. Love as consistency. Love as collective flourishing.
To our Community Programs staff: Abbey, Jess K, Jess R, and Eddie, thank you for being interconnected. Thank you for capturing our story; committing to people; creating transformative experiences; and always being curious with care!
Thank you for tending the soil even when no one is watching.
Thank you for helping this community not only survive its seasons but flourish through them.
As bell hooks reminds us, “Love is an action, never simply a feeling.”
And your work is love in action.
When the Land Speaks on the World’s Biggest Stage: Super Bowl Reflections
By Ashley Cullen-Williams
Bad Bunny’s Super Bowl halftime performance wasn’t just a musical moment — it was a reminder that land holds memory.
The imagery of sugarcane fields immediately evoked the Caribbean’s colonial past. Sugar cane is not a neutral crop. It represents forced labor, extraction, and economies built through enslavement and exploitation. By centering this landscape on one of the world’s biggest stages, Bad Bunny invited viewers to sit with the reality that culture and wealth are often rooted in histories of land and labor.
One of the most striking choices was that the “plants” on the field weren’t props at all — they were people. Human bodies became the landscape. What could have been a limitation turned into a powerful metaphor: the land has always been shaped, worked, and sustained by people. Nature is not separate from humanity — it is inseparable from it.
Layered into the performance were visible power lines and infrastructure — subtle, but intentional. The grid represents modern dependence, extraction, and control: who gets power, who loses it, and whose land is sacrificed to sustain systems far away. These lines cut through natural landscapes just as colonial and industrial systems have long disrupted Indigenous and island ecosystems.
Together, the sugar cane, the people-as-land, and the power grid told a fuller story. Land is farmed. People are used. Energy is extracted. And yet — culture survives. Community persists. Joy and resistance still take up space.
At Brushwood, we understand land as a teacher. This performance echoed that truth. When people are treated as props, the land suffers. When land is overexploited, people suffer too. Healing — ecological, cultural, and communal — begins when we remember that people, land, and power are deeply connected.
Meet Jerry Loza
Jerry Loza is an artist who served four years in the Marines after attending Whitney Young High School in Chicago. After his military service, Jerry returned to the Chicago area. He says, “I’m a firm believer in the healing nature of art. I love teaching digital art to help pass along this coping skill.”
You may recognize Jerry’s work from At Ease in Nature, Brushwood’s annual art exhibition featuring Veteran and military community artists, where he has exhibited several times. Jerry also displays his work around the community at galleries and art fairs.
See Jerry’s art on display at Brushwood Center at Ryerson Woods February 1 – 28, 2026.
Through the Fire, by Jerry Loza Media: Digital
Jerry’s Artist Statement
“I always was a pencil and pen artist but stopped many years ago. I started drawing digitally in 2018, but during the COVID lock down I was completing a drawing a week. I’m involved in multiple Veteran art groups. My primary muse is my city, Chicago, but I’ve also tapped into my heritage and my military background for inspiration.”
Image: Jerry Loza pictured with his work at an art fair.
Artist of the Month Events
February 28 10:00 am – 3:00 pm | Free Open Art Workshop with Jerry Loza
Open Art Workshop is open to anyone who wants to make something in any area of visual arts and crafts, from the experienced artist looking for a community of others to work with, to the complete novice who just wants to try something out in a low pressure environment, or the family looking for a fun kids’ activity to fill their afternoon – this workshop is for you!
