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.
Join us for a fun and relaxing acrylic paint event led by Veteran artists. This event promises to be both educational and therapeutic. Take home your own hand-painted masterpiece!
All skill levels welcomed.
Non-alcoholic drinks, beer and wine will be available for purchase with the American Legion Cicero Post 96. Small snack items will be available for free.
Brought to you by Brushwood Center’s At Ease Program, Veteran Art Tribe, and the American Legion Cicero Post #96!
Join us for a fun and relaxing acrylic paint event led by Veteran artists. This event promises to be both educational and therapeutic. Take home your own hand-painted masterpiece!
All skill levels welcomed.
Non-alcoholic drinks, beer and wine will be available for purchase with the American Legion Cicero Post 96. Small snack items will be available for free.
Brought to you by Brushwood Center’s At Ease Program, Veteran Art Tribe, and the American Legion Cicero Post #96!
Join us for a fun and relaxing acrylic paint event led by Veteran artists. This event promises to be both educational and therapeutic. Take home your own hand-painted masterpiece!
All skill levels welcomed.
Non-alcoholic drinks, beer and wine will be available for purchase with the American Legion Cicero Post 96. Small snack items will be available for free.
Brought to you by Brushwood Center’s At Ease Program, Veteran Art Tribe, and the American Legion Cicero Post #96!
Join us for a fun and relaxing acrylic paint event led by Veteran artists. This event promises to be both educational and therapeutic. Take home your own hand-painted masterpiece!
All skill levels welcomed.
Non-alcoholic drinks, beer and wine will be available for purchase with the American Legion Cicero Post 96. Small snack items will be available for free.
Brought to you by Brushwood Center’s At Ease Program, Veteran Art Tribe, and the American Legion Cicero Post #96!
Polly Greathouse is a multidisciplinary artist whose work explores the vitality and interconnectedness of the natural world.
Trained in painting, drawing, and photography at the University of Illinois, she began her career in animation and interface design, helping pioneer early mobile user interfaces before returning to fine art. Her paintings in oil on paper, inks, multimedia, and water media combine fluid, watercolor-like transparencies with bold, gestural strokes and layered impasto.
Polly also integrates photography and digital tools into her practice, expanding her painterly vocabulary. Influenced by Sumi-e techniques and abstract expressionism, her compositions evoke ecosystems in motion—shaped by shifting light, weather, and seasonal cycles. Rather than a single focal point, her work offers immersive landscapes that mirror the experience of being in nature, where everything is alive and interconnected.
See Polly’s art on display at Brushwood Center at Ryerson Woods January 3 – 31, 2026.
Aerie Lounge, Fenway Victory Gardens, by Polly Greathouse Media: Oil on paper
Polly’s Artist Statement
“I paint natural environments from various regions, but most often observe, honor, and celebrate the landscapes of Illinois where I live and work. My art reflects the expressive, ever-changing motions of ecosystems. A consistent element in my work is the absence of a single focal point—much like the experience of being in nature, where wind, sunlight, water, and terrain shift dynamically. I aim to capture fleeting impressions: the posture of a plant, the motion of a bird, the awesome presence of wind or light. These glimpses seed a memory of the moment—one I’m grateful to witness, breathe in, and translate through artistic impressions.”
Image: Twelve Pots, Fenway Victory Gardens, by Polly Greathouse Media: Oil on paper
Artist of the Month Events
January 31 10:00 am – 3:00 pm | Free Open Art Workshop with Polly Greathouse
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: Red-wing blackbirds, Independence Grove by Polly Greathouse Media: Charcoal sketch
The Brushwood Top 10: 2025
By Catherine Game
2025 was a big year for Brushwood Center!
Looking back, it’s hard to narrow down our most significant moments, as there are so many thanks to the Brushwood team, our community, and our supporters. The Brushwood Top 10 is an annual tradition that we are always happy to share, so the whole staff came together to choose the following incredible moments of 2025.
Thanks to our supporters for making these moments at Brushwood possible. We can’t wait to make more moments of impact with you in 2026!
1. Celestial Forest Bathing
Abbey Castro, Communications Coordinator
Brushwood partnered with Reciprocal Forest Bathing to provide free opportunities throughout the year for the community to mindfully connect with nature, in English and Spanish.
Jess Rodriguez, Coalition Building Manager and Forest Therapy Guide, leads a Forest Bathing session.
2. Celebrating the 42nd Annual Smith Nature Symposium Youth EnvironmentalLeadership Awardees
Ashley Cullen-Williams, Senior Program Director
This year, we were thrilled to honor Robin Wall Kimmerer at the Smith Nature Symposium Awards. We celebrated the work of future environmental justice leaders, Ja’Harmony Johnson and Victor Hinojosa, two exemplary young leaders.
Youth Environmental Leadership Awardees Victor and Ja’Harmony with Robin Wall Kimmerer at Chicago Botanic Garden
3. The Community Leadership Roundtable: In the Field
Angela Ramirez, Administrative Coordinator
This year, the Community Leadership Roundtable took a new form: Environmental Justice and Healing bus tours to some of the most relevant sites in Waukegan. Watch the short film by Videographer-in-Residence, Kateryna Sazonova.
The morning bus tour group of Brushwood partners, Board members, and participants at Yeomen Creek Landfill.
4. The At Ease in Nature Exhibition
Jes Klinge, Veteran Programs Specialist
The November art exhibition, At Ease in Nature featured artwork created during our 2025At Ease programs, as well as work inspired by experiences in nature from members of the Military Community. This year’s exhibition highlighted the diversity that can be found in nature and in the armed forces, making each stronger than they would be without it.
Dante Plata, Army Veteran, with his photography pieces at the At Ease in Nature opening.
5. Expansion of the TIERRA Program
Jess Rodriguez, Building Coalition Manager
TIERRA (Transforming Internal Experiences for Resilience and Restoration through Acceptance) is a first-of-its-kind, nature-based mental health intervention. This year, it expanded beyond its pilot phase to new organizations in Lake County, and 17 new Community Health Workers were certified in the program.
The Accelerator team celebrating with the certified promotoras group.
6. Before Dreams Are The Last Place We Find You: Lydia Cheshewalla
Julia Kemerer, Director of Arts and Administration
Brushwood welcomed Osage ephemeral artist Lydia Cheshewalla for a solo exhibition of the work created during her residency at the Center for Humans & Nature.
Lydia Cheshewalla gives an artist talk on her collaborative process with nature during the exhibition opening.
7. The Hunter Family Foundation gift to name The Maxine M. Hunter Performance Plaza
Mirja Spooner Haffner, Director of Development
In April, Brushwood received a transformative gift of $2.5 million from the Hunter Family Foundation to create The Maxine M. Hunter Performance Plaza, in support of Brushwood Center’s comprehensive campaign to expand programs and renovate our building at Ryerson Woods,Activate: A Campaign for Investment in Community.
Rendering of the future Maxine M. Hunter Performance Plaza by Serena Sturm Architects.
8. The Release of Flourish
Parker Nelson, Director of Public Programs and Music
This fall, Ensemble-in-Residence Black Moon Trio released a new album with Brushwood called Flourish, featuring our 2025 Smith Nature Symposium Honoree, Robin Wall Kimmerer.
Parker Nelson with Trisha Steele from Prairie Circle Unitarian Universalist Congregation receiving a copy of the Flourish album.
9. Supporting Youth and Families withNEST Packs
Eddie Flores, Youth Education Coordinator
Created in response to families’ fear of going outside due to ICE activity, Brushwood’s NEST Packs are designed to nurture connection, curiosity, and community by providing families with Nature Exploring Safety Tools backpacks that make outdoor exploration both accessible and affirming.
Staff members Abbey Castro, Jes Klinge, Eddie Flores, and Ashley Cullen – Williams pack NEST packs at Brushwood.
10. Growing the Team
Catherine Game, Executive Director
Brushwood Center welcomed Ashley Cullen-Williams as our new Senior Program Director this summer. Ashley is a passionate and licensed mental health advocate and social-emotional learning expert, and has already had transformative impact in her new role at Brushwood. Learn more about Ashley’s story through her video.
Ashley Cullen-Williams confers with the Community Programs Team
And I have a bonus top moment, as I grew the “team” in an additional way. My family and I welcomed baby Emerald, born on Earth Day of this year!
Emerald has already enjoyed touring Brushwood exhibitions and perusing the Nature-Inspired Holiday Market, and she can’t wait for ¡Hola! Wiggleworms!
Join us for a fun and relaxing acrylic paint event led by Veteran artists. This event promises to be both educational and therapeutic. Take home your own hand-painted masterpiece!
All skill levels welcomed.
Non-alcoholic drinks, beer and wine will be available for purchase with the American Legion Cicero Post 96. Small snack items will be available for free.
Brought to you by Brushwood Center’s At Ease Program, Veteran Art Tribe, and the American Legion Cicero Post #96!
Join us for a fun and relaxing acrylic paint event led by Veteran artists. This event promises to be both educational and therapeutic. Take home your own hand-painted masterpiece!
All skill levels welcomed.
Non-alcoholic drinks, beer and wine will be available for purchase with the American Legion Cicero Post 96. Small snack items will be available for free.
Brought to you by Brushwood Center’s At Ease Program, Veteran Art Tribe, and the American Legion Cicero Post #96!
The Midwest Haiku Traveling Rock Garden is a growing literary exhibit that celebrates English-language haiku. Each year’s exhibit has a theme and can be placed on display in a variety of venues throughout the Midwest. The exhibit is curated by poet Matthew Markworth.
The Midwest-Themed 2025 Exhibit brings together 32 poems by 32 poets, with images and experiences rooted in the Midwest. Every poet in the exhibit either calls the Midwest home today or has previously lived in the region.
Beginning in September of 2015 artist Lincoln Schatz began taking lake pictures. Dedicating a month to photographing the lake each day in morning or evening. These daily trips to photograph the lake continued past that first month.
One month became two, two became three, and the project has continued ever since. Those first lake photos are now the foundations of the Lake Series, a serial exploration of the landscape of Lake Michigan through photography.
Since 2015, Schatz has carefully studied this landscape. With his back to the city of Chicago, he stands on the lake’s shore and photographs Lake Michigan with a medium-format camera, capturing the waters as they stretch toward the horizon.
