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.
Tag: Nature
Image: Stones with Feather, by Margarete de Soleil
November 9, 2025
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1:00 pm
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November 30, 2025
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3:00 pm
Initiatives
Public Arts Programs and At Ease: Art and Nature for Veterans
Join us to celebrate the healing power of nature and the arts. At Ease in Nature features artwork created during our 2025 At Ease programs, as well as work inspired by experiences in nature from members of the Military Community.
This year’s exhibition highlights the diversity that can be found in nature and in the armed forces, making each stronger than they would be without it.
Started in 2015, Brushwood’sAt Ease: Art and Nature for Veterans initiative offers programs for Veterans, Service Members, and their families designed to empower wellbeing through nature-based art, music, and photography workshops. At Ease helps build skills in creative expression and provides Veterans with access to mental health support.
This exhibition will open with a reception and panel discussion on November 9, at 1 pm.
Join us to celebrate the healing power of nature and the arts. At Ease in Nature features artwork created during our 2025 At Ease programs, as well as work inspired by experiences in nature from members of the Military Community.
This year’s exhibition will highlight the diversity that can be found in nature and in the armed forces, making each stronger than they would be without it.
Started in 2015, Brushwood’sAt Ease: Art and Nature for Veteransinitiative offers programs for Veterans, Service Members, and their families designed to empower wellbeing through nature-based art, music, and photography workshops. At Ease helps build skills in creative expression and provides Veterans with access to mental health support.
This exhibition will open with a reception and panel discussion on November 9, at 1 pm.
The Brushwood Nature Book Club is a space to talk about and explore nature literature in a friendly environment. Each meeting includes discussion, creative writing, and art activities to engage with the themes of the chosen book, led by Brushwood’s Poet-in-Residence Kathryn Haydon, and writer-artist Megan Donahue.
In the late 1990s, when poet Ted Kooser was recovering from cancer surgery, he started sending postcards to his friend Jim Harrison, a novelist known for Legends of the Fall and numerous other books. On each postcard, he wrote a poem. Harrison did the same in return. In 2001, Kooser turned his half of the exchange into Winter Morning Walks: 100 Postcards to Jim Harrison, a collection of engaging, witty, clever, insightful poems that serve simultaneously as snapshots of a friendship and a view into a poet’s daily observations.
Nature Book Club: The Sound of a Wild Snail Eating
The Brushwood Nature Book Club is a space to talk about and explore nature literature in a friendly environment. Each meeting includes discussion, creative writing, and art activities to engage with the themes of the chosen book, led by Brushwood’s Poet-in-Residence Kathryn Haydon, and writer-artist Megan Donahue.
Elisabeth Tova Bailey tells the inspiring and intimate story of her year-long encounter with a Neohelix albolabris—a common forest snail. While an illness keeps her bedridden, Bailey watches as the snail takes up residence on her nightstand. Intrigued by its molluscan anatomy, cryptic defenses, clear decision making ability, hydraulic locomotion, and mysterious courtship activities, Bailey becomes an astute and amused observer. The Sound of a Wild Snail Eating is a remarkable journey of survival and resilience, showing us how a small part of the natural world illuminates our own human existence.
Nature, Art and Wellness Day for Women Veterans and Family Members
Join us at Brushwood Center for a day of recharging and relaxing in community with fellow women Veterans and family members in the peace and tranquility of Ryerson Woods. Enjoy wellness activities in connection with nature!
Activities for the day include: yoga, forest bathing, and a reflective art activity.
Breakfast & Lunch will be provided.
Please wear comfortable clothes and dress for the weather.
__ Please note, that this event is for Veterans, current service members, and their families only.
Contact Jessica Klinge at jklinge@brushwoodcenter.org if you have questions or concerns.
For questions and/or accessibility information, contact Veteran Programs Specialist Jessica Klinge at jklinge@brushwoodcenter.org
At Ease Book Club: The Serviceberry, by Robin Wall Kimmerer
As Indigenous scientist and author Robin Wall Kimmerer harvests serviceberries alongside the birds, she considers the ethic of reciprocity that lies at the heart of the gift economy. How, she asks, can we learn from Indigenous wisdom and the plant world to reimagine what we value most? As Veterans and military community members, we will explore how these questions and ideas impact the author, ourselves, and our community.
This virtual book club will meet weekly on Zoom on Tuesdays from 6:00 pm – 7:00 pm on September 16th and 23rd. Books are provided. Please provide your phone number and address so the book may be shipped to you.
Brushwood Center will also have an in-person Nature Book Club meeting open to all on September 26th for The Serviceberry as well.
At Ease Book Club: The Serviceberry, by Robin Wall Kimmerer
As Indigenous scientist and author Robin Wall Kimmerer harvests serviceberries alongside the birds, she considers the ethic of reciprocity that lies at the heart of the gift economy. How, she asks, can we learn from Indigenous wisdom and the plant world to reimagine what we value most? As Veterans and military community members, we will explore how these questions and ideas impact the author, ourselves, and our community.
This virtual book club will meet weekly on Zoom on Tuesdays from 6:00 pm – 7:00 pm on September 16th and 23rd. Books are provided. Please provide your phone number and address so the book may be shipped to you.
Brushwood Center will also have an in-person Nature Book Club meeting open to all on September 26th for The Serviceberry as well.
Celebrate Summer with Brushwood Center’s At Ease initiative and enjoy art, music, activities, games, and nature with other members of the Military Community! In collaboration with Kids Rank, Veteran Art Tribe and other Veteran organizations. Brushwood’s second annual Military Kids Fest offers an open house with art, exploration, and fun.
Join us for:
Music fun and a singalong for all ages with Ukulady Lisa
A squishy slime-making activity with Veteran Art Tribe
Meet and greet reptiles and amphibians with the Lake County Forest Preserves
Information and resource tables from: Brushwood Center, Growing Healthy Families, Blue Star Families
A nature hike with Brushwood Center
Outdoor games, art activities, and more!
Please note, that this event is for Veterans, current service members, and their families only.
Contact Jessica Klinge at jklinge@brushwoodcenter.org if you have questions or concerns.
Opening Reception – Rooted in the Shadow of Coal: Botanical Treasures of the Waukegan Dunes
This summer, 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.
Join us at Brushwood Center at Ryerson Woods for an opening reception and discussion. Seating for the panel discussion will be limited, registration guarantees admission, but not necessarily a seat. If you require a seat for accessibility, please let us know at the event, and you will be prioritized.
Rooted in the Shadow of Coal: Botanical Treasures of the Waukegan Dunes
This summer, 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.
