YES!!!! It was the end of my two-week artist residency atIndiana Dunes National Park and I had found the perfect location for the painting that would be the culmination of my time there. It would be large so as to convey the majesty of the dunes…
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Photo by Chris Helzer @ The Nature Conservancy If lately you've been feeling like you're in a rut, then stop by Kankakee Sands to be uplifted by the colors of the fall flowers in bloom. During your visit, you may see our bison in a rut of their own, which is altogether something very different. From late July through September, male bison are in "rut," which means they are hormonally charged and interested to mate with female bison who come into estrus during this time of the year…
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Photos from the Indiana Dunes National Park. View more on their Flickr account. If you’re looking for a hidden gem in Northwest Indiana or if you’re a history buff you may want to visit the Century of Progress Homes at the Indiana Dunes National Park. These five homes were originally built for the 1933 Chicago World’s Fair, showing off the modern architectural design of the time. The homes are listed on the National Register of Historic Places and once a year there is a ranger-led tour of the five homes…
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My discovery of Indiana Dunes National Park started with a tour by Ranger Jeff Manuszak who is an artist himself and knows what places to show other artists. He took me to see various beaches, trails, and dunes I might find interesting to paint. Here he is standing on Mount Baldy…
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This year, the first day of summer coincided with my first day of my artist residency at the Indiana Dunes National Park. I woke to this beautiful sight of the crescent moon and Venus. The day was off to a great start! I knew I wanted to paint the colorful prairie grasses I had seen during the tour of the park provided by Ranger Jeff Manuszak the previous day. The Chellberg barn peeking above the field was a "morning painting" with long tree shadows creating drama and the morning sun bringing out the many colors of the grasses…
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Photo by A.Nyberg©TNC For many, August is the back-to-school month. But learning doesn't have to take place in a classroom. Learning can take place anywhere, especially in the great out-of-doors. It's the way humans have learned for thousands of years, being outside seeing, hearing, smelling, feeling, even sometimes tasting the world around us…
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When the world seems to be going by at a dizzying pace, and the insects are zooming, and the butterflies are flitting, and the birds are swooping, I often stop and think of the plants, rooted so tightly and strongly to the earth below me. It's a comforting thought…
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The National Park Service has been working diligently to make the Dunes beaches and surrounding areas family friendly. One of the most popular beach spots, Mount Baldy, reopened on July 14, 2017. This living dune has been closed since 2013 after hazards were discovered and after extensive testing, the beach has been deemed safe and the trail will reopen later in 2017…
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Photo by Jason Whalen at Big Foot Media It feels as though we've waited an eternity for the answer, and now we have it.... ten bison calves! Since October 16, 2016 when the bison first arrived at Kankakee Sands, we have anticipated the birth of these calves. When would they be born? How many would be born? At long last, we have our answers. On April 20th of this year, the first bison calf was born at Kankakee Sands. Over the next few weeks perhaps two or three more will be born, but as of today there are ten…
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Grab your gear and get ready to explore the canals, rivers, streams and lakes in the South Shore. The South Shore has hundreds of miles of water trails and each route offers different opportunities from challenging and scenic to historic and wooded…
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