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Brushwood Center Gallery
  • Current
    • Tides: A Prelude
    • Lake County Leads
    • Messages of Hope
    • Midewin National Tallgrass Prairie Photography Exhibition
  • Past
    • 2020 Holiday Art Market
    • She Speaks: The Voice of the Community
    • The New Victory Gardens
    • Fresh Air
    • Beat the Drum
    • Elements
    • 2019 Holiday Art Market
    • Enriching Life 2019
    • Lean on Me
    • Passages
    • Dear Earth
    • Keeping the Bees
  • Support
  • Home

Cabinet of Curiosity
​Messages of Hope

Messages of Hope

October 21 - January 1, 2021
At Heller Nature Center in Highland Park, trails open from 7:30 am to dusk every day.


Presented by Cabinet of Curiosity in collaboration with Brushwood Center, Heller Nature Center, and over 70 artists from over 15 Chicago neighborhoods and 5 additional states.
As artists, we can and must be creative and innovative. Therefore, in this moment of understandable distance and trial, Cabinet has committed to new initiatives and new approaches.”
Frank Maugeri, Cabinet of Curiosity
Brushwood Center is thrilled to partner with Cabinet of Curiosity and Heller Nature Center to present Messages of Hope.  As an organization dedicated to wellness, art and nature, we strive to provide immersive experiences that explore the healing powers of the natural world and creative expression.  In response to COVID-19, we have been finding new ways to fulfill our mission, creating adaptive, virtual programming, and exploring different ways of exhibiting artwork outside. This show is the perfect opportunity to help local communities connect to nature and enjoy a free, uplifting art exhibition safely during the pandemic.
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Inspired by traditional cabinets of curiosity, altars, temples, tramp art, and grottos, this show seeks to generate mundane, magical, and momentary locations of respite and reflection. Free boxes were provided to established artists, emerging artists, and community members to adorn. Cabinet of Curiosity delivered and retrieved the completed boxes, and mounted them to trees in the Little Red School House Forest Preserve in Willow Springs, IL in late summer 2020. With the help of Brushwood Center and Heller Nature Center, the boxes are now moving to Lake County for a whole new audience to enjoy.  They will be on display on the "red" trail at Heller Nature Center starting October 21st.

The project was devised in partnership with designer Sydney Lynne Thomas, who brought the altars to design life through her knowledge of construction, materials and civic practices. 
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"The Right Seed," created by multi-media artist and Brushwood Center's Director of Art & Administration, Julia Kemerer.
When Brushwood Center and Cabinet of Cabinet of Curiosity reached out and shared the idea, I knew we had to have it at Heller Nature Center.  More than ever people need the outdoors and a retreat away from world problems.  We are excited to host and hope that people make a personal connection with the cabinets or just with being in nature.   
Jessica Reyes, Heller Nature Center
Contributing artists include: 
​Jeremy Andersen (Oak Park), Linda Boyle (South Dakota), Rea Brown (Hyde Park), Brushwood Center at Ryerson Woods (Riverwoods, IL), Gabriel Flash Carrasquillo Jr. (Harlem/Irving Park), Cynthia Castiglione (Avondale), Melecio Castillo (Steel City),  Kass Copeland (Wrigleyville), Michael Cotey (Wrigleyville), Sheila Cronin (Indiana), Adrian Danzig (Winnemac), Lisa Deluca,  Griffin DiStasi (Evanston), Sheila Donovan (Douglas Park), Lissa Dysart (Oak Park), Eseosa Edebiri (Pilsen), Anya Elsbeth (Lakeview), Enlace Chicago,  Tressa Ferrella (Uptown), Veronica Freemont, Joanie Friedman (Hyde Park), 
Geneva Gage (Lakeview), Justin Goh (Rogers Park), Angela Golota (Glenview), Ola Grabowski​, Annabelle Gross (Wilmette), Jillian Gryzlak (Logan Square), Wynne Harrison​, Deborah Hirshfield (Evanston), Karen Hoyer (Lakeview), Brian Hungerford (Oak Park), Brandin Hurley (Bowmanville), Shawn Ketchum Johnson (Iowa), Indira Johnson (Evanston), Cynthia Kerby (Evanston), Tai Kojro-Badziak​, Deborah Lader (Ravenswood), Tirzah Lawson (Texas), Laurie Wessman LeBreton​, Mark and the Levitin Family (Near North Side), Sydney Lynne (Groveland Park), Frank Maugeri (Oak Park), Toni Maugeri (Portage Park), Andrew Tyler Nelson (Rogers Park), Dan O’Brien (Lake View), Sully Ratke (Bowmanville), Terry Reimer (Lakeview), Amy Ribbon (West Loop), Sarah Rieser (Pilsen), Gina Lee Robbins, Tom Robinson, Cecilia Sheppard (Lincoln Park), Cathy Swalbe,  Shayne Taylor (Bowmanville), Ellie Terrell (Logan Square), Jessica Thebus (Rogers Park), P.K. Vanderbeke (Old Town), Liz Walton (California), Tracy Weisman (Rhode Island), Dan Wheeler (Lincoln Park), Anna Zahm (Uptown).

About Cabinet of Curiosity:
Cabinet is composed of diverse project-by-project collectives who authentically collaborate on original celebrations and productions. We use sophisticated puppetry and handmade devices to develop unique interactive experiences, productions, and events. We focus on creating new types of gatherings, ceremonies, and rituals that promote community and interactivity among people who may not ordinarily mix. Our intention is to support multicultural professionals in the field of theatre, visual arts, dance, sculpture, and music, while mindfully training college-age apprentices to become the future creators of meaningful new rituals through our School of Celebration. All of the objects and devices created by Cabinet are engineered to expose their mechanical operations so that they are simultaneously educational, informative, and magical. We embrace commissions which require unique elements of ritual, ceremony, procession, and pageantry. These commissions generate funding that establishes an innovative revenue stream, reduces the burden of being sustained by a Board, audience, or foundations, and trains apprentices through a unique celebration curriculum, builds community, and helps fund our greatly discounted public work. We are committed to social engagement — both grand and intimate. Our purpose is to promote curiosity, community and cultural discovery. Learn more at www.cocechicago.com. ​

About Heller Nature Center:
Heller Nature Center is a 97-acre preserve of the Park District of Highland Park, and has been under public stewardship since 1977. Heller’s careful resource management, including restoration and controlled burns, provides a taste of an authentic native landscape. Visitors to Heller can also enjoy a picnic in our woodlands, visit our Design in Nature exhibit in the Goodman Log Cabin, or rent cross-country skis and explore our three miles of trails.

Presented by:
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Sponsored in part by:

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BRUSHWOOD CENTER AT RYERSON WOODS
21850 N. Riverwoods Rd.
Riverwoods, IL 60015
224.633.2424
info@brushwoodcenter.org
Visit www.brushwoodcenter.org

  • Current
    • Tides: A Prelude
    • Lake County Leads
    • Messages of Hope
    • Midewin National Tallgrass Prairie Photography Exhibition
  • Past
    • 2020 Holiday Art Market
    • She Speaks: The Voice of the Community
    • The New Victory Gardens
    • Fresh Air
    • Beat the Drum
    • Elements
    • 2019 Holiday Art Market
    • Enriching Life 2019
    • Lean on Me
    • Passages
    • Dear Earth
    • Keeping the Bees
  • Support
  • Home