Jul 13th 2025

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.

Artists: Beverly Behrens · Sharon Bladholm · Alexandra Blom · Jonathan Boyer · Curtis Anthony Bozif · Melissa Brummerstedt · Sinead Carus · Louise Daley · Megan Donahue · Royce Galindo · Kathleen Marie Garness · Polly Greathouse · Allison Hausladen · Catherine Hu · Ruth Hutter · Gillian Jackson · Josie Levin · Phyllis Levun-Agostino · Christina Lovering · Carol Luc · Erin McNamara · Carol Niec · Lindsay Olson · Katelyn Patton · Melissa Pierson · Amy Rosenwasser
Betty Schulte · Jane L. Sturgeon · Liliane Tran · Ellie Wasilewski · Maryann Wattelle · Amy F. Williamson

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