Summer 2023 Leman Community Class

During our first meeting, we explored the beauty of the natural world that surrounds us by using charcoal and watercolor to create our botanical paintings.

Class Information/

Información de clase

How can we appreciate the beauty of the world around us? 

How can we share beauty with others?

How can we celebrate the beauty within ourselves?

How can we appreciate the beauty in others?

Our next exploration was appreciating the beauty within ourselves and others. The artists learned basic facial proportions, and used their skills to draw themselves or someone who is dear to them.

To fully immerse ourselves in the beauty that surrounds us, we went outside to do some plein air painting.

Color is beautiful. The way we use color to create art is beautiful too. Our next exploration was inspired by Sonia Delaunay's geometric abstract paintings. The community artists created their own abstract compositions, and then experimented with acrylics for their final paintings.

The Leman Community Class members took a trip to Elmhurst, Illinois to view the Umbrella Sky installation. The vibrant colors of the umbrellas illuminated by the sun were breathtaking. This unusual media used for community art was the inspiration for our final art project for the summer.

Motivated by the Umbrella Sky installation, The Leman Community Class decided to make a collaborative work of art that we could share with our West Chicago community. We decided to create an installation using the Mexican folk art form papel picado. Instead of using the traditional tissue paper, we used colored sheets of plastic to that the artwork could be exhibited outside.

Something beautiful that happens in the community class is parents sharing their knowledge and skills with their children.

Finally, it was time to share our collaborative work of art with the West Chicago community! La Cocina Maria and Kindred Coffee, two local businesses, generously allowed us to use the space between their buildings for our papel picado installation. Our hope is that as people pass by they take a moment to enjoy the art that we created together.