Our Workshops and Events
What we are doing in our workshops and events
To see current and upcoming events, check out our Upcoming Events page!
Our approach in each of our art workshops is to ‘paint from the heart’ as an expression and a dialogue-starter about climate and nature — and then allow that to enable us to become advocates for protecting and preserving the things we love. In our events, we share educational resources, learn about regional environmental efforts, and discuss how to have conversations about climate change. In our gallery exhibitions, we show and explain our commitment to protect the things we love. In our public events, we encourage everyone to act to preserve our world.
Here is where you can see us in action.
Past Workshops and Events (Below)
To view the galleries and more information for each workshop, click the title or any picture.
Nature Journaling with Bailey Russell
On Saturday, September 14, ACA members convened at Karst Farm Park Shelter #6 in Bloomington, IN for a 4-hour Nature Journaling workshop led by Bailey Russell, a recent intern with the Brown County Soil and Water Conservation District.
Maxwell Garden Workshop, Chicago, IL
Due to the weather, these two workshops on Saturday, September 7 and Sunday, September 8, 2024 took place in a Halstead Street studio near the MAXWELL STREET COMMUNITY GARDEN in Chicago, IL
- On Saturday, Carol Carter led participants in painting a honeybee on a flower, inspired by the flora found in the Maxwell Street Community Garden.
- On Sunday, Anne Farley Gaines shared her expertise in using mixed-media materials to capture the essence of this urban oasis.
4th Street Festival of the Arts and Crafts
We hosted a booth in the community section of the annual Labor Day Weekend 4th Street Festival of the Arts. Our booth featured the theme, “Help Solve the Climate Puzzle!” with a communal jigsaw puzzle and a climate word search handout. At the festival, there were 120 artisans from across the country. In addition to their excellent and innovative artwork, there was onstage music, spoken word events, a kids booth by Lotus, and many community booths. Saturday, Aug 31 and Sunday, Sept 1, 2024.
https://www.4thstreet.org/
Gallery Exhibition: “Living In the Questions,” Traverse City, MI
June 25 to August 25, 2024
This exhibition, by Michigan artist Jessica Kovan, opened on June 25 at Botanic Garden at Historic Barns Park in Traverse City, MI.
Through the lens of nature, “Living In the Questions” asked its viewers to pay attention and examine the space that our queries hold. We are bearing witness to dramatic changes on our planet and to the impact of those changes on all living creatures.
All the art in this exhibit was created on and with recycled materials including canvases, cardboard, old book pages, and salvaged wood.
“Art Journaling in the Gardens”
On July 1 and August 8, 2024, Artists for Climate Awareness joined Michigan artist Jessica Kovan for a half day at the Botanic Garden at Historic Barns Park in Traverse City, Michigan for nature observation and to enhance their skills in the garden environs. The workshop focused on experiencing and visually expressing curiosity about plants and nature. The artists were encouraged to ask questions and make deeper connections to the experience of the gardens.
“Get Outdoors Day” Tabling Event
Artists for Climate Awareness partnered with the Uplands Network of the Hoosier Chapter of Sierra Club on June 8, 2024 in the Get Outdoors Day event at Switchyard Park in Bloomington, IN. Get Outdoors Day is a free, annual, open-house styled event where people come to learn about local outdoor opportunities. Participants were able to stop by the Pavilion Lawn in the park to create a nature journal from natural materials.
“Celebrating Pollinators in Watercolor”
Eleven Artists for Climate Awareness members gathered on May 11, 2024 at Ivy Tech Bloomington, IN for a unique art workshop in which they painted birds and/or pollinators in watercolor. This special event wasaligned with World Migratory Bird Day, spotlighting the vital role of birds and insects as pollinators. On this auspicious day for biodiversity, we invited participants to capture the essence of these vital creatures through the graceful strokes of watercolor. The instructor, MarySue Schwab, led the workshop as participants each painted from a different photographic reference.
Gallery Show: “Earth, Life, and Our Shared Responsibility”
Artists for Climate Awareness members from across the US, along with Arts Alliance of Greater Bloomington members, exhibited 2-D and 3-D artwork in a gallery exhibition April 4 – 28 at the Arts Alliance Center in the College Mall in Bloomington, IN.
We proudly offered this juried exhibition during Earth Month. Artwork included sculpture, jewelry, and 2-D mediums. Artists entered many styles of artwork, and their messaging featured lovely “prayer for preservation” pieces to catastrophic “call to action” artwork. Each artist wrote an statement explaining how the piece communicates an ecological message– emotional, informational, or educational.
“Exploring Values in Wet Pastel”
On April 13, 2024, Avon Waters led a group in working with pastel in combination with gesso, water, and alcohol to paint scenes in nature. With emphasis on values to create dynamic landscapes, Avon provided instruction on the various techniques of “wet pastel.”
“Stormwash” Climate Awareness — Poetry, Dance, and Music
On April 19, the Writers Guild at Bloomington, Windfall Dancers, Inc., and percussionist Julian Douglas delivered an inter-arts collaborative performance. Windfall Dancers choreographed select poems (e.g. Ray Zdonek’s “Over the Ageless” and “The Burning”), interspersed by world music.
Spring 2024 Events in Northern California
(For more information: plarenas.onpaper@gmail.com)
MAKING CHARCOAL PAINT, San Vicente Redwoods Preserve Thursday, April 25th
10am to 1:00pm
12001 Empire Grade
Santa Cruz, CA
We hosted a couple of workshops where we made soil and charcoal paints, and had time to make art at this beautiful redwood preserve in the Santa Cruz Mountains. Our host was the Land Trust of Santa Cruz County and the Peninsula Open Space Trust (POST).
MOUNTAIN VIEW’S EARTH DAY CELEBRATION, SATURDAY APRIL 20th, 2024
11am to 2pm
Rengstorff Park Community Center
Mountain View, CA
Enjoyed this festival with lots of activities and earth-friendly displays. We engaged in a card making activity with hand carved block prints featuring local trees and butterflies!
CITY OF ATHERTON’S ANNUAL EARTH DAY FESTIVAL, Sunday, April 21st, 11am to 3pm
Holbrook Palmer Park, Atherton, CA
We demonstrated how to make paint with charcoal from wildfires and soil. The festival featured lots of activities and earth-friendly displays.
“Embracing Emotions through Abstract Watercolors”
On February 13, 20, 27, 2024, participants joined in a watercolor workshop that served as a hands-on intersection of art and environmental consciousness, allowing participants to express their emotions and reflections through abstract watercolors. We explored some abstract art techniques while we discussed the the challenges our planet faces and what we can do about it.
“Painting Native Trees in Watercolor”
On October 27, 2023 in Bloomington, Indiana, Artists for Climate Awareness participants learned how to paint trees in watercolor. In this hands-on workshop, MarySue Schwab demonstrated key approaches to painting native Indiana trees. Students were instructed in multi-layered, wet-on-wet techniques using watercolor processes to create both subtle and dramatic tree formations. Participants used a mixture of warm and cool colors, juxtaposing shadow and form.
During the workshop, Julie Roberts from Canopy Bloomington led a presentation on the importance of native trees in the landscape, and how to plant and care for trees.
See more events in 2022 and 2023
“Evoking A Response to Climate Change with the Fine Arts”
Climate change is real. The October 12 presentation, “The Fine Arts: Evoking a Response to Climate Change” was an interplay of scientific and artistic visuals curated and presented by Ben Brabson, climate scientist and Emeritus Professor of Physics at Indiana University.Studies show that using art for communication can raise awareness, provoke impactful dialogue, and inspire action about environmental issues. Brabson’s talk included engaging and artful illustrations that simplify concepts of climate change for ordinary people, making the concepts more concrete, meaningful, and motivating. The presentation was free and was offered both in-person at Ivy Tech Bloomington and online.
Paint Bloomington 2023
On October 7, 2023, the Second Annual “Paint Bloomington!” featured tutorials by Artists for Climate Awareness artists. The all-day event in Bryan Park, Bloomington, IN included a city-wide plein air paint-out for all, plus free optional art classes.
“Wrapped in Love” Tree Sweater Campaign
Our “Wrapped in Love” tree sweater campaign, designed to benefit Middle Way House of Bloomington, raised $500 and achieved Bronze level recognition. We are using our artistic talents to help victims of domestic violence while also celebrating life-giving trees.
Our knitted tree sweater is now displayed on the Downtown Bloomington Square. For more details, please visit our Facebook and Instagram pages.
Northern California Event: “Natural Pigments Hands-On”
On October 6, Patricia Larenas led a group in making watercolor from soils at this First Friday Event at the Santa Cruz Museum of Natural History in Santa Cruz, CA.
Northern California Event: “Art from Ashes”
at San Vicente Redwoods Preserve
On October 2, 2023, in collaboration with the Peninsula Open Space Trust and the Land Trust of Santa Cruz County, Artists for Climate Awareness facilitated an artist’s day in the Santa Cruz Mountains. NorCal coordinator Patricia Larenas led artists in using ashes from giant burned redwoods in the Santa Cruz CA mountains to create drawings of the devastated redwoods. The workshop was attended by 9 or 10 artists and 3 Park Staff.
Banneker Kids Camp 2023
On a warm week in July of 2023, two Artists for Climate Awareness members led participants of Banneker Kid’s Camp in Bloomington, IN in outdoor craft activities related to the environment.
Anne Farley Gaines Ceramic Demonstration
Chicago artist Anne Farley Gaines and Artists for Climate Awareness were invited into into the Ivy Tech Ceramics Studio on June 17, 2023 for a free one-day demonstration in which Anne produced a lively ceramic work based on one of her watercolors of nature. The participants created small works of their own. Anne Farley Gaines uses the emotional language of art with thematic environmental education. Her subjects focus on her passions: disappearing coastlines of the Great Lakes, decaying trees uprooted by rising waters from glacier melt, animal species being pushed by climate change to unprecedented areas, forest fires, violent storms, and their aftermath.
A display of Anne’s work is on the Ivy Tech campus in the Fine Arts area, and at The Waldron Arts Center. All will be available for viewing throughout June and July of 2023.
Learn more about Anne Farley Gaines at https://www.annefarleygaines.com/.
Gallery Show, Performance, and Workshop: “Conserve Bloomington”
“Mutations,” by Karen Holtzclaw
A gallery show May 12 – June 11, 2023 at Arts Alliance Center in Bloomington, IN provided environmentally themed art and music to the Bloomington Community. This gallery exhibition, coordinated by Artists for Climate Awareness, was open to all artistic mediums and depicted aspects of nature, environment, and climate change.
On May 12, IU Jacobs School of Music students working on the Conserve Bloomington project introduced their musical composition of nature sounds recorded in and around Bloomington, IN
On Saturday, May 13, in conjunction with the event, internationally known Indiana artist Rena Brouwer led a watercolor workshop, also at the Arts Alliance Center.
“From Watching Birds to Sketching and Painting Them”
On Thursday, April 27, internationally known bird artist Alex Warnick delivered a workshop called, “From Watching Birds to Sketching and Painting Them.” The presentation and demonstration largely focused on artistic techniques. During the workshop, there were also conversations about being connected to nature, how we can help wild birds, as well as the importance and interconnectivity of birds with the environment.
“Painting Nature in Wet Pastel”
On March 24 and 25, 2023 in Bloomington, Indiana, Artists for Climate Awareness participants learned how to use soft pastels with various mediums to create works in “wet pastel.” The group experimented with new techniques while sharing stories and learning about caring for the environment.
“Elements: An Exhibition by Artists for Climate Awareness”
Ten members of Artists for Climate Awareness displayed their artwork in the Education Gallery at the John Waldron Arts Center, 122 S. Walnut St., Bloomington, IN, from March 3 – April 11, 2023. The show is in conjunction with two environment-related exhibitions by climate groups and individuals, named “Climate Shock” and “Stone Soup: From Nature to Politics.”
“Painting Deserts in Watercolor”
In “Painting Deserts in Watercolor,” on February 25, 2023 in Bloomington, Indiana, Artists for Climate Awareness people enjoyed painting together, learning about desert conservation, and talking about how to be an advocate for better climate change communication.
“Climate Change in My Backyard: Art from the Heart”
Artists for Climate Awareness members convened in Carol Carter’s Studio in St. Louis, Missouri on September 24, 2022 for painting, sculpting, and climate education.