Oak Park Artist Kathleen Garness Exhibits at Oak Park Public Library in April

Oak Park artist Kathleen Garness shares her paintings in an exhibit titled “The Botanical Eye – Orchids and Other Wonders” which will be on display through April 29 at Oak Park Public Library, 834 Lake Street. A reception for Garness will be held on Saturday, April 21 from 2 to 4 pm in Oak Park Public Library’s Art Gallery. The reception and exhibit are free and open to the public.

“Orchids have fascinated people for millennia,” notes Kathleen Garness. “They are the most highly evolved family in the plant kingdom and are highly valued for their beauty.”

Kathleen Garness has been enamored of orchids and other botanical subjects for many years and loves to paint their beauty and diversity of form. Her native yellow ladyslipper painting was included in the exhibit “Losing Paradise? Endangered Plants Here and Around the World,” which recently finished its world tour at Kew Gardens, London in 2011. The “Losing Paradise?” exhibit was co-sponsored by the Smithsonian Institution, the Center for Plant Conservation and the American Society of Botanical Artists.

Kathleen Garness is an artist member of the Oak Park Art League, the Guild of Natural Science Illustrators, and the American Society of Botanical Artists. She is very active in the local natural areas conservation community. Garness was the 2008 recipient of the Grassroots Conservation Leadership Award, sponsored by Chicago Wilderness and Audubon Chicago Region.

Oak Park Public Library’s Art Gallery features a local artist or group of artists each month. The gallery is open seven days a week during regular library hours. For information on upcoming exhibits visit http://oppl.org/about/library-information/art-library/art-gallery.

Each of Oak Park Public Library’s locations has unique and beautiful art in permanent collections, and quotes from literary and local figures throughout the buildings. Find more information about the library’s permanent art collection at http://oppl.org/about/library-information/art-library/main-library.