The DuPage Monarch Project and Forest Preserve District of DuPage County’s The Art of Pollinators community art exhibit opens on May 2^nd  at Mayslake Peabody Estate. The exhibit showcases 98 submissions that include photographs, watercolors, acrylics, an altered book, block prints, and paper cuttings.   “The work really is eclectic,” said Kendra Strubhart, Heritage Interpreter – Mayslake Peabody Estate. “Each artist has interpreted the theme with their own unique perspective.”

For many people, a likely response to spotting a bug is to swat, squash or spray it.  When artists spot an insect, the encounter may be transformed into art.  The exhibit offers the public an opportunity to view the community of pollinators through an artist’s eyes.

Bees and butterflies are popular subjects but moths, wasps and hummingbirds are also represented.

“As many artists, I’m drawn to butterflies, bees, birds and industrious winged creatures of all sorts…” writes Cherylyn Gnadt of her submission, Telling the Bees: Delicate Deconstruction.  “How will I tell my daughter and my daughter’s daughter that we knew years ago of the plight of the honeybee and it’s dwindling numbers…How can we help resolve the dwindling dilemma with newfound solutions? I don’t have the answers, only questions. How will we tell the bees?”

There will be a host of pollinators at the exhibit shown in fascinating detail and ways you haven’t yet imagined. You may become inspired to learn more about the critical role pollinators play and join the growing number of concerned people taking action to enhance the chances of their survival.

The art is available for purchase with prices ranging from $25 – $2,000.

The Art of Pollinators
May 2^nd – June 1^st.
Monday – Friday 9 a.m. – 3 p.m.
Saturdays 9 a.m. – 1 p.m.
Mayslake Peabody Estate
1717 W 31^st Street
Oak Brook, IL 60523

 A meet-the-artists reception will be held Monday, May 7 at 6 p.m.