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Spring migration begins with the return of birds to Brushwood Center Gallery

The newest art exhibition at Brushwood Center - Peggy Macnamara's "The Choreography of Birds" - opened to an excited crowd on Sunday, March 5.

The event brought in a large crowd of art and nature enthusiasts eager to meet the artist and view her latest collection of absorbing watercolors up close. Peggy Macnamara has been The Field Museum of Natural History's only artist-in-residence for the past 30 years. Her work is featured throughout the museum - both behind the scenes and in public areas - and involves subjects that are as diverse as The Field Museum's collections are extensive.

Macnamara's Brushwood Center exhibition captures the fluid movements of birds in effortless sketching and, very literally, flowing watercolor. Included in the collection are pieces from two of her latest books, "The Peregrine Returns" and "Nature's Portraits." "The Peregrine Returns" details important aspects of the peregrine conservation story through narrative paired with Macnamara's paintings and "Nature's Portraits" is a grown-up coloring book that features a great assortment of Macnamara's plant, insect, and animal drawings to make your own.

A selection of pages from "Nature's Portraits" were available at the opening reception and attendees of all ages enjoyed coloring them. Another fun feature of the event was a mesmerizing video that condensed hours of Macnamara's sketching and painting into 3 minutes (see it here). As an added treat, the painting seen in the short video, "Three Owls," was part of the exhibit, hanging near the looping video for visitors to admire after watching how much work Macnamara poured into it.

Macnamara is a longtime friend of Brushwood Center and has spent a great deal of time over 25 years in surrounding Ryerson Woods, sketching and painting its natural scenes and subjects. Brushwood Center will host "The Choreography of Birds" from March 5-April 17, 2017.

Learn more about Peggy Macnamara at www.peggymacnamara.com.

Learn more about Brushwood Center at Ryerson Woods at www.brushwoodcenter.org.

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