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Latest news from the Oak Park Art League ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏
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Greetings OPAL Community!
Happy December 1st! I hope you and yours had a wonderful Thanksgiving holiday weekend. I am very thankful for the OPAL community and the opportunity to do the important work of defending and promoting art at this time. OPAL participated in the Fall of Freedom artist movement, not only with our current exhibition Art for Social Change: Food for Thought, but we also hosted a poetry reading on Saturday Nov. 22.
You can check it out here, we plan to host a quarterly reading in 2026.
I want to welcome all of our new members who have joined in the last month and those who are getting OPAL’s monthly newsletter for the first time.
Your membership, new or renewing, goes a long way to supporting our mission. Here is what is happening at OPAL for the rest of 2025. - Dec 4, 6-8pm - First OPAL Sip & Paint - BYO beverages & create a painting
- Dec 6, 10:30am - noon - A Gift for You, Me & the Tree, crafting fundraiser for the Community Fridge Project, Tickets by donation
- Dec 11, 6-8pm - LaRomita Italy Retreat - Talk & Tasting, RSVP
- Dec 13 & 14 HOLIDAY BAZAAR - featuring local makers selling their creations in our gallery. We’ll have a baked goods sale to benefit OPAL and hot cocoa and warm beverages for all. You can drop off donations for our - Community Fridge Project food drive, and feel great supporting local artists.
- Please note, OPAL Gallery & office will be closed for the holidays Dec 20 - Jan 2, 2026
Your generosity this time of year helps ensure that OPAL continues to be a welcoming home for artists, learners, and dreamers of all ages.
Thank you for believing in the power of art — and in this community that has made creativity part of Oak Park’s heart for over a century.
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Celebrate the season with us—join, renew or donate today and spread the joy by sharing our events with your family and friends.
Happy Holidays,
Bryan Northup Grayson
Executive Director
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Giving Tuesday is tomorrow! Because of YOUR generosity this Season of Giving, OPAL will continue nurturing artists and building community in 2026. Together we're continuing a tradition, creating a community that is welcoming and acknowledges the diversity of voices and interests in making and appreciating art. |
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Our next talk (and wine tasting) is scheduled - Thursday December 11, 6-8pm
Learn about our plans for a group artist retreat in summer 2027 to
LaRomita School of Art in Umbria Italy. It’s free to attend just RSVP |
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A weekend-long holiday market Pop-up at the Oak Park Art League and will feature local makers selling their creations in our gallery on
Saturday Dec 13 from 10am - 4pm and Sunday Dec 14 from 1-4pm. |
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Our gallery gift shop showcases original artwork by current members, attracting locals and tourists seeking unique handmade in Oak Park creations.
Online - Explore OPAL-themed eco-friendly merch like mugs, totes, tees, puzzles, patches, and aprons—perfect gifts that support our community art league. All items are made to order and shipped anywhere. |
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For 2026 we are creating a new series where our creative community can meet, make, connect and share with fellow artists, in the gallery after dark, Thursday evenings, 6-8pm. |
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This is where you will find all the opportunities we come across or that come in especially to be shared with the OPAL artist community. |
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Each newsletter will highlight a volunteer from OPAL’s Board of Directors and their support the organization. The board is expanding and planning for 2026 and beyond.
To help OPAL’s mission, we are forming committees, each led by a board member. We are looking for volunteers to join committees like Building & Grounds, Education, Marketing & Membership, Fundraising and more. If you would like to help OPAL, contact us to learn more about serving on a committee.
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Dave is one of OPAL’s newest board members and we are thrilled to have his help and energy with membership and marketing. Dave created OPAL’s Wikipedia page.
A native Chicagoan returning home after chasing palm trees in Los Angeles, Honolulu, Las Vegas, and New Orleans, Dave brings marketing expertise and a lifelong commitment to the arts to the Oak Park Art League. |
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Our final Session of 2025 is going on now
Class session for 2026 will be posted soon
Winter 1: January 4 - February 7th
Winter 2: February 8th - March 14th
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C R E A T I V E R E U S E
Sundays 2pm - 4pm
Sunday, January 4th - Sunday, February 1st 2026 |
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OPAL Sip & Paint
Thursday December 4th, 6 - 8pm
Join us for a delightful two-hour painting session led by a talented OPAL artist instructor. Immerse yourself in the creative process of finishing a themed work of art while enjoying your favorite BYO beverage. Open to all experience levels, ages 21+.
Make new friends or bring your crew! |
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Oracle Card Making With Mixed Media
with Jackie Lakely
Saturday, December 6th, 10am - 4pm
Oracle cards mean different things to different people, but I see them as intuitive messages to my future self, or visual ideas/messages/thoughts that I like to have around me. Some might be creative seeds for future paintings, reflect the months of the year, represent important areas of your life, revolve around a single theme, or be spontaneous and intuitive so each card is different from the next. |
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We never could’ve guessed a year ago when we published our 2025 calls, how topical this theme would be.
This exhibit is a feast of food themed art for our Art for Social Change exhibition. OPAL is partnering with the Community Fridge Project and collecting food during the run of the show as well as hosting a fundraiser for stocking fridges in the Oak Park community for those in need.
From the still lives of the Renaissance and Dutch Golden age to the soft sculptures of Claus Oldenburg, or the lush impasto of Wayne Theibaud, food is everywhere in art! Food is sustenance, it brings us together around a table, it can bring joy or anxiety, it can be factory-farmed or farm-to-table.
This open call exhibit asks; what are your best or strongest memories about food, or eating in community? What are your feelings about food and how can they be conveyed in an artwork to continue the long tradition of food as subject? |
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Our first exhibit of 2026 is open for submissions!
Art has always been a compass for navigating uncertainty. Help us map the territory between renewal and resolution. As we complete another revolution around the sun, we find ourselves at the threshold of new beginnings while carrying the weight of unfinished business.
This moment—suspended between what was and what could be—invites artistic exploration of transformation, persistence, and purposeful redirection. |
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The Oak Park Art League is once again offering members a chance to display their work outside our main gallery, in local businesses we have partnered with to provide more exposure for artists.
Sign up to exhibit your art! Charles Simone @ Prairie Title |
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The themed exhibition calls for art have been announced! Check out what will be coming to the Carriage House Gallery in 2026. |
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In a world overwhelmed by troubling news, OPAL remains a vital ‘third space’—a refuge where you can immerse yourself in art-making, take a meaningful break from reality to benefit your wellness, and connect with a supportive community.
As funding for arts and nonprofits continues to decline, your membership and support is more crucial than ever.
Join us in safeguarding this historic, creative sanctuary—renew your membership today and help ensure OPAL thrives for everyone who needs it. Thank you!
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Oak Park Art League Founded in 1921, OPAL is one of the longest, continually-running nonprofit arts organizations in Illinois, fulfilling its mission by offering high-quality art education, lectures, artist demonstrations, critiques, and monthly exhibitions in our historic gallery. Our Mission The Oak Park Art League's mission is to be a welcoming center of artistic inquiry, creative expression and art appreciation in Oak Park and the surrounding communities. Board of Directors
President: David Baker
Vice President: Mia Garcia Hills
Secretary: Maria Gedroc
Treasurer: Shira Slack
Directors:
Margot McMahon Ginger Brent Barbara McClure
Dave Palomares Colleen Campbell Staff
Bryan Northup Grayson, Executive Director
Michael Cuadrado Gonzalez, Programming Coordinator
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GALLERY HOURS Thursday & Friday 1-5 pm
Saturday 10 am-4 pm
Sunday 1-4pm
Monday -Wednesday Closed or by appointment
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Land Acknowledgement
Each exhibition, program and class associated with the Oak Park Art League (OPAL) takes place on the traditional homelands of the Council of Three Fires - the Ojibwe, Potawatomi, and Odawa -
as well as the Menominee, Miami, and Ho-Chunk Nations.
OPAL recognizes that the region we now call Chicago and Oak Park was the traditional homeland of many Indigenous nations,
and remains home to diverse Native people today. The land we walk was, and remains Native land.
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Thank you to our generous sponsors
Oak Park Art League is partially funded by the Oak Park Area Arts Council, in partnership with the Village of Oak Park, the Illinois Arts Council Agency and the National Endowment for the Arts.
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