OPAL NEWS | January 2026

Greetings OPAL Community!

Happy New Year! We hope OPAL’s classes, exhibits, and community connections made your 2025 brighter.
In 2026 — our 105th anniversary — we’re introducing Gallery After Dark, a poetry series Celebrating Art & Words in 2026, member meetings and socials, monthly Sip & Paint and more programs and exhibits yet to be announced.

Thank you to those who contributed to our annual year end appeal!
With your contribution we are continuing a tradition, creating a community that is welcoming and acknowledges the diversity of voices and interests in making and appreciating art.

Please read the special message from the board president and check out all of the upcoming events, classes, workshops and exhibits to start 2026.
We look forward to seeing you and your art and creativity blooming in the new year.

Warm Regards,
Bryan Northup Grayson
Executive Director

Letter from the President, David Baker

As we close 2025 and look ahead to the new year, the Oak Park Art League enters a meaningful moment of transition and gratitude.

We extend our sincere thanks to Maria Gedroc, who stepped down from the OPAL Board on December 31 to focus on her family. During her many years as Board Secretary, Maria strengthened fundraising efforts, ensured accurate records, and helped guide OPAL with integrity and care. Her dedication to OPAL and the arts has made a lasting impact, and we are deeply grateful for her service.

I would also like to thank the OPAL Board for entrusting me to serve as President. As OPAL enters its 105th year, I am honored to help lead this historic organization while continuing to provide a welcoming and safe space to explore, create, and celebrate art. I look forward to working with our Board, staff, members, and volunteers as we shape our goals for the years ahead.

Thank you to our Board, members, and community for your continued support and commitment to OPAL’s mission.

With gratitude,
David Baker
Board President
Oak Park Art League

UPCOMING

Take a look at what is happening at OPAL in January

Jan 3-4, Drop off artwork for Resolutions/Revolutions Exhibition
Jan 4, WINTER 1 Adult Class Session Begins
Jan 5, Submission Deadline for Of the Moment Photography Contest
Jan 10, Artist Reception for Resolutions/Revolutions Exhibition
Jan 15, 6-8pm - Gallery After Dark, Creativity & Sound Healing session led but Mia Garcia-Hills
Jan 17, See Workshops below
Jan 22, 6-8pm - Gallery After Dark, Linda Dunbar will lead us in Creating Calendars & Mindful Intentions for 2026
Jan 29, 6:30-8:30pm - Monthly OPAL Sip & Paint - BYO beverages & create a painting
Jan 30, 7:30 - 9:30pm - Of the Moment Photo Contest Exhibit Reception and awards announced

OPAL MEMBERS

Mark your calendar, we have planned a Member Town Hall for Wednesday Feb 11, 6-8pm to hear from the board, share information and gather feedback from members and help shape OPAL’s path forward. We’d love to take a group photo for our 105th, so members, please attend, RSVP here!

Of The Moment Photography Contest

January 5th is the deadline to enter the contest, but you can enter today! Or add it to your list and go take a quick photo excursion. There is time!
However, this is the last week to enter your photos in the Oak Park Area Art Council's and the Oak Park Art League's
"Of the Moment" photo contest!!!!

SUBMISSIONS DUE
JANUARY 5, '26
- NO ENTRY FEE -
- CASH PRIZES -

Gallery After Dark

In 2026 we’ve created 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. Check out what’s coming

Celebrating Art & Words in 2026

A Year of Poetry Commemorating 105 Years of Oak Park Art League

In honor of Oak Park Art League's 105th anniversary, we're dedicating 2026 to the art of poetry. Join us for a year-long celebration that bridges visual and literary arts through readings, workshops, and creative collaboration.

Our First Reading AFTERGLOW
is Sunday Feb 15, 2-4pm, RSVP

Artist Opportunities

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.

INTRODUCING

Each newsletter will highlight a volunteer from OPAL’s Board of Directors and their support of 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.

Meet Barbara McClure

Barb is one of OPAL’s newest board members though she has been an active member for years. We are thrilled to have her help with Education programs at OPAL. Barb has taught children’s classes and exhibited work and participates in Life Drawing sessions at OPAL as well as being one of our star bakers for fundraising and outreach events.

Registration is still open for Winter 1 session

Winter 1: January 4 - February 7th
Winter 2: February 8th - March 14th

NEW!
Youth Art Class Sessions

C R E A T I V E R E U S E
Sundays 2pm - 4pm
February 8th - March 14th, 2026

W O R K S H O P S

Introduction to Suminagashi Paper Marbling
Saturday, January 17th, 11am - 1pm
with Pamela Martinez
Suminagashi translated means floating black ink. It is the ancient meditative Japanese practice of gently floating pigments on the surface of water with a brush and then capturing the mono print image on absorbent paper. This exciting 2 hr. workshop will include the historical background and introduce the time honored techniques with several artistic possibilities. Recommended for beginners.

Introduction to Travel Sketching
Saturday, January 17th, 1:30m - 4pm
with Richard Sheppard
The best souvenirs are not the things you buy or the photos you take while traveling, but the drawings you create in a sketchbook. Sketching allows the artist to slow down enough to get acquainted with surroundings that are often overlooked while framing the world through a lens. This class will discuss materials, styles, and techniques that are best suited for travel sketching.

OPAL Sip & Paint
Thursday January 29, 6:30 - 8:30pm
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!

Values and Composition
Saturday, February 7th, 1:00m - 4pm
with Jim Sweitzer
“Color gets the credit, but values do all the work!” How many times have you heard that saying?

This one-day workshop is a “boot camp” to increase your ability to effectively use values in your art, no matter what the medium or the subject. It will explain the science of physiology behind the truth of this adage and examine the works of masters in employing the power of values in design.

The first two sessions of each month, models are clothed so younger artists can draw.
See our full figure drawing schedule for January
and register here, Pre-registration is required

IN THE GALLERY

Our first group exhibit of 2026 is open for submissions!
ALL are welcome to show!
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.

ARTWORK DROP OFF - Jan 3, 10am - 4pm & Jan 4, 1-4pm
ARTIST RECEPTION - Saturday Jan 10, 1-4pm

OPAL Satellite Exhibitions

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

CALL for ART: 2026 JURIED EXHIBITION

We invite contemporary artists to explore the timeless yet ever-evolving relationship between humanity and the botanical world in BLOOM: Art of Flowers, Foliage & Fruit. This juried exhibition celebrates the diverse ways artists interpret, reimagine, and respond to floral and botanical subjects through contemporary perspectives.

OPEN FOR SUBMISSIONS

2026 Exhibition Schedule

The themed exhibition calls for art have been announced! Check out what will be coming to the Carriage House Gallery in 2026.

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!

DONATE SPONSORSHIP BECOME A MEMBER

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:
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

GALLERY HOURS

Thursday & Friday 1-5 pm
Saturday 10 am-4 pm
Sunday 1-4pm
Monday -Wednesday Closed or by appointment

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.

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.