Michael Cuadrado Gonzalez is one of our newest instructors at OPAL! Read more about his practice and his class in this months Instructor Spotlight.

Saturday, March 8th, 2025, 1:30pm
The Cabinet of Secret Art will be closing and the contents will be exhibited by artist Betsy Zacsek one last time at the closing of the show at 1:30 pm. Seating is limited, ticketing/RSVP this performance through Eventbrite with a suggested donation of $10./person.

The next round of #The100DayProject starts February 23, 2025.
OPAL will support those participating with our #100dayprojectOPAL on social media and a meet up midway through and wrap up and review meeting. Check out what we did last year and join in!

In the digital age the QR code has become a staple of everyday life; in restaurants, bars, museums, classrooms, your doctor’s office, and on the street. We have certainly put them to use at OPAL to link you to our website. There is an element of mystery about the QR code, on its face, each looks nearly identical to the last, while its content on the inside changes dramatically with each one. It is a portal from in-person to digital realms.

Julie Sulzen has been teaching at OPAL as our resident oil painting instructor for the past 3 years.
We are very fortunate to have Julie teaching with us and creating a community of oil painters along the way.

Here is the latest lineup of workshops scheduled at OPAL. Check out the details and sign up early as these are one-time offerings.

OPAL is starting off 2025 with a new community connection and a wonderful partnership with Kribi CoffeeAir Rostery. When you stop by OPAL during our weekend hours (1-4pm) to check out the gallery and see what art awaits, you can grab a free cup of Kribi’s amazing air-roasted coffee.

Painting by Ana Vitek

Come shop in person in a new gift shop tucked in the corner of the Carriage House Gallery and filled with original handmade art and objects created locally. Discover new OPAL designs on swag you can wear and use to spread the word about the Oak Park Art League and help raise funds for our beloved organization.

Jess Howard has been teaching drawing at OPAL for 15 years this January! And we’re all the better for it!

Sundays 10am - 1pm & Thursdays 9am - noon

There are now two figure sessions per week for drawing from a live model. These are 3-hour, non-instructional figure drawing sessions. Work on your figure-drawing skills at your own self-directed pace!

Sketches by Christopher Heron

If you’ve been curious about OPAL’s founder Carl R. Krafft and details of his life as an artist, I encourage you to check out the webspace and buy a copy of the book.

Happy New Year! OPAL’s first exhibition of 2025 is Under Construction.
This is an open call for recent artwork inspired by new beginnings with a special emphasis on works in progress. Show your process and share something that may feel risky and unfinished.

Please note ~ Opening reception:
Saturday, January 11, 1pm - 4pm

Ring! Ring!

Check our messages here and see where you can engage at OPAL and make it an even more vibrant art community! As a not-for-profit, OPAL relies on volunteers to help with programming.

Perhaps you’ve been waiting to see what is planned for the Carriage House Gallery in the coming year? Wait no longer. OPAL has a newly formed Exhibition Committee that has labored over the coming line-up and we hope this selection of calls will give plenty of prompts for art-making and opportunities to share your artwork with the community.

Please consider donating to the Oak Park Art League this giving season. Our Annual Appeal runs through the end of 2024

You can feel good supporting local art and creatives with a tax-deductible gift to OPAL.
We made it easy to donate online, or you can mail a check, or visit our historic gallery and say hello while you drop off your year-end donation to OPAL. Thank you!

OPAL is honored to host multi-media sculptor and Oak Parker, Bethany Cordero as our artist-in-residence through December 2024. You can seen her sculpture exhibit in the gallery through the end of 2024.

This year our Annual Fall Artist Member Exhibition, closes out the year by going small in a big way!

Please note ~ Opening reception:
Saturday, November 30th, 1pm - 4pm

As a way to raise funds for more seating and gallery improvements, OPAL is starting an adoption opportunity for our brand-new chairs. For $25. you can adopt a chair and add your name and website link to the back of your chair!

Juror: Richard Laurent

Cartooning and animation are powerful modes for speaking truth to power, when protest is captioned in a word bubble and dry humor delivers the punch. In honor of Oak Park artist and prolific political cartoonist Keith J. Taylor, this juried national exhibition comes at a fraught time, an election year, and invites artists working in all forms of cartooning and animation to submit works that speak to this moment in human history.

The Oak Park Art League (OPAL) and By Discovery, After School Art Enrichment Program, co-host an evening of
art-making designed for adults to raise funds for art programming at St. Angela School in Chicago's Austin neighborhood.