September 11 – Word Portraits with Wes Douglas
Wes Douglas has a 30-year career as art director, package designer and concept visualizer. He also co-founded an innovation consultancy in Elmhurst for the last 30 years. He has been involved with the Chicago chapter of Urban Sketchers since 2013 and loves to share
what he has learned about sketching and have lots of fun in the process. Wes has led demonstrations on urban sketching people for the DuPage Art League in Wheaton, the Kishwaukee Valley Art League, Lemont Art League and Wayne Art League. In 2019 he joined the teaching staff of DuPage Art League coaching students on how to sketch the urban sketcher’s way.
October 9 – Dry Brush Rendering in Oil with Cindy Bernhard
Cindy Bernhard (b. 1989, Illinois) lives and works in Chicago, IL. She received her MFA from Laguna College of Art and Design in 2014 and her BFA from the American Academy of Art in 2011.
Recent and upcoming solo exhibitions include PLATO, New York, NY (2026), Volery Gallery, Dubai, United Arab Emirates (2025), Andrew Rafacz, Chicago, IL (2024), Richard Heller Gallery, Santa Monica, CA (2024), Long Story Short, New York, NY (2024) and Monya Rowe Gallery, New York, NY (2023). Bernhard’s work has been shown in group exhibitions at numerous galleries, including Harper’s Gallery, New York, NY (2024), The Bunker Art Space, Palm Beach, FL (2024), De Boer Gallery, Los Angeles, CA (2024), PLATO, New York, NY (2024), Andrew Rafacz, Chicago, IL (2024), Steven Zevitas Gallery, Boston, MA (2024), Casa Santa Ana, Panama City, Panama (2024), Monya Rowe Gallery, New York, NY (2023), Ukrainian Institute of Modern Art, Chicago, IL (2022), Carlye Packer, Palm Springs, CA (2022), Richard Heller Gallery, Santa Monica, CA (2022), Field Projects, New York, NY (2021) and Hyde Park Art Center, Chicago, IL (2020), among many others.
Bernhard’s work has been written about in various publications, including Boooooom, Bad at Sports, Broccoli, Hypebeast, Juxtapoz, Newcity, New American Paintings and New York Magazine. Her work is in the collections of several institutions, including the Thyssen-Bornemisza National Museum in Madrid, Spain and Zuzan’s Collection at Zuzeum Art Centre in Riga, Latvia.
November 13 – Figurative Watercolor with Tom Francesconi
Tom Francesconi studied watercolor at the American Academy of Art in Chicago. His paintings have been exhibited in many national exhibitions, which include the American and National Watercolor Societies. In 2015, Tom’s painting was selected to travel to Shenzhen, China to be included in the National Watercolor Society’s International Biennial Exchange Exhibition. In 2020, Tom’s painting was chosen for inclusion in the NWS: 100 Years Exhibition and most recently, Tom’s painting was one of forty paintings selected to hang in the Scottish National Gallery, Edinburgh, Scotland, as a part of the National Watercolor Society’s 2024 Exchange Exhibition.
Tom has earned signature membership in numerous watercolor societies, including the American Watercolor Society, National Watercolor Society, Watercolor West, Rocky Mountain National Watermedia and the Transparent Watercolor Society of America, of which he has been honored with ‘Master’ status. Tom has served as president of the Transparent Watercolor Society of America and the executive director of the Illinois Watercolor Society.
February 12 – Transparent and opaque watercolor used together with David Becker
David Bio pending
March 12 – Whimsical Vignettes with Jennifer Hauser
Jennifer Hauser is a Chicago-based artist who distills whimsy from visions of rollicking bunnies in ink and colored pencil.
Her path to becoming an artist has been a bit “off trail”, it was like she needed to take a couple laps around the block before she saw art as her natural conclusion. It makes sense if you unwind her path back to the beginning. Hard work and patience are the tenants she carries with her from her childhood spent on a dairy farm. Jennifer’s attention to detail and craftsmanship are the things she gained from her education as a classical musician and architect.
Jennifer is a licensed architect and spent 23 years working professionally in the construction industry as an architect. All the while, she spent her free time drawing. In fact, she spends so much of her free time drawing that her husband helped her build a studio in their back yard she likes to call “Studio J”.
Jennifer is now working as a full-time artist. She spends a great deal of time in Studio J working on the next piece of art. When she isn’t in her studio, she can be spotted out in the wild congregating with other artists and art lovers.
April 9 – Reductive Charcoal Landscape with Sandy Safranek
Sandy Safranek is a retired Art teacher, who taught in both private and public schools for 36 years. She has a B. A. in Art Education from St. Xavier University and and M. A. in Art from Governors State University. Her areas of specialty are both Drawing and Painting. Her artwork has been shown in various Art exhibitions and competitions throughout her career. During the program, that she will present, students will become familiar with black and white charcoal as a drawing medium. Using photographs of Spring and Summer landscapes as references, students will learn how to use charcoal to create their own unique drawings of either Spring or Summer scenes. All materials and supplies will be provided.
May 14 – Member Critique and Best of the Best with Phyliss Kozlowski
Phyllis Kozlowski received her Ph.D. from Ohio State University and her Master’s Degree in Art Education from Northern Illinois University. She was Professor of Art at Moraine Valley Community College in Palos Hills, Illinois, where she also served as the Chair of the Fine Arts and Humanities Department.
As an undergraduate, she majored in painting at Mundelein College and exhibited for many years as an oil painter. She began working in watercolor in the late 1970s primarily as a landscape painter. She has taught painting at DePaul University, Elmhurst University, and Concordia University. She currently teaches watercolor at the McCord Gallery, LaGrange Art League, and the Hinsdale Community House. She has studied watercolor with John Salminen, Tony Couch, Andy Evenson, Tom Shaller, and Alvaro Castagnet.
Her work has been exhibited at numerous shows and galleries and is in several corporate and private collections. She has given workshops in Maine, Arizona, New Mexico, Door County, Italy, and Portugal. She has done hundreds of demonstrations for arts groups in the Midwest. In addition, she has judged numerous art shows including most recently the Illinois Watercolor Society annual exhibition. Dr. Kozlowski has served as a Director of Education for the Illinois State Museum at Lockport Illinois.