Anniversaries tether indelible memories like pearls on a string, if we’re lucky. The meaningful events they encapsulate allow us to pause, appreciate, and reflect on the arc of lived experience from the first moment of a milestone to its current evolution. We like to bundle them in fives and tens, fifties and hundreds, even if momentous happenings occur in between. Bernheim’s Artist in Residence program celebrates its 45th anniversary this year– a very brief blip of geological time, but a monumental imprint on our mission and story.
To celebrate an anniversary of a program, rather than just one individual or event, means celebrating all the stewardship, the vision, the maturation and involvement of countless stakeholders.
At its core are the artists we bring to the forest to inspire and transform our connection to nature in countless ways. But outside of our artists, we also celebrate those visionaries that breathed the program into existence, and its current staff caretakers. We celebrate all the members, donors and volunteers whose time, talent and financial contributions keep our artists supported. We celebrate our visitors who come to experience art, hear a lecture or take a class from the artists.
We are so proud of this program and what it’s accomplished in its lifespan and the respect it has earned in the art community at home and abroad.
To commemorate this 45th anniversary, Bernheim’s Arts in Nature team celebrated with four art experiences at CONNECT this past Saturday:
The team along with many volunteers created a monumental 46-foot (45 feet plus one to grow on) nature-inspired cyanotype mural atop a light tunnel for CONNECT. The cyanotype process—also known as sun prints– is a printmaking technique that produces vivid blue images through the reaction of sunlight or UV light with iron salts on fabric. Each artist in residence’s name is embedded in the mural with a menagerie of creatures and flora imagery collected from the forest. The Cyanotype Tunnel will remain up for viewing along the north side of Lake Nevin until after Labor Day for those who missed the event.
We also projected a collection of videos and animations made by our artists in residence on the outside wall of Lakeside Studio throughout the evening.
Our 2025 Environmental Artist in Residence Emanuel Zarate celebrated the installation of his grand-scale bat sculpture, Radar, along the south bank of Lake Nevin.
In the Forest Lounge, our Giving Circle members enjoyed a sneak peek of 2024 Regional Artist in Residence, Edwin Ramirez’s fashion masterpiece, The Golden Hour, just acquired by Bernheim.
Lastly, we welcomed back the following artists as guests to CONNECT: 2024 Regional Artist in Residence, Claire Krüeger and 2025 Regional Artist in Residence, Nellie Lutzwolf, who designed this year’s CONNECT tote bag based on her mural, Bernheim Residents.
We hope you enjoyed your CONNECT experience as much as we did!
