The oak savannas and sand prairies of Illinois Beach State Park had fascinated me ever since I included them in my landscape architecture thesis in the 1990’s. In 2015, as I revisited the site, the first to be dedicated as an Illinois Nature Preserve way back in 1964, a soft cloud cover over the uninterrupted horizon line of Lake Michigan spoke to me. Framed by the sand prairie, I imagined this view to be relatively unchanged for hundreds of years.
“Low sand dunes near the beach contain sandbinding grasses, bearberry and trailing juniper.”
More information at https://www2.illinois.gov/dnr/INPC/Pages/Area2LakeIllinoisBeach.aspx.
Painted on location.
Exhibition History
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The Long View, Prairie Paintings from Illinois Nature Preserves
June 24, 2022 - February 5, 2023
Illinois State Museum at Dickson Mounds
10956 N. Dickson Mounds Rd. Lewistown, Illinois
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The Long View: Prairie Paintings from Illinois Nature Preserves
June 9 - October 21, 2023
Illinois State Museum - Lockport Gallery
201 West 10th Street, Lockport, Illinois
Publication History
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Picturing the Prairie: A Vision of Restoration
Published in conjunction with Philip’s 2021 exhibition at the Chicago Botanic Garden. Contributors include: Philip Juras, artist and author; Hank Paulson, foreword; and Stephen Packard, essay. Published by Little Bluestem Press, Athens, GA, 2021.
