Mellow yellow 'Golden Opportunity' art exhibition opens Oct. 15 at Four Rivers

Color-themed works of art will be featured in the ‘Golden Opportunity: Botanical Illustration” exhibition coming to Four Rivers Environmental Education Center in Channahon on Oct. 15. Left: Marjorie Leggitt, Solanum lycopersicum, 2020, mixed media. Right: Michael Campbell, Helianthus annuus, 2010, colored pencil. (Photos courtesy of Denver Botanic Gardens)

If you’ve been following the programming offered at Four Rivers Environmental Education Center this year you might have noticed a common theme: color.

The Rivers of Color series was a prelude to a free art exhibition, “Golden Opportunity: Botanical Illustration,” which opens Sunday Oct. 15 and runs through Saturday, Dec. 30, at Four Rivers in Channahon.

The bilingual exhibit will explore the world of yellow plants and pigments through illustrations created by students and faculty of Denver Botanic Gardens’ School of Botanical Art & Illustration. The artists used colored pencil, watercolor, graphite, mixed media and ink to call attention to the variety of yellow plants that surround us and how they can be used to create dyes.

Exhibition hours are 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Tuesdays through Saturdays and noon to 4 p.m. Sundays. Exhibition hours will be extended to 6 p.m. on Nov. 2 and Dec. 16 and to 6:30 p.m. on Dec. 14 for special “After Hours” viewings for those who can’t visit during regular hours.

“The exhibition leads visitors to examine some wonderful works of art depicting the color yellow in various natural forms and seeks to teach about the source of that color,” said Jerome Gabriel, the Forest Preserve District of Will County’s facility supervisor at Four Rivers. “Visitors can learn about the plant sources that supply many of the natural yellow pigments through six pigment displays highlighting a variety of plant materials and examples of their use in dyes.”

For those who would like to try their own hand at dye-making, the Four Rivers gift shop will have a limited supply of natural dye-making kits. And a limited number of prints by a local photographer will be available for those who would like a yellow keepsake.

The exhibit is brought to the Forest Preserve District through funding by The Nature Foundation of Will County, willcountynature.org.

Complementary Rivers of Color programs will continue through the end of the year. The programs are listed on the Forest Preserve District’s Event Calendar at ReconnectWithNature.org.