Owner and operator Hiram Toraason led us on a short tour of his gallery, which contained exquisite and unique glass art works.
He then spent over an hour demonstrating and explaining the techniques of working with 2,000-degree molten glass as he created a one-of-a-kind work of art.
It was an amazing experience and OLLI would like to thank Hiram for taking the time to share his passion and creativity with us.
Dining Services Director Ron Gibson, who once headed the food service staff at Bradley, was our host as we toured the kitchen and met the staff who plans meals, orders food, and coordinates staffing to ensure the residents at Proctor Place have a wide variety of dining options available.
We toured outside area to view the grounds, especially the garden, which gives the kitchen access to home grown vegetables.
The kitchen staff treated OLLI to ice cream sundaes as we listened to Gibson discuss upcoming plans.
OLLI would like to thank Ron Gibson and his staff for giving us the behind-the-scenes tour at Proctor Place Dining.
On this trip we had our own naturalist who guided our hike and pointed out the wide variety species in various stages. We saw evidence of the spring floods as we hiked through the gorgeous forested bluffs of the Illinois River.
After our hike we enjoyed a delicious picnic lunch catered by Cracked Pepper. OLLI thanks the staff at Forest Park Nature Center for such a great day!
Jean Gronewold, a painter, teacher and frequent OLLI instructor joined us for the day. She gave us a preview of what to look for in the special exhibit "Impressionism, Fashion, and Modernity" as well as the "Tomoaki Suzuki Sculptures."
OLLI members began their day at the museum with a keynote lecture where they learned even more about the feature exhibit "Impressionism, Fashion, and Modernity". They spent the rest of the day on their own enjoying informal gallery talks, self-guided audio tours, as well as artist demonstrations and other mini-lectures.
OLLI spent a wonderful day admiring the collection of the second largest art museum in the the United States. OLLI would like to thank Jean Gronewold for joining us and sharing her expertise.
