Art Walk at Indiana Dunes

Welcome to the home of Charles and Mathilda Nelson, whose history ties into the local Swedish immigrant farming community known as Baillytown. In the last two decades of the nineteenth century, Porter County housed the largest concentration of Swedish-born immigrants in the state. Charles emigrated from Sweden in 1869, the same year as the Chellberg family. He and Mathilda purchased the 80 acre site in 1887.

In 1891, they adopted two children from a local Swedish woman who could no longer care for them after her husband had died. That same year they contracted a local Swede to construct their brick home, the same builder that the Chellbergs used for their home across the street. After Charles died in 1912, he left the farm to his son Carl William, known as “Bill.” Bill, like his father, was very interested in local history.

Oral tradition indicates that Indigenous peoples, likely Pottawatomi, use to tap maple trees that grew on the property. By 1921, Bill was calling the farm “Sugar Bush,” and using the maple trees to make maple syrup. Much of the Nelson land couldn’t be used to grow crops because of the steep ravines on the property. The farm was reduced in size in the 1930s when US 20 cut through its southern half.

In the late 1940s, Bill held preliminary meetings in this home that led to the formation of the Duneland Historical Society, where he became first president upon its founding in 1948. The Treasurer was fellow Swede Margaret Larson of the nearby yellow Sears House on Oak Hill Road. In 1949 Bill wrote a historical report on the Bailly Cemetery, and he gave a history presentation at the site when the Bailly state historic marker was dedicated the following year.

Bill Nelson’s farm was down to 15 acres when he sold to Chicago architect Earl Reed Jr. in 1952. Earl had a wife Marion and two children. Bill continued living on the site, teaching the Reeds how to make maple syrup from the maple trees. He eventually moved into a nursing home and died in 1958. Earl was an avid historian and the son renowned artist and author Earl Howell Reed.

Earl senior wrote numerous books and produced countless etchings of scenes from Indiana Dunes in the early 20^th century. As an artist from Art Institute, Earl senior’s works introduced the Chicago literary and art world to Indiana Dunes. He was also involved in the efforts to establish a Sand Dunes National Park here in 1916. His son, Earl junior, who purchased this home, was a skilled architect who was also committed to historic preservation. He was an active member of the Duneland Historical Society and also served on the advisory board on national parks, historic sites, buildings, and monuments from 1957-1963.

Marion Reed was an artist and sculptor who was involved in the Chesterton Art scene, working early Chesterton Arts Fairs with Vin and Hazell Hannell. For the Chicago Century of Progress World’s fair in 1933, Marion helped create a sculpture for the garden area outside the Chyrsler building. Earl junior and Marion were also a members of the Save the Dunes council. In 1953 Earl gave a lecture slide at the nearby Dune Acres Club House titled “What We Save When We Save the Dunes.”

In 1954, he decorated the dining hall of the nearby Goodfellow Lodge with his father’s duneland etchings for a special Save the Dunes luncheon. Guests at the luncheon included Indiana Dunes State Park conservation champion Bess Sheehan, who was instrumental in getting State Park established. Also there, was the daughter of influential local scientist Henry Cowles. Throughout the 1950s, Earl wrote U.S. senators to urge the National Park Service to acquire the Bailly Homestead property. He also helped with the historical survey of the Bailly property that helped get the site listed as a National Historic Landmark in 1962.

According to Save the Dunes founder Dorothy Buell, Earl was influential in including the areas that became Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore; in 1963 he toured sites with Senator Paul Douglas that would later be included the compromise bill that led to the park in 1966.

We return to Central Ave. Beach at 7:00 AM and start working on larger paintings of the same scenes we worked on yesterday. The light is different today. Overcast changes everything. A storm blows in from the lake at noon. We set up our easels and work indoors in the afternoon. A tremendous storm blows up during the night. Brief heavy rain and wind. The weather can change quickly here. You really can't tell what to expect by how cloudy or clear it might be in the morning. As to what you'll have later in the day, you've got to be flexible in your painting plans.

Thanks to Mike in law enforcement. The gate at West Beach Pavilion was up today so I could paint on the east porch with a view of the pan. It's so pretty to see the water and reflections in front of the dune. Not a lot of wildlife spotting today, but the other day I saw a bird the shape of a swallow but very bright blue. Need to find out what he was painting. Today was very meditative, although there were lots of school kids on field trips to the dunes and beach. The dunes themselves were very incredibly peaceful, showing strength and solitude all at once. Such a quiet beauty.

This journal is filled with great information from previous artists and residents, many who have a gift for storytelling and writing. Since I have a gift for neither, I will be brief and just tell you some of my favourites. My suggestion would be to allow yourself time to become familiar with the park and all its diversity. There is so much to take in. I concentrated most of my time at the beaches because my interest was in the Lakeshore and the dunes. I completed several plain air pieces and small sketches before I had a clear idea of what I wanted to complete for my donated piece. I also have over 1000 photos to use as memory refreshers when I get back to my studio.

Set up the studio in my room. Most of my work takes place indoors because I need electricity. Started my first piece inspired by a stop on the tour on Monday. Lupin blooming against a fence, I can't remember where. Hopefully I'll figure it out and find it again later. Like 4 PMI drove down to the beach to dip my toes in Lake MI Big drama sky, poofy clouds, sunbeams. Love it here.

The Chellberg Farm is one of the few remaining intact representations of a unique Swedish immigrant community in northwestern Indiana known as Baillytown. The first Swedes came to the area beginning in the 1840s. They were recruited by Joseph Bailly’s son-in-law Joel Wicker, a wealthy Chicago businessman. He managed a nearby sawmill and employed Swedish immigrants. As they continued to work, they slowly earned enough money to be able to purchase land. By the 1880s, Baillytown and Porter County represented the largest concentration of Swedes in Indiana. The Swedish community thrived for decades, keeping Swedish customs and language integrated in the day-to-day activities of its members.

The Chellbergs moved to the area in 1869, and by 1874 they owned their 80 acre farm. Beginning with Anders and Johanna Kjellberg, three generations of Chellbergs lived here spanning over 100 years.

The Chellberg Barn is the oldest remaining building on the property. It was built around 1872 using wood from trees growing in the nearby ravine. Its heavy timber frame is held together by wooden pegs and mortise and tenon joints that display expert Swedish craftmanship. The barn is oriented in an east-west alignment to provide maximum sun on the structure, and on its roof is a vent known as a cupola. Raising the barn would have been a proud and exciting moment for the Chellbergs and an important event for the young Swedish community. In 1879 the farm had 30 chickens, 8 cattle, 2 sheep, 11 pigs, and 5 horses. They produced 100 bushels of Indian corn, 300 lbs of butter, and 50 dozen eggs. The nearby chicken coop and corn crib were at their present locations by 1879, however the corn crib was destroyed in the 1920s and rebuilt in the early 1940s. By 1880, the family had cleared 60 acres of their 80 acre plot. They were growing crops on 40 acres, had twenty acres of meadow, pasture, orchard or vineyard, 10 acres of woodland and 10 acres of unimproved land. The farm had quadrupled in value to $4,000 by 1880.

Overcast this morning but I decided to hike the Coles Bog Trail anyway. So glad I did. Saw a yellow warbler and common yellow throat and a young one within the first 5 minutes. Exciting. Got to the beach and painted for 2 1/2 hours until it started raining. The hike back was good. Beautiful terrain and a flock of cedar waxwings.

And so it begins, my first artist in residency. Day one as I cross into Indiana from Ohio, the sky turns to sunshine and I gain an hour nice welcome. Due to road work, I'm housed at the lovely Dunes Walk Inn, explored on my own and found such a perfect beach view. At Porter I started 3 pastels.

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Fall color has finally arrived at the Indiana Dunes and I think it's a you blink, you'll miss it kind of season this year. We've had so few sunny dry days lately, which makes for leaves that go from green to brown very quickly with very little color in between. Yesterday I hit some of my favorite leaf peeping spots. Furnaceville Rd., Camel Rd., The Calumet Trail near the Dune Park train station, and the 784 loop trail at the Indiana Dunes State Park. So beautiful right now. I hiked at Tolliston Dunes today. As usual, the understory is ablaze with Reds, oranges and yellows. My best find of the day though, wasn't any fall color. It was a healthy adult red shouldered hawk sitting on a branch of a tree right along the trail. It never moved from its perch as I shot pics of it from underneath. Lovely.

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What I call the yellow woods attached to Chchelburg Farm are starting to turn yellow, but they're not quite at their peak yet. Within the next few days, when the bright yellow leaves appear, I will go wandering through those woods with my jaw hanging open. It is my most favorite place in the whole park. In late October, I feel like I've stepped into a magical world of yellow, and the crunching sound beneath my feet completes the experience. What a finale performed by these woods each year. I wouldn't miss its color show for anything.

Check out day I am sad to leave. My experience at the residency went deeper than I anticipated and I experienced a feeling of onion layers falling away and reaching further into myself and it elevated my artwork further. 15 paintings, several of them painted during the golden hours before sunset with Beech views. Who doesn't love doing that uninterrupted?

The gravel road to the farmhouse follows the same route since its early period. The Chellbergs originally lived in a wooden house, but on a cold December night in 1884 it burned to the ground. The Chellbergs lost over 150 bushels of stored grain in the house as well as all of their personal belongings. The farmhouse was rebuilt the next year over the original cellar, but this time using red brick from the nearby brickyards in Porter. The bricks were made of glacial clay, similar to the soils around the farm. The Chellbergs spent the rest of that winter in their barn. The two-story wooden granary just north of the house was built shortly after the fire, so that their grains had a safer place for storage. While usually upgrading to a brick house was a display of wealth, this was more likely an attempt to guarantee that fire would not threaten the family again. Over the next few decades the family took out a series of mortgages to repay debts and make improvements on the property.

Charles, the second generation Chellberg to run the farm, married local Swede named Ottomina “Minnie” Peterson- renowned for her organization, cooking, and efforts to beautify the farmstead. She planted many trees around the house and down the lane to Mineral Springs Road, as well as tended gardens of vegetables and flowers.

I love it when people come up to me while I'm painting and start up a conversation. I mean, I really do like it. In fact, I actually paint better when I'm interacting with people on site. I think it has something to do with not wanting to disappoint them. It really makes me happy when someone comes up to take a look at my painting, probably thinking that grandpa has taken up a new hobby that's so sweet and seeing a painting that they think is really beautiful. They break into a big smile, which of course makes me smile. I don't know exactly when it happened, but slowly, day by day, the fragile beauty of this place seeps into your heart. I definitely plan to come back to paint on my own.

Dear artists, what an opportunity we've been given. I hope you will truly enjoy your stay like I have. Jeff said something to me during the tour that stuck with me and I want to share it here with you. Paint what inspires you. I've learned that makes for the best work. Paint from your heart, not your head. There are so many trails to hike and beaches to explore. There are bird watching platforms and rivers to canoe down, but don't put too much pressure on yourself. Take time to breathe and relax. Make a date with nature, find a bench, sit and close your eyes and listen to the sands Daydream. The artist and residency doesn't end when we leave the park. We will take it with us, so it's just the beginning of something new.

I've been thinking a lot lately about this Lacanian theory of image and desire. This idea that any representation is a fraction of the whole, leaving us to desire the actual, caused me to think about not what is lost or desired, but what is amplified. Think of a recipe that uses a little salt. If you want to express the experience of the salt, you can leave out all the other ingredients and your guests will only taste salt. As I walked around the park and looked experienced, I asked what I wanted to take out and what I wanted to amplify. As a result, I made three distinct groups of paintings, each making its own claim. I am primarily a sordid artist. I use my plain air paintings to inform my large studio paintings. On Monday I start a new chapter as a painter and teacher.

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The 12 paintings I made here in three groups will be the canvas of my next group of large studio works.

You are standing at the edge of a ravine carved by glacial meltwater over 10,000 years ago. Beginning in the early 1930s during the heart of the Great Depression, the Chellberg family began to make maple syrup. Before building this sugar camp, they collected sap and made syrup with rudimentary equipment for a few years. This structure was built between 1934 and 1935 by a relative’s construction crew and third generation Chellberg, Carl.

The blocks used to build this “sugar shack” were made in nearby Dune Acres using beach sand, pebbles and stones. If you look closely you can find flat skipping rocks and even crinoid fossils.

The sugaring operation here lasted about 15 years and involved tapping over 100 trees each year, mostly in the ravine. Holes were drilled, spigots were added and buckets were hung to collect the dripping sap. Buckets were poured into a barrel on a wagon or sled pulled by horses on the path here along the tree line. Sap was transferred to storage tanks on the platform outside the sugar shack, where a pipe brought it inside to a large evaporator pan over a woodburning brick oven. They made 55-60 gallons of syrup each year, which sold for as low as $2 a gallon to as much as $10 a gallon in 1948. This is equivalent to about $130 dollars in 2024.

I have found so much joy in looking closely at the world around me. It's hard to focus on my doubt if I'm interested in exploring and asking questions about what I find, and there is so much to explore here. I've also found that taking time to do art and time to just explore and observe has been helpful for me. I spent quite a few mornings working on painting and research and then hiking, taking reference photos and notes in the afternoon. Oh, and even on cloudy nights, the sunset is always worth catching.  All that to say, cultivating a sense of wonder and gratitude has been essential for me, both artistically and personally, and this is a wonderful place and time to practice that. I hope that all of the artists to come find a similar sense of wonder again. Most of all, I am truly so grateful to be here and grateful for everyone who made it possible.

Sarah suggested that I park at Central Ave. Beach and walk to Beverly Drive where the tree falls are in the Great Marsh. The place I most wanted to draw or paint. It was less than 1/4 mile from the parking lot to the marsh and I was overjoyed to be able to pull the wagon, bringing my lawn chair and drawing stuff as well as raincoat and plastic. After doing a lot of walking, making videos of a blue Heron, hunting with my phone and taking pictures, I settled at the edge of the first gravelly bridge to draw. Eventually it started sprinkling so I took a couple of photos to mark my place and covered everything with the plastic. It was very light, gentle rain, but was getting to be too much to draw. My ink was either not sticking or running, so I did some walking with the wagon, my rain jacket and hat and got some lovely photos of the marsh with a cloudy but interesting sky with some pinks near the horizon.

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I saw a blue Heron, egrets, dark colored ducks, woodpeckers, and either a Beaver or a muskrat.

My time at Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore has been a series of wondrous encounters with the natural world. While hiking the Great Marsh, I saw red headed woodpeckers of which I have never seen until now. I also had the opportunity to observe several Ruby throated hummingbirds. They were perched and concentrated in one area which offered me an up close view of them for up to 20 minutes. I saw them preening, stretching and getting into small territorial fights with one another. It certainly was easy to be an artist here. With so much inspiration to draw from. I marvelled in exploring new habitats for me like black oak Savannah and the dunes. I am deeply grateful for this experience to be rejuvenated and filled with wonder through the natural world. I have a deep respect for the people who have and still are fighting for and protecting this precious landscape. I will certainly be back to visit. Thank you.

Each morning I decided a location of the park to explore. It usually involved several of the following activities. Plain air painting, nature illustrating. I did this at the house using photos or specimens. Hiking trails, taking photos for reference. Taking a dip in the lake water. Felt great and just taking time to enjoy the beauty and nature of this place. Also glad I brought my bike, there are some nice bike paths and roads with little car traffic and it's a great way to view areas of the park.  Being mostly a studio painter, I've had limited experience plain air painting. I absolutely love a well done plain air. Can't say I achieved total success but I definitely feel more confidence and was able to work through some problem areas. Hopefully this experience will carry on when I return home.

Welcome to the historic Bailly Homestead. The collection five buildings before you represent the historic core of the nineteenth century homestead. Structures built of hand-hewn logs harken back to a time of the state’s earliest days. French-Canadian fur trader Joseph Bailly from Mackinac Island moved to this site by 1824. Accompanying him were five children and his wife Marie who was said to be part Odawa and part French. This area was chosen because of its proximity to the Little Calumet River and two important regional Indigenous trails that would become some of the area’s first roads. The homestead Joseph built was one of only a few stops for travelers along the early road from Detroit to present day Chicago. This site facilitated early commerce and cultural exchange with Indigenous communities. After Joseph’s death in 1835, his descendants altered the buildings and landscape through 1917 when his granddaughter Frances Howe died. The property went through a series of subsequent owners that modified features of the property until acquisition by the NPS in 1971. Many aspects of the current Bailly Homestead resemble the property during the lifetime of granddaughter Frances Howe. Frances made extensive repairs and upgrades to the property from 1896 to 1904.

The main house was built of large hewn logs covered with weatherboards between 1834-1835. A major remodeling project took place between around 1896 to 1904 that added late Victorian / Eastlake style elements. This included the brick wall beneath the front porch, installed by Charles Nelson of the farmstead across the road from the Chellbergs. Charles was said to have had to tear it up three times and relay it before Frances Howe was satisfied.

To the north of the main house is a red brick house. This two-story was built around 1875 to serve as a kitchen and studio for Rose Bailly Howe, Joseph’s daughter. It was originally connected to the back of the main house, but was moved away to its current site in 1904. That year, Caretaker Peter Larson and his family moved in. In the early 1910s, the Larson family moved to the nearby yellow Sears House on Howe Road. His daughter, Margaret, also worked at the homestead and lived to be very old. She was a valuable source of information about the Bailly Homestead in later years, providing oral history to the park beginning with interviews in the 1970s.

To the south of the main house is a log building known as the Chapel. The chapel was originally two stories tall when first constructed in the 1820s or 30s. Both Joseph and Marie are said to have died in the building. It was transformed into a one story log chapel shortly after the death of Marie Bailly in 1869. Around 1900, the building was moved several yards to the north and a large external fireplace was replaced with an architectural recess known as an apse.

Next to the Chapel is a tall log building called the Two story log house. It was built around 1900 from the salvaged logs of two older buildings to serve as what Frances Howe called a “landscape companion” to the Chapel. In 1904, it was described as a Coachman’s house by local historian and Swede Bill Nelson.

Across from the Chapel is the storehouse. The Storehouse is a small one story log building built for Joseph bailly before his death in 1835, said to have been used as a storage building for Potawatomi when they made their annual winter trip to the Kankakee river. It was originally taller with less pitch to the roof, but was rebuilt to its current configuration sometime between 1890 and 1907. Frances Howe used it as a chicken house.

It was my first experience of participating in an artist and residence program, and I thoroughly enjoyed two weeks exploring dunes and parks along Lake MI. My goal was to produce at least one painting a day, primarily in oil. Although I brought pastel and watercolors, I did not have a chance to use those. It was very clear in hot days except for one day with a little bit of rain in the morning and a few days of night rain to cool off. This was my first time seriously painting beaches and vegetation along the lake and certainly it was challenging, but I learned a great deal from 2 weeks painting. Again, it was a great experience and I feel honored to have been selected and invited to spend 2 weeks. Thank you everyone who helped me.

Still spring today, sunny, clear and almost 85 heading for the World's Fair houses in Beverly Shores. Packed my lunch for a long day, glorious. Parked Van Gogh, go my Mini and headed for, of course, the pink house. The small canvas was promising. The architecture needs careful attention, so does the pink shade. Confident to start a large canvas. Nice and colorful. Rewarded myself with lunch on my beach towel.

Hello fellow artists, this is my sixth artist's residency through the National Park Service. I am so excited to be here. I arrived today. Ranger Jeff took me on a driving tour of the eastern side of the park. It is amazing how fragmented it is sprinkled between steel mills. What a juxtaposition. Seeing the houses from the 1933 World's Fair was spectacular. Such an interesting story. I started to paint the Bailey House, it has a ton of detail and I'm working big so this is going to take a while. I hiked Cole's bog, it is so beautiful but the dunes at the end right before the beach are huge. Totally worth it though, a great workout and wild blackberries everywhere.

Take time for rest and relaxation. Absorb the landscape and the culture. The artistic community here has surprised me. Paint your butt off and enjoy yourself. This place is wild and weird.