Water(color) for the Soul 2025

Returning by popular demand, Black Moon Trio guides Veterans from the Captain James A. Lovell Federal Health Care Center and We Serve: Special Recreation Association for Central Lake County to create and perform their very own musical compositions.

Using resources from Brushwood Center’s At Ease and Art Supply Exchange programs, Veterans participate in a six-week graphic score and poetry composition residency culminating in the creation of 20 original pieces of music performed and recorded by professional musicians. Black Moon Trio is honored to again be joined by world-renowned botanical artist, Heeyoung Kim and members of her Botanical Art Academy to showcase watercolor painting methods and techniques. Poet and creativity expert Kathryn Haydon also joins the team as her collection of poetry, Unsalted Blue Sunrise: Poems of Lake Michigan, provides the thematic framework for Veterans to compose works about their connections to our freshwater treasure as well as their connections to each other.

This program has been generously funded by the National Endowment for the Arts' Creative Forces initiative.

This program generously funded by

participant gallery

Below is the collection of works created by Veteran participants of Water(color) for the Soul: Music of Lake Michigan.

Each piece can be enlarged by clicking on it. All pieces were recorded live at Brushwood Center on February 14, 2025.

Read the Program Notes Here

In the Winter by Evelyn Adams

00:00 / 02:57

Sail Racing by Jan Billings

00:00 / 03:44

Waves by Jes Klinge

00:00 / 03:20

The Chicago Siren by Anna Nothnagel

00:00 / 03:35

Friends Lost by Larry "Pie" Piemontese

00:00 / 04:09

My Gift by Beverly Rivera

00:00 / 03:30

Weather by Gary Andre

00:00 / 03:00

Waves by Barbara Kaplan

00:00 / 03:11

Roadtrip by Angelique Lawyer

00:00 / 03:19

Seek Joy by Claudia Piemontese

00:00 / 03:42

Dream Big by Joanna Rakowski

00:00 / 04:38

collaborators

Cptn. James A. Lovell

Federal Health Care Center

Our hospital provides primary care and specialty health services, including mental health care, women’s health services, treatment for post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), foot care (podiatry), vision care (optometry, ophthalmology, and cataract surgery), orthopedics, and more. Below, you’ll find our address and hours, parking and transportation information, and the other health services we offer at our Captain James A. Lovell Federal Health Care Center at the Great Lakes Naval Station in North Chicago.

Learn More

Brushwood Center

Brushwood Center at Ryerson Woods works collaboratively with community partners, artists, health care providers, and scientists to improve health equity and access to nature in Lake County, Illinois, and the Chicago region. We engage people with the outdoors through the arts, environmental education, and community action. Brushwood Center’s programs focus on youth, families, Military Veterans, and those facing racial and economic injustices.

Learn More

Kathryn Haydon

Kathryn P. Haydon is an award-winning poet and the current poet-in-residence at Brushwood Center at Ryerson Woods. Her haiku and poetry have been published internationally in leading journals such as The Heron’s Nest, humana obscura, Wales Haiku Journal, Presence, and many others. Kathryn’s most recent poetry collection, Unsalted Blue Sunrise, was written on the bluffs overlooking Lake Michigan over the course of 365 daily walks to the shore.

Learn More

Heeyoung Kim

Wildflower painter, Heeyoung Kim, documents native plants of Midwestern prairies and woods. Rare and endangered ones are in her priority as plant population is rapidly decreasing globally. She creates detailed portrayals of each plant and its life cycle through keen observation and broad research throughout its growing seasons in natural habitats. Her paintings and drawings are distinguished with scientific accuracy, authentic composition, and masterful rendering of the medium. She has been building up a digital image bank with her artworks in Project 200. She set a goal to paint 200 native species and hope her art would be used for educating the public about native plants and nature conservation.

Learn More