Magical is the word often used by those familiar with the Ragdale Foundation to describe the effect the peaceful artists’ community has on visitors and those fortunate and talented enough to stay for a while.
“There’s something magical about it here,” said Judy Nelson of Lake Forest, a teacher at the foundation.
“Once you take a (workshop) here, or once you visit, you want to come back.”
“Just being here (makes) you feel as if some of the magic invades you,” said Judy Hueter, a docent from Lake Forest.
The women spoke during a recent tour of the non-profit Ragdale Foundation, the nation’s fourth-largest artists’ community. More than 30 people turned out for a 90-minute tour.
The Ragdale House, built in the English Arts and Crafts style, was named to signify its “back-to-basics” simplicity.
The neat buildings that serve as housing and studios for resident artists are nestled on 55 acres off Green Bay Road near downtown Lake Forest.
Two of the buildings are on the National Register of Historic Places.
Constructed in 1897 as a summer home by Chicago architect Howard Van Doren Shaw, the timbered stucco house sits on a hill to catch breezes from one of the last sections of virgin prairie in Illinois.
Outside, over the song of the cicadas and the bubbling of the one-of-a-kind Shaw fountain, docents describe statuary, explain architectural detail, including Shaw’s signature “Ragdale blue” accent paint, and tell stories about the children who once played here.
Inside the wood-paneled main house, decorated in the Arts and Crafts style, and cool despite the lack of air-conditioning, guides point out paintings and other artwork created by members of the talented Shaw family.
The Ragdale buildings and gardens are on five acres owned by the City of Lake Forest that was donated in 1986 by Shaw’s granddaughter, poet Alice Judson Hayes.
Hayes, who founded the artists’ retreat in 1976 and still spends summers here, donated the remaining 50 acres of prairie to the Lake Forest Open Lands Association.
Hayes’ mother, Sylvia Shaw, was a well-known sculptor and her work, including the “Bird Girl” statue, is displayed about the grounds.
Today, the 150 artists-in-residence who visit in groups of 12, arrive from all over the world to write, paint or compose, said Sylvia Brown, the foundation’s marketing and programming director.
Some well-known writers who have been to Ragdale include Jacquelyn Mitchard, Jane Hamilton and Alex Kotlowitz.
The Ragdale Foundation is at 1260 N. Green Bay Rd. Tours begin at 10 a.m. each Wednesday through Sept. 2. Reservations are required and admission is $5. Call 847-234-1063.
