GARY, Indiana — A small, speedy resident of Indiana Dunes National Park is getting an unlikely turn in the spotlight: an afternoon art class built around the six-lined racerunner, a native lizard that can be easy to miss unless a visitor is looking closely.
Indiana Dunes National Park’s Art in the Park session is scheduled for September 12 from 1 to 3 p.m. at the Paul H. Douglas Center for Environmental Education in Gary. The program, hosted with the Art Barn School of Art in Valparaiso, welcomes every skill level and is designed to be accessible to people with physical limitations, according to the National Park Service.
The day’s painting theme is the racerunner. The park describes the six-lined racerunner as a native lizard with a lightning-fast reputation — the kind of neighbor that rewards a slow walk, a patient eye and perhaps a sketchbook.
Instructor Dori Huber is slated to guide participants through painting a scene inspired by the park. The appeal is wonderfully straightforward: a family can spend an afternoon making something together while paying closer attention to the living details of a familiar landscape.
That connection between art and observation is the point. A painting session does not need to turn anyone into a naturalist or a professional artist. It can simply create space to notice the colors in dune grass, the texture of sand and the remarkable small creatures that share the shoreline.
The class costs $25 per person and is open to all ages. The Paul H. Douglas Center itself is free to enter, and the park notes that a park pass is not required for this indoor program. Registration details are available through the event listing.
It is a modest invitation with a generous payoff: bring a willingness to look closely, leave with a painting, and let a small native lizard make the dunes feel a little more personal.