In March, about 30 participants in the Chicago chapter of the artist network Urban Sketchers visited Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory, located in west Chicagoland, and sketched their hearts out. They drew buildings, interiors and scenes of nature from the laboratory environment, capturing the laboratory's most iconic building, Wilson Hall, along with restored prairie land and the popular bison herd on site.

Urban Sketchers holds monthly “sketch crawls,” as they’re called. Their mission is to “show the world, one drawing at a time.”

Sketcher Harold Goldfus drew scenes of art and architecture.

“I regard myself as primarily a figurative artist. At the Urban Sketchers Chicago outing, I expected to sketch figures at Fermilab with hints of the environment in the background,” Goldfus said. “Instead, I found myself taken with the architecture and aesthetics of the interior of Wilson Hall, and decided on a more unconventional approach.”

The sketch crawl was organized by Peggy Condon and Wes Douglas from Urban Sketchers Chicago along with Fermilab Art Gallery curator Georgia Schwender.

“I was very inspired by Fermilab’s strong commitment to the arts. I didn’t expect this for a world-renowned scientific research institution,” said sketcher Lynne Fairchild. “I really appreciated that they found so many ways to honor the arts and culture: the art gallery, lecture series, the awe-inspiring sculptures on the campus, and the design of Wilson Hall, especially the beauty of the atrium.”

Editor's note: Fermilab previously posted a version of this article.