Lori Indovina-Valus has pursued art, in one form or another, her entire life. And now she is sharing that passion with residents in and around Des Plaines. The Des Plaines History Center is hosting an artist’s open house from 5 to 8 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 24, at 781 Pearson St. Light refreshments will be served.

“My dad had a cottage in Michiana, two blocks from Lake Michigan,” Indovina-Valus said. “Nature was the lake and the woods and the animals and the berries and the wildflowers and everything. … When I retired, I decided to concentrate on watercolors because I always liked how it looked.”

And it was that love of the outdoors that led her to embrace nature photography and art. She likes that organic element, the transition of an idea from a pencil sketch or ancillary photograph into a finished work – many of which she has entered in shows