The skeleton is now covered in glass that sometimes looks green and sometimes looks blue, depending on the light. That skin matches the accents on Davenport's new parking garages, and the building itself - while monumental - currently appears closer to that aesthetic than art - boxy and blank.
Recently, at dinner with some Quad Cities politicians and lobbyists, I was asked to name the "best" local artists. Feeling put on the spot, I waxed regal about the subjectivity of art and how critical acclaim and commercial success are but two measures of artistic achievement.

Mystery Box

For his current art exhibition, Felix Morelo started small, creating intricate painted boxes that can fit in one's hands. One wall of the Peanut Gallery is covered with them. But as intriguing as these works are, Morelo was unhappy with them.
Connie Gibbons' office at DavenportOne is small to begin with, but it's positively cramped now, with boards and papers showing layouts, logos, and artist renderings of the River Music Experience, set to open June 11 next year across the street, in the Redstone building on Second Street between Main and Brady in downtown Davenport.
The steel that's rising from the ground along River Driver between Harrison and Main streets in Davenport is the physical skeleton of the $34.4-million Figge Arts Center, but it also stands as a symbol of a new framework for doing business for the Davenport Museum of Art (DMA).
Artist Les Bell has a document from September 1999 that lists artists' complaints about the Davenport Museum of Art (DMA). They include the museum not publishing its mission statement, not welcoming local artists, and not making studio visits.
Ghostlight Theatre can thank World War II, at least in part, for the patronage of Dr. Walter E. Neiswanger. The theatre company's upcoming production of Das Barbecü will happen largely because of Neiswanger.
The Illinois Arts Council, along with teachers and artists from around the state, celebrated the completion of the second year of the Illinois Mississippi River Valley Project with a festival weekend August 15 through 17 in Galena, Illinois.
What had been MidCoast's Pastel Exhibition & Competition has been transformed through addition into something altogether different: a multifaceted arts-in-education event for teens that creates a link to workforce development and retention.
Photos by Brian Barkley Seven new sculptures have popped up in downtown Davenport, the result of the second Sculpture on Second project of DavenportOne. The organization is also developing a brochure for a walking tour.

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