Keith Kaziak and Elaine Rexdale Exhibitions at the Quad City Arts Center -- through March 19 ("Beauty Shop" artwork by Rexdale).
Through Friday, March 19
Quad City Arts Center, 1715 Second Avenue, Rock Island IL
Colorful paintings and fascinating installations will be showcased in the first 2021 exhibitions at the Quad City Arts Center, with the Rock Island venue, through March 19, housing installations by Wisconsin artist Keith Kaziak in Turn on the News and paintings by Rock Island native Elaine Rexdale in Machinations of a Colorholic.
A sculptor and mixed-media installation artist, Kaziak received his BFA (with a sculpture emphasis) from the University of Minnesota-Twin Cities in 2004, and is currently pursuing an MFA degree at the University of Wisconsin-Madison as an Interdisciplinary Artist Research Cohort Fellow. He serves on the board of the Stevens Point Sculpture Park, and as a sculptor and iron caster, has organized and participated in numerous iron pours throughout the Midwest. Kaziak has also participated and exhibited at the International Conference on Contemporary Cast Iron Art (Ironbridge, England) and at the National Conference on Contemporary Cast Iron Art and Practices (Sloss Furnaces, Birmingham, Alabama). The artist actively exhibits his work nationally and overseas, including most recently at The Phipps Center for the Arts in Hudson, Wisconsin; The Pool Art Center Gallery at Springfield, Missouri's Drury University; and at the Quarter Gallery at the University of Minnesota. Kaziak's recent awards include a Creative Dissemination Award, UW-Stevens Point Office of Research and Sponsored Programs (2019) and the Interdisciplinary Artist Research Cohort Fellowship, UW-Madison School of Education and the Department of Art (2019-2022).
Born and raised in Rock Island, Rexdale officially began her love affair with painting by secretly responding to a "Draw Me" newspaper ad when she was nine years old, and says that her 35-year involvement in early childhood education has probably influenced her art more than any other experience. The morning painting sessions begin with fresh coffee followed by bold lines and intense colors on the canvas, and she uses black and white sparingly as highlights, then adds free-movement brush strokes and detail as appropriate. Rexdale states that she has no favorite tools, and that everything is a possibility to use to create a painting. Sometimes she follows artistic rules, and sometimes she breaks the rules, but she always does what the canvas asks to create a story or feeling. Rexdale has participated in multiple juried group exhibition as well as several solo art exhibits, and her works are regularly exhibited throughout the Midwest and held in private collections in 12 U.S. states.
Regular Quad City Arts Center gallery hours are 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Mondays through Fridays and 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Saturdays. Admission is free, and more information on the Keith Kaziak and Elaine Rexdale exhibitions on display through March 19 is available by calling (309)793-1213 or visiting QuadCityArts.com.
