“McCarty-Tomlinson & Sherman,” August 13 through October 1

Exhibit: Thursday, August 13, through Thursday, October 1

Opening Reception: Thursday, August 13, 6 – 8 p.m.

Quad City Arts Center, 1715 Second Avenue, Rock Island IL

New works by a pair of gifted artists, working in vastly different mediums, will be on display at the Quad City Arts Center from August 13 through October, staffers at the Rock Island venue proud to house paintings by Colleen McCarty-Tomlinson and marbled-paper works by Connie Sherman.

In her Artist Statement, McCarty-Tomlinson asks: "How can contemporary art transform personal World War II letters into immersive installations that foster intergenerational empathy? Love from Howie reimagines wartime correspondence from my family and the broader community as shared spaces of collective memory. Throughout the series, handwriting is treated as a visual material whose physical mark carries emotional and historical presence. Paired with imagery as an equal visual element, it creates meaning that neither medium could communicate independently.

"My grandfather, Howard McCarty, served as a 2nd Lieutenant pilot with the Ninth Air Force during World War II. Two years into his service, engine failure forced him to crash-land his P-47 in occupied France. He survived, evaded capture, and eventually returned home. Working from approximately 300 wartime letters he sent to my grandmother, I select passages that best convey his lived experience. I treat handwritten text and imagery as equal compositional elements, enlarging fragments of letters to immerse viewers in the emotions and experiences they preserve.

"Building on my family's archive, community members were invited to contribute their own WWII letters, expanding the project into a collective exploration of memory. Through digital collage, these individual histories are woven into a shared visual narrative, extending the project from one family's story to a broader collective memory.

"Together, these works transform private correspondence into shared spaces of remembrance and dialogue. By pairing handwritten language with imagery, Love from Howie invites viewers to encounter history through personal voices, fostering empathy across generations while revealing how individual experiences shape our collective memory."

Sherman's biography, meanwhile, states: "After receiving her BFA from Metropolitan University of Denver, Connie Sherman spent many years as a professional photographer and frequently exhibited in Denver area galleries. In 2002, she moved back to the Midwest and began exploring a variety of art and craft forms; knitting, quilting, crochet, watercolor, paste paper, printmaking, sculptural books, mail art, jewelry, foil imaging, etc ... anything and everything was of interest.

"In 2016, she took a Paper Marbling workshop at Minnesota Center for Book Arts, and that was that. It’s all about the technique, colors, and both expected and unexpected outcomes! Works can be found in various galleries around the Midwest and local art fairs."

An opening reception for McCarty-Tomlinson & Sherman will be held on August 13 from 6 to 8 p.m., with patrons invited to enjoy refreshments and meet the artists. The exhibition itself will be on display through October 1, with regular gallery hours Mondays through Fridays from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., and Saturdays from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. For more information, call (309)793-1213 and visit QuadCityArts.com.