Thursday, November 1, through Monday, December 31
Quad City Arts International Airport Gallery, 2200 69th Avenue, Moline IL
The disparate artistic mediums of painting, woodwork, and blown glass will be showcased November 1 through December 31 at the Quad City Arts International Airport Gallery, with four exhibitions blending as one via new works by Pam Ohnemus, Sri Rao, and artisans from Quad City Woodturners and the Davenport studio Hot Glass Inc.
A nataive Canadian currently living in Davenport, Ohnemus frequently depicts the tall grass prairie, showing different colors and perspectives of the plant life that can be observed with her acrylic paintings. As she explains in her PamOhnemus.com Artist Statement: “The natural landscape has always been a powerful focus of my work. Currently, I am conducting on-site research at local prairies, depicting the landscape in paint. Prairies have been reduced to isolated fragments that require conservation and preservation. Less than one-percent of the pre-settlement tall grass prairie remains.
“Macro and microenvironments fill my paintings,” she continues, “engaging the viewer in their detail. Even while painting tranquil scenes, I achieve active color sensations by layering color over complementary underpaintings. My paintings express delicate sensations through subtle texture and natural pattern. The tall grass prairie is an irreplaceable tapestry of plant and animal life. I paint dynamic compositions of Midwest prairie remnants so that the viewer can appreciate and see the need of their preservation before they are lost forever.”
Also featured in the airport's latest exhibition are paintings by Iowa City artist Rao, who captures the complex beauty of Iowa landscapes through his acrylic compositions. As she writes in her own online biography at SriWatercolors.com: “Brilliant colors enhance the feeling of happiness, joy, and appreciation of beauty in life. I have constantly experimented with various mediums to learn and enjoy the different combinations of what can be created. I am inspired by colors and composition. Beauty is the inspiration for my work and floral compositions interest me at the moment.”
Gallery patrons can also enjoy the works of numerous artists from the Quad City Wooturners and Hot Glass. The Wooturners are a group of wood workers from eastern Iowa and northwestern Illinois who create a variety of unique objects through the process of woodturning, and meet in Rock Island on a monthly basis to share ideas and projects. (More information on the organization is available at QCWoodturners.org.) And Hot Glass Inc. is a Davenport studio, conceived and facilitated by Joel Ryser, that offers a unique model for using art as a means for intervention with at-risk youth and veterans dealing with PTSD. At Hot Glass, students develop essential skills including teamwork, communication, planning and decision making, as well as specific job-related applications, and the displayed work is the result of teamwork of students and professionals. (For more on the studio, visit HotGlassArt.org.)
The Quad City International Airport Gallery is located opposite the airport's gift shop and restaurant, there is a $1 fee for parking, and more information on the November 1 through December 31 Ohnemus, Rao, Quad City Woodturners, and Hot Glass exhibits is available by calling (309)793-1213 extension 108 or visiting QuadCityArts.com.
