On November 25, 1872, Rock Island became the first city in Illinois to open a public library. The library was housed in Room 17 of the Post Office Building, located northwest of Second Avenue and 17th Street. The room was rented for $25 a month.

With her latest exhibition showcasing more than a dozen new works, one of them an installation created specifically for its Davenport venue, noted area artist and professor Zaiga Minka Thorson is the invited guest at the Figge Art Museum's February 2 artist talk, during which the longtime Black Hawk College instructor will discuss the pieces on display in her collection Storms & Silver Linings.

Fascinating, colorful, and occasionally very tall works by a trio of Midwestern artists are currently on display at the Quad City Arts International Airport Gallery, with the Moline airport, through February 28, hosting Bowden, Moyer, & Smith: a collection of acrylic paintings by James Bowden of Peotone, Illinois, steel sculptures by Matt Moyer of Columbia, Missouri, and mixed-media paintings by Corrine Smith of Rock Island, Illinois.

If you find yourself already exhausted by the bitter temperatures of winter, consider a visit to the University of Dubuque's Bisignano Art Gallery from now through January 27, when the warm venue will be celebrating the incipient arrival of another season in Hint of Spring: Photos by Chuck Isenhart, Gerald Podraza, & Debra Runkle.