Offered in conjunction with the Art Bridges Collection Loan Partnership, an innovative art lending model of displaying outstanding works of American art from the Joslyn Art Museum, the Figge Art Museum's lecture Manierre Dawson: Cubist or Civil Engineer? will be presented on July 27, with Dr. Randy J. Ploog exploring the art, life, and civil-engineering curriculum of the noted abstract painter and sculptor.

Disparate works by a trio of intensely gifted artists will be collectively showcased in the newest Quad City Arts exhibition at the Quad City International Airport Gallery, with the Moline airport, through August 29, boasting paper sculpture by Jocelyn Châteauvert of Mount Vernon, Iowa, landscape paintings by Douglas Johnson of Normal, Illinois, and oil paintings by Barbara Basia Krol of Galesburg, Illinois.

Agatha Beiderbecke asked a close family friend, Albert Petersen, to listen to her seven-year-old son play the piano. According to the biography Bix, Man and Legend, Petersen could hardly contain his enthusiasm. “Agatha, this boy has something.” He said. “Keep me informed about his progress – and whatever you do, get him some piano lessons.” One might expect a friend – and her cousin’s husband – to be encouraging. But Petersen was also one of Davenport’s leading musicians, bandleaders, and teachers. He also began his career in music at a young age.

Insight into the iconic cartoonist responsible for Charlie Brown, Lucy Van Pelt, Snoopy, and the rest of the lovable Peanuts gang will be offered in a special Figge Art Museum program on July 13, with the Davenport venue celebrating its current exhibit The Life & Art of Charles M. Schulz with a Curator Talk featuring Benjamin Clark, curator at the Charles M. Schulz Museum & Research Center in Santa Rosa, California.