A gifted painter and Aledo, Illinois, native known for her beautiful and evocative figurative painting and printmaking will be celebrated in a new exhibit at the Figge Art Museum, with the Davenport venue, through May 8, housing Simple Pleasures: The Art of Doris Lee, the first major critical assessment of Lee’s superlative works.

A number of specific art forms blend in a new exhibition at St. Ambrose University as the Catich Gallery, through March 4, houses the works of Clifton Meador: Studio of Exhaustion, its creator a noted artist who combines writing, photography, printmaking, and design to make books that explore how the narratives of culture, history, and place are the basis for identity.

From January 21 through 30, the Center for Living Arts, the Penguin Project of the Quad Cities, and Augustana College's theatre department will team up to help turn kids into stage stars for the eagerly awaited family-musical presentation The Little Mermaid Jr. – a production based on Disney's Oscar-winning animated adventure, and a show that boasts a cast composed of talented youths with special needs.

An acclaimed author, public speaker, radio host, and former halfback for the Pittsburgh Steelers, Rocky Bleier takes the stage at the University of Dubuque's Heritage Center for the touring sensation The Play with Rocky Bleier, a special January 28 event in which the guest will take audiences from his early years through his professional career and talk about the lessons he learned along the way.