Maquoketa Art Experience will display all paintings and drawings that artists create of scenes along the Grant Wood Scenic Byway and will host a landscape painting workshop focusing on the region presented by renowned pastel artist Ellen Wagener.

Maquoketa , Iowa, July 30, 2010: In conjunction with the return of Ellen Wagener for a weekend landscape workshop, Maquoketa Art Experience (MAE) announces an upcoming exhibition that will consist of paintings and drawings that depict scenes along and near the Grant Wood Scenic Byway.

Exhibition Dates: August 23rd through September 19th, 2010

Location: Maquoketa Art Experience Studio and Gallery, 124 S. Main Street , Maquoketa , IA 52060

Hours: Monday-Thursday: 11-5pm, Friday-Saturday: 11-7pm, Sunday: 12-5pm

Workshop Dates: August 20th, 21st & 22nd, 2010

Location: Maquoketa Art Experience Studio and Gallery, 124 S. Main Street , Maquoketa , IA 52060

Cost: $295 for the weekend, $95 for Saturday the 21st at Tabor Home Winery.

For more information or to register: Call 563-652-9925.

Workshop deposits can be mailed to PO Box 993 , Maquoketa , IA 52060 .

The Grant Wood Scenic Byway Landscape Show will be on display from August 23rd through September 19th in the spacious galleries of Maquoketa Art Experience on Main St. in downtown Maquoketa.  Any and all artists are invited to tour and paint along the Byway from Stone City, the home of Grant Wood's summer art colony, through Anamosa, Maquoketa, the Maquoketa Caves, through Andrew, then Springbrook, and on to the beautiful Mississippi River views at Bellevue.  Paintings depicting scenes along and near the Byway can be brought to Maquoketa Art Experience at the close of Ellen Wagener's landscape workshop, from 5 to 8pm on August 22nd.  Artists, who cannot deliver their works at that time, can call MAE at 563-652-9925 to make arrangements for delivery prior to that time.  Owners of original paintings that show scenes from and near the Byway can also place those works on display.

A map of the Byway is available online at http://www.byways.org/explore/byways/2183.

The paintings and drawings that are brought in for the exhibition do not have to be for sale, but a sales price can be listed if the artist so chooses.  Maquoketa Art Experience will take a 25% commission on any sales.  Only original paintings and drawing will be accepted.  No photography and no prints/reproductions will be accepted for the show.

Ellen Wagener's summer landscape workshop is the third of four seasonal workshops offered by MAE focusing on the natural resources and beauty of Eastern Iowa .  Dewitt native Ellen Wagener is best known for her large pastel landscape paintings of Iowa and Arizona , her new home.  She returns for a second year to MAE to share her masterful skill of the basics and fundamentals of pastel painting, focusing on working processes including sketching, idea-generation, composition, and color palettes.  Special emphasis for this workshop will be given to pastel techniques in the creation of cloudscapes and attention to atmospheric conditions leading up to a final composition.  All of the painting outings will occur along and near the Grant Wood Scenic Byway.

This three-day workshop is well suited for both beginning artists and "seasoned masters" and will also include an optional bonus afternoon on Thursday, August 19, to join Ellen in a trip to the Cedar Rapids Museum of Art's Marvin Cone exhibit, "The Sky's the Limit".  This thirty-work exhibition, tracing Cone's work from the 1910s to the 1940s, will be used later in the workshop to explore and discuss the many ways and styles that Cone used to capture the majestic power of "cloudscapes" and his fascination with the sky that is portrayed in his paintings.  A trip to the studio of Grant Wood, Turner Alley, and dinner in Cedar Rapids will also follow.

In addition, artists who cannot attend the entire weekend workshop are invited to sign up for a single day, Saturday, August 21st.  From 9am to 5pm a plein air painting outing led by Wagener will be held at nearby Tabor Home Winery.  The fee for this single day is $95.

Participants in last summer's first annual MAE Ellen Wagener workshop had this to say:

• "She (Ellen) is an excellent teacher. She is unusually willing to be open and sharing with all her techniques and methods that she has worked out for herself over a long period of time...To be able to interact with artists at (her) level of achievement is a real privilege."  - Marcia W.

• "As an attendee at the Maquoketa Art Experience Workshop...The learning experiences were interspersed with opportunities abounding for participants to expand their horizons.  It was a truly worthwhile encounter."  - Grace Z.

• "The (Maquoketa) Art Experience is a great space for a workshop, and you are most fortunate to have artists of such high caliber and skill to be working in your area - it is indeed exciting."  - Linda F.

Biographic Information:

Ellen Wagener received her B.F.A. from the Corcoran School of Art in Washington , D.C. in 1989.  Her work has been exhibited in numerous galleries and museums including the Des Moines Art Center , Phoenix Art Museum , Tucson Museum of Art, Cedar Rapids Museum of Art, and Art in Embassies, Vilinus , Latvia , and J. Cacciola Gallery, New York City.  Her work can be found in many private and public collections, such as the Figge Art Museum , Davenport , Iowa , Tucson Museum of Art, MasterCard Corporation, New York City , and Iowa State University , Ames , Iowa .

Weatherization and Energy Efficiency Seminar for Owners of Historic Buildings Slated for Aug. 21

Learn to balance the unique features of a historic building with the needs to be energy efficient by attending Weatherization and Energy Efficiency Tactics for Historic Structures: Solutions for Homes, Offices, Commercial and Institutional Buildings, sponsored by the City of Rock Island and the Rock Island Preservation Commission.

On Saturday, August 21, four sessions will be offered in two concurrent tracks: one for single-family homes and another for office/commercial and institutional buildings. The 45-minute sessions will each be presented twice, targeted to the two different types of building owners. The beautiful and historic Quarters One on Arsenal Island will be the seminar location.

Bob Yapp, a national leader in historic preservation education, will present "Old Windows Aren't A Pane, They're Green" and will also lead "Mechanical Systems for Residential Properties."

Keeping tax issues fun and interesting, Bob Weigel will present "Federal Tax Credits on Energy Efficiency."

Tom Ayers, City of Rock Island's Chief Building Official, will tackle "Insulation & Other Quick Fixes for Maximum Impact."

Phillip Richards, a LEED-AP certified mechanical engineer from KJWW will discuss "Mechanical Systems for Historic Non-Residential Properties."

Les Wilson and Richard Walker will team up to talk about "Start with an Energy Audit."

Quarters One on Arsenal Island will be the workshop location. The workshop is scheduled from 9 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. Cost to attend is $16.35 and includes an Italian buffet luncheon.  Registration must occur by 5 p.m. on August 16.  Anyone driving to the seminar will be required to show a valid driver's license to gain entry to Arsenal Island, and all attendees will need a photo ID. Foreign Nationals must contact Dana Matson at 309.793.1601 no later than Aug. 9 for special approval and instructions to be admitted onto Arsenal Island.  If you would like to register or receive more information, please call 309.732.2900, email planning@rigov.org, or visit www.rigov.org.

The workshop is partially financed through a federal grant from the U.S. Department of the Interior, administered by the Illinois Historic Preservation Agency. In-kind and cash matches were provided by the City of Rock Island.

RATIONALE: Current federal immigration laws are acknowledged to be inadequate in protecting the rights and dignity of immigrant people living in our country. The failure of Congress to enact federal legislative reform is currently resulting in efforts by some individual states to enact their own laws that discriminate against persons of diverse backgrounds and cultures.

WHEREAS: In our CHM Mission Statement we "commit ourselves as individuals and as a congregation to work for justice within the human family...." The current intolerant treatment of immigrant persons obligates us as Christians to stand in solidarity with our immigrant sisters and brothers by making a public statement of support for them.

RESOLUTION: The members of the Congregation of the Humility of Mary stand in solidarity with our immigrant sisters and brothers and urge the U.S. Administration and Congress to enact fair and comprehensive Immigration Reform without delay. Legislation should reflect our own immigrant history, tradition and values as a nation: protecting and respecting the dignity of all people, acknowledging the value and contributions of immigrants, preserving the unity of families, and providing a path to citizenship for undocumented immigrants who desire to make their home in this country.

IMPLEMENTATION: The corporate statement would be distributed to the press, to our Congressional representatives and to the President and his Administration. This could be accomplished through the cooperative efforts of the CHM Communications staff person, the Peace and Justice Coordinator and the Nonviolence and/or Cultural Diversity APGs.

Iowa will receive additional $12.5 million, more than 46 other states

Washington, DC - Rep. Bruce Braley announced today the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Studies (CMS) handed down a rule delivering new Medicare payments for Iowa hospitals. The funding was secured by Braley with Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Obama Administration officials during late night negotiations before the final health care vote. Under the rule announced today, Iowa hospitals will receive $12.5 million in additional Medicare reimbursements, or 8.3 percent of the available funds. Only New York and Virginia will receive more money as part of these negotiations.

"The announcement of these funds is a big step in the right direction to finally rewarding Iowa's doctors for the care they provide," Braley said.  "For decades, Iowa's doctors have been punished for no reason other than geography. The new CMS rule announced today is the first step toward ending harmful geographic disparities and reforming our Medicare system so it finally rewards quality of care instead of the quantity of procedures performed. We still have a lot of work to do and I look forward to working closely with Secretary Sebelius to ensure we fully implement all the provisions she guaranteed during the late-night health care negotiations."

Braley negotiated a compromise adding language to the health care reform bill that provides an immediate $800 million to address geographic disparities for both doctors and hospitals, as well as written guarantees from Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius for further action to reform Medicare reimbursement rates that do not qualify for reconciliation under the Byrd Rule. The Senate bill previously only provided a Medicare reimbursement fix for doctors.

The House reconciliation package maintained automatic implementation of a value index as part of the reimbursement structures for doctors, beginning in 2015.  This language was secured in the Senate bill with the help of Harkin and is based on Braley's Medicare Payment Improvement Act, introduced in June 2009. Under the fixes secured in the Senate bill and House reconciliation package, Iowa doctors will see five percent increases in current Medicare reimbursement rates in both 2010 and 2011.

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