Davenport, IOWA (November 2012) - Downtown Davenport will be bustling this weekend with the Festival of Trees kick off parade. Spectators will have the opportunity to warm-up at the Figge Art Museum where FREE ADMISSION, sponsored by Butler Insurance, is being offered on Saturday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. in conjunction with the parade festivities.

Visitors can check out the newly opened exhibitions including Quilts: Masterworks from the American Folk Museum featuring 27 priceless quilts from the beginning of the 19^th century to the end of the 20^th century. and Portrait of Maquoketa: The Dimensional View showcasing 180 oil painting portraits that Rose Frantzen created from July 2005 to July 2006 in Maquoketa, Iowa.

The Museum Store will be offering The Holiday Experience Package which includes a $10 Museum Store coupon, a $10 Thursdays at the Figge Café coupon, a $5 class coupon, a free private tour for up to 10 people and 2 guest admission passes. Normally valued at more than $115, members can purchase it for just $25 and non-members for $40.

The end of year gift membership sale also starts Saturday and includes deep discounts on yearly memberships to the Figge. This unique holiday gift can also be purchased online at www.figgeartmuseum.org.

About the Figge Art Museum

The Figge Art Museum is located on the riverfront in downtown Davenport at 225 West Second Street. Hours are from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., Tuesday through Saturday and Sundays 12-5 p.m.  Thursdays the museum is open until 9pm. Admission to the museum and tour is $7. Admission is free to Figge members and institutional members. To contact the museum, please call 563.326.7804, or visit our website, www.figgeartmuseum.org.

-end-

The public is invited to join the Muscatine Art Center in welcoming Carol Ehlers, art history speaker, as she presents a 45 minute lecture on the art of Russian artist Marc Chagall. The lecture will take place Thursday, November 15, 2012 at 5:30 pm in the Muscatine Art Center's Music Room. Admission is free.

Marc Chagall was a Russian artist associated with several major artistic styles and was one of the most successful artists of the 20th century. He was an early modernist and created works in virtually every artistic medium, including painting, book illustrations, stained glass windows, stage sets, ceramics, tapestries and fine art prints. Chagall did not want his work to be associated with any school or movement and considered his own personal language of symbols and motifs to be meaningful only to him.

Marc Chagall was born July 7, 1887 in Vitebsk, Belarus, then part of the Russian empire. He received his primary education at the local religious school, where he studied Hebrew and the Torah. He soon began copying images from books and found the experience so rewarding he decided he wanted to become an artist.

At the age of 19 he moved to St. Petersburg which was then the capital of Russia and the center of the country's artistic life. After a few months at the art school there, Chagall realized that academic portrait painting did not suit his desires and relocated to Paris, where he remained until 1914. After Paris he returned to his village of Vitebsk where he founded Vitebsk Arts College, which became one of the most distinguished schools of art in the Soviet Union.

In 1941 at the age of 54 he traveled to America where he discovered he had already achieved international fame. Initially, Chagall's fellow artists did not understand or even like his art, but those attitudes began to change when the son of French artist Henri Matisse became his representative. After several successful years in America, Chagall returned to France where he spent the remainder of his life. He died in Paris on March 28, 1985 at the age of 98.

In 1992 the Muscatine Art Center's collections were significantly enriched by a gift of twenty-seven works of art by Toulouse-Lautrec, Matisse, Degas, Boudin, Chagall, Renoir, and other European artists. The collection was a gift from the estate of Mary Musser Gilmore in honor of her parents, Richard Drew Musser and Sarah Walker Musser. The paintings are on permanent display in the Laura Musser Mansion.

Have you started your Holiday shopping? Why not start the shopping season off right, all you have to do is:

1.      Like the Putnam Museum's Facebook page.

2.      Click the Contest tab on their Facebook page.

3.      Enter for a chance to win a $1,000 shopping spree!

Contest closes Sunday, November 18 and the winner will be announced Monday, November 19!

###

WEST BRANCH, IOWA– Herbert Hoover National Historic Site seeks writers, composers, and visual and performing artists for the park's 2013 Artist-in-Residence Program. The Artist-in-Residence Program is open to all professional American artists whose work can be inspired by the history and beauty of Herbert Hoover National Historic Site. The park offers two residencies of two to eight weeks each from April through September. For more information about the Artist-in-Residence Program and how to apply, contact Kristin Gibbs at (319) 643-7866 or visit the park's website: http://www.nps.gov/heho/supportyourpark/artist-in-residence-program.htm. The application period closes on Friday, February 1, 2013.

The Artist-in-Residence Program at Herbert Hoover National Historic Site promotes creative means of communicating the park's national significance and its relevance to park visitors. Artists have been part of national parks since the 1870s when famed painters played a vital role in documenting the majestic landscapes of the West. It was through their works of art that many first saw these special places in America. Today artists are working in more than 40 units of the National Park Service through Artist-in-Residence Programs. Works from past Artists-in-Residence at Herbert Hoover NHS are on display in the park's visitor center and at the West Branch Public Library. The 2012 Artist-in-Residence Program at Herbert Hoover National Historic Site featured painter Steven S. Walker of Ohio and photographer Missy Gaido Allen of Iowa City.

Herbert Hoover National Historic Site and the Herbert Hoover Presidential Library and Museum are in West Branch, Iowa at exit 254 off I-80. Both are open daily from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Central Time. Parking is limited so please allow extra time to find a parking space. For more information go online at www.nps.gov/heho or call (319) 643-2541.


Herbert Hoover National Historic Site
110 Parkside Drive
PO Box 607
West Branch, Iowa 52358

319 643-2541 phone
319 643-7864 fax
www.nps.gov/heho

Twitter: @HooverNPS
Facebook: HerbertHooverNHS