13 Sep 2011

Iowa Battle Flag Conservation Project talk by Sheila Hanke

By Lynn Bartenhagen

In 1892, the 24th General Assembly of Iowa passed an act requiring that the "adjunct-general and the curator of the historical collections......shall cause the colors, standards and battle flags borne by Iowa regiments and batteries during the war of the rebellion to
be placed in hermetically sealed glass cases, in such a manner as to display them to the best advantage, and to preserve them as far as possible from all injury thereto." This action was completed on August 10, 1894, the thirty-third anniversary of the Battle of Wilson's Creek.

For over a hundred years these flags along with flags from Iowa units who served in the Spanish American War and World War I have been honorably displayed in the rotunda of the capitol building in Des Moines, Iowa. These rare artifacts represent the service and sacrifice of thousands of Iowans and are seriously endangered from years of improper display, and a lack of attention and clear  assignment of responsibility for their care.

In January 2000, the battle flag collection was studied by a professional flag conservator with funds appropriated from the capitol restoration funds by the 78th General Assembly. The conservator recommended a strategy to study and stabilize the flags, retrofit exhibit cases in the capitol for rotational display, and to provide for on-going care. Later that year, $150,000 was appropriated to begin work. Actual work on the flag collection began in January 2001, with the stabilization treatment and physical documentation being completed on-site by the Collections Manager/Flag Conservator.

The State Historical Society of Iowa's current Collections Manager/Flag Conservator and Historian, Sheila Hanke, will be presenting a talk about the Iowa Battle Flag project at the Muscatine Art Center on Sunday, October 9 at 2:00PM in the Music Room. Sheila is responsible for overseeing the stabilization and documentation of individual flags. She oversees policies, procedures and registration relating to the flag collection. Sheila also manages the conservation laboratory and supervises technical staff. She oversees the development of interpretive exhibitions and related publications.

Those in attendance of the talk will be able to view the progress of the historic conservation of Iowa's military and territorial flags and will learn more about Iowa in the Civil War. For much of the 9 year preservation project, the public has been able to see the conservator at work in the laboratory through tours and video conferencing. The customized laboratory has provided a secure location for these national treasures to be documented, preserved and interpreted. These flags represent not only Iowa's history but Iowa's role in a pivotal event in our nation's history. The preservation effort ensures that future generations will know the stories of the men and women who served this nation. By building a secure conservation laboratory, the State Historical Society of Iowa has provided the public with a unique look into the preservation process while protecting the flag collection.

The talk will be a 45 minute presentation on the history of the grassroots effort to launch the project, the flag collection and the conservation process.

DETAILS:
What: Iowa Battle Flag Conservation Project talk by Sheila Hanke
When: Sunday, October 9, 2011
Time: 2:00PM
Where: The Muscatine Art Center's Music Room

Admission to this program is FREE.

Please contact Katy Doherty, Program Coordinator, with any questions or concerns at 563-263-8282 or by email at kdoherty@muscatineiowa.gov.

The Muscatine Art Center is open to the public Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday from 10AM to 5PM, Thursday from 10AM to 7PM and Saturday and Sunday from 1 to 5PM.  Admission is FREE.
13 Sep 2011

Award-winning Film on Life, Death and Rebirth of One-Room Schools to Screen at German American Heritage Center

By Kelly Lao
Davenport, IA?Award-winning filmmakers Tammy and Kelly Rundle will appear with their documentary film Country School: One Room - One Nation at the German American Heritage Center, 712 West Second Street, Davenport, Iowa on Sunday, September 25, 2011 at 1:00 p.m. The program will feature a special presentation on German influences in Davenport schools by Jim Schebler from the Davenport Community Schools Museum followed at 2:00 p.m. by the documentary film and Q&A with the filmmakers. Apples and pencils will be given out on a first-come basis to attendees. This program is free for members and free with admission to the GAHC museum for non-members.

From immigration issues in early schools to the controversial demise of their widespread use in the 1950s and 1960s, Country School: One Room - One Nation combines visually stunning images of a myriad of restored and decaying buildings?including one designed by Frank Lloyd Wright?with surprising, humorous, and heartwarming stories from former teachers and students. More than just nostalgia, Country School also delves into the dark side of the one-room school experience and dispels the myths behind the revered institution that helped bind a young nation together.

Quad City Times film critic Linda Cook gave the film 4-out-of-4 stars and wrote: "Another documentary gem...vivid and fascinating."

Film reviewer Mike Schulz of the River Cities Reader wrote, "Country School emerges as a definitive portrait of education in a one-room environment, a work that's every bit as informative, engaging and impassioned as those telling its tales."

Country School: One Room - One Nation premiered at the State Historical Building in Des Moines in November 2010 and has been screening throughout the U.S. ever since. The DVD was released regionally in March and a national DVD release is scheduled in the fall through the Passion River Films. Midwestern PBS broadcasts are planned for Country School in 2012.

The filmmakers previously produced the award-winning documentaries Lost Nation: The Ioway and Villisca: Living with a Mystery. They are currently in production on the documentaries Movie Star: The Secret Lives of Jean Seberg and the sequel Lost Nation: The Ioway 2 & 3.

Country School: One Room - One Nation was funded in part by Humanities Iowa, the Kansas Humanities Council, the Wisconsin Humanities Council, the National Endowment for the Humanities, and Silos and Smokestacks National Heritage Area.

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01 Sep 2011

Area Artists Compete in World's Largest Art Competition

By Administrator
Dawn Wohlford-Metallo, Bettendorf , IA ; Lisa Higby-Lefevre and Kate Askegaard, Dixon , IL all entered and gained acceptance into the world's largest art competition, ArtPrize®, taking place in venues throughout Grand Rapids , Michigan from September 21 - October 9, 2011 .
ArtPrize® is an international competition with no jury or curator. The public votes on the top 10 pieces and eventually the overall winner. In its third year, ArtPrize® has become an unexpected phenomenon. Part arts festival, part social experiment, part civic project, the event overtakes an entire city bringing visitors in the hundreds of thousands. Venues and artists register and find each other through artprize.org.

Unlike any other event, ArtPrize® gives away the largest cash prize for an art competition--$250,000 to the winner, $484,000 total. The winner is decided solely by a public vote. The vote turns everyone from passive observer into active participant. Anyone 16 years of age or older with an email and valid government ID can vote at no charge, yet all voters must activate their voting status in person at the event. Yes, local residents wishing to support these regional artists will have to make the trip to Grand Rapids . Those making the trip will be immersed, enlightened and amazed by over 1500 works of art by artists from around the world, all within three square miles of downtown Grand Rapids .
The competition will be steep, yet Wohlford-Metallo, Higby-Lefevre and Askegaard all hope to make a name for themselves by participating in this competition.
States Wohlford-Metallo,
"The exposure alone is invaluable. When I attended ArtPrize® in 2010, I was the 1000th person to enter a particular venue on a particular afternoon. Multiply that by 19 days and you've got a lot of people seeing your work."
Wohlford-Metallo, Visual Art Director for Quad City Arts in Rock Island , creates sculptural works primarily with paper pulp she makes herself in her home studio. In the past year, she has shown her work at the Crystal Cork Art Quarterly in Dixon , IL , Art@ Rock River GAP in Rock Falls , IL , and Bucktown Center for the Arts in Davenport , IA.  Dawn's entry, "Compartmentalized States of Being" consists of 12 components, each cast from the same mould using handmade paper. The paper is then embellished with found objects and various surface techniques to illustrate a state of being or a state of mind.
Higby-LeFevre, artist and co-owner of Distinctive Gardens in Dixon , works in the pastel medium, most recently over-sized pastels of intricate abstraction.  She coordinates several local art venues including Dixon 's Second Saturdays Art Happenings, a monthly cultural event. Showing extensively in the region, she captured numerous awards including third place at Freeport Art Museum 's Regional Show 7 in Freeport , IL .  Her work is on continuous display at The Crystal Cork Wine Shoppe and Distinctive Gardens in Dixon .  Lisa's entry, "Precipice of Change" is a 2'x4' over-sized pastel depicting the brink of the Lower Falls in Yellowstone, National Park.  Using an abstract approach, the work when viewed from close range is shear abstract lines and shapes, but from afar is recognizable as the falls.
States Higby-LeFevre,
"ArtPrize® is like Second Saturdays on steroids.  Over 150 venues gather to
showcase artists for nineteen action packed days.  It's phenomenal."
Askegaard received her BFA in Sculpture in 2002 from Southern Illinois University, Carbondale. After graduating, she worked creating patterns and molds for planters and fountains and helped create the ash urns in front of the Waldorf Astoria in New York City , and planters at the Shedd Aquarium in Chicago Illinois .  She then went abroad, living in Ireland .  Upon return, she searched for a small town that had foundries and a strong art scene and found Dixon , IL .  She has shown at The Next Picture Show in Dixon, receiving an honorable mention for her work.  Kate's entry, "True Love" is a multi-panel, 2-D life-size stippling drawing of Michelangelo's "Pieta".  Using ten's of thousands of tiny, pain-staking dots, Kate created nine 19" x 24" panels for a final size of 5'x 5' with a Steadler .05 Pigment liner on 100s Rag paper.
States Askegaard,
"I can't wait to see all this great art and interact with so many artists."
For more information on ArtPrize®, and to view the three artists' entries, visit:  artprize.org.  For additional information:  Lisa Higby LeFevre website:  lhlefevre.com; Kate Askegaard Blog: katecreating.blogspot.com; Dawn Wohlford Metallo:http://wwww.theartfeed.com/profile/show/303
01 Sep 2011

ART GUMBO CALLS FOR SUBMISSIONS FROM ARTS GROUPS OR ORGANIZATIONS

By Art Gumbo

[DUBUQUE, IA.] Art Gumbo, a quarterly soup dinner that supports local art projects with community-supported micro-funding, is now accepting applications from arts groups or organizations for the fall funding cycle.  Applications for Art Gumbo mini grants for the fall funding cycle are available now through Thursday, September 22. Application questions are available at artgumbodubuque.blogspot.com

Submission guidelines include the separation of individual artists and organizations or groups during funding cycles. Individual artists are not eligible to apply during the fall funding cycle. The first seven eligible applications received by 11:59 p.m. on September 22 will qualify to compete for funding.

Art Gumbo is an independent community-based initiative that funds local arts projects using money collected at quarterly soup dinners. During each Art Gumbo funding cycle, artists or arts organizations are invited to submit a brief project proposal that demonstrates an impact on the Dubuque community. The public is invited to attend and vote for their favorite proposal. A $10 donation at the door entitles the attendee to a locally prepared soup dinner and the opportunity to review all submitted proposals and to vote for their favorite. The Art Gumbo fund's nightly proceeds will be awarded to the proposal that gets the most votes. Art Gumbo sessions will be hosted at new locations each quarter featuring soup by a regional food source. The next Art Gumbo Soup Dinner is scheduled for Thursday, September 29, 6-8 p.m. at Voices Warehouse Gallery, 1000 Jackson Street in Dubuque. The evening will feature a farmers market soup created and donated by members of Green Dubuque, cold beverages by Dubuque County Fine Arts Society & Voices From The Warehouse, with a special musical guest and a birthday cake to celebrate the Art Gumbo project's first year.

 

For more information visit artgumbodubuque.blogspot.com or contact Paula Neuhaus or Megan Starr at art.gumbo.dbq@gmail.com.

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31 Aug 2011

Iconic Turn of the Century Posters at the Figge

By Susan Horan

Davenport, Iowa - August 2011 - On Saturday, September 3, an exhibition of original nineteenth century posters from the Krannert Art Museum will open at the Figge Art Museum.  The exhibition highlights original posters by artists including Pierre Bonnard, Alphonse Mucha, Jan Toorop, and Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, and illustrates how artists utilized lithography for different purposes and with varying regional stylistic characteristics.

In the late nineteenth century, the rise of color lithography along with an increasing demand for advertisements presented artists with an alternative space to exhibit their artworks. Mass-produced posters ranged from large-scale ads for consumer products such as lamp oil and bicycles, to promotional materials for cabaret performances at the Moulin Rouge or the Divan Japonais. Artists were also sought after to create intimate, small-scale prints for literary journals, playbills, and exhibition announcements, enabling their art and reputations to reach an ever-broadening audience.

The Figge will host a number of events in conjunction with this exhibition.  On Wednesday, September 7, Figge docents will lead an Art Lovers Book Club discussion at 1pm in the Figge's Arts Café.  The club will discuss Toulouse-Lautrec: Scenes of the Night by Claire Freches-Throy and Jose Freches; this compassionate narrative is combined with reminiscences of the artist's friends to vividly evoke Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec's tragic, bohemian life.

A public reception for the exhibition will be held on Thursday, September 8 at 6pm.  A cocktail reception will begin at 6pm and at 7pm Kathryn Koca Polite, the exhibition curator from the Krannert Art Museum, will lead a talk that will explain how posters reflect changes in society and how the new technical developments in lithography inspired painters to use the largely commercial medium for artistic purposes.  Following the talk, Joseph Lappie and Allison Filley from St. Ambrose University will introduce lithography, and provide an opportunity to draw on lithographic stones and plates.

On Thursday, September 15 at 7pm Dr Dorothy Johnson will offer the art talk "Entertaining Visions: Toulouse-Lautrec and Fin-de-Siècle Paris".  This talk will explore the fascinating career of Toulouse-Lautrec with particular emphasis on his engagement with the entertainment culture of Montmartre in fin-de-siècle Paris.   On September 22, Zaiga Thorson will lead a gallery talk at 7pm that will highlight elements of good design demonstrated in the exhibition.

Families are invited to a Free Family Event on October 1 from 1-4pm to celebrate the exhibition with studio art activities, stories, refreshments and more.  This event is sponsored by John Deere and Butler Insurance Services.

This exhibition and its programs are supported, in part, by Humanities Iowa and the National Endowment for the Humanities. The views and opinions expressed by this program do not necessarily reflect those of Humanities Iowa or the National Endowment for the Humanities.

Turn of the Century Posters from the Krannert Art Museum Collection is curated by Kathryn Koca Polite, organized by Krannert Art Museum, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, and sponsored in part by Illinois Arts Council, a State Agency; Krannert Art Museum Director's Circle; and Krannert Art Museum Council.

The Figge Art Museum is located on the riverfront in Downtown Davenport at 225 West Second Street. Hours are from 10 am to 5 pm, Tuesday through Saturday, Sundays noon to 5pm and Thursdays 10 am to 9pm.  To contact the museum, please call 563.326.7804, or visit www.figgeartmuseum.org.

-end-

30 Aug 2011

INNOVATIVE DESIGNS BY IOWA STATE UNVIERSITY STUDENT ARCHITECTS ON DISPLAY AT THE FIGGE

By Susan Horan

Davenport, Iowa - August 2011 - Architecture students in Iowa State University's College of Design created designs for the construction of a fictional museum in Columbus, Indiana's already architecturally diverse community and a selection of those designs will be on view at the Figge Art Museum starting September 3 in the exhibition, Innovative Objects of Design: Museum Proposals for Columbus, Indiana.  The student exhibition was preempted by a tour of the Figge last fall as part of a senior design course. Students were asked to design architecture based on several factors: creating an environment that goes beyond the traditional museum structure and one that has the ability to both stand out and blend in to a community that is already known for its architecture. Of the 75 proposed designs, only ten were chosen for display at the Figge.  

   

The exhibition will be on display in the Mary Waterman Gildehaus Community Gallery from September 3 until October 23. An exhibition reception is scheduled from 2-4 pm Saturday, September 24. At 2 pm, Rod Kruse, FAIA, LEED AP, Principal at BNIM Architects, will give a talk entitled, "Design Reflections." A second talk, "Eponymous Exhibition: Developing Innovative Objects of Design," will be presented by Rob Whitehead, AIA, LEEP AP, Principal at Whitehead Design Workshop and lecturer at Iowa State University Department of Architecture, and curator ofInnovative Objects of Design. The two short talks will last about an hour, and will be followed by a reception.  

   

With its strong commitment to art and design education, the Figge is committed to exhibiting the highest quality student work by area students in the Mary Waterman Gildehaus Community Gallery. Innovative Objects of Design was sponsored by Iowa State University, College of Design, and selected Department of Architecture students.  All exhibitions in the Mary Waterman Gildehaus Community Gallery are sponsored by the Brand Boeshaar Foundation Fund.  

   

Figge admission is $7. Admission to the talks and reception is free to Iowa State University students and alumni and their guests.  

   

The Figge Art Museum is located on the riverfront in Downtown Davenport at 225 West Second Street. Hours are from 10 am to 5 pm, Tuesday through Saturday, Sundays noon to 5pm and Thursdays 10 am to 9pm.  To contact the museum, please call 563.326.7804, or visitwww.figgeartmuseum.org.  

 

-end-
29 Aug 2011

Phoenix Fine Art Gallery Artist reception for Zach Cleve and Emma Farber

By Narveen Aryaputri
At The Phoenix Fine Art Gallery in Moline:
Please come:
Friday, August 26th. 6.00 p.m.
Vernissage ( opening reception)  for  Artists Zachary Cleve and Emma Farber for their show "Stepping in, Looking Through," a two-person fine arts exhibition with paintings
that explore themes of isolation, obstacles, communication and personal development.

The reception will be held from 6:00pm to 8:00pm, and is open to the public. 
About the Artists:
Zachary Cleve was born in 1986 in Davenport, Iowa. He graduated with bachelor's degrees in painting and sociology from Saint Ambrose University in 2010, culminating in a senior honors exhibition in his final semester. Zachary has facilitated figure drawing sessions at the Figge Art Museum in Davenport, been a teaching assistant, and participated in numerous group exhibitions.

Emma Farber was born in 1988 in Moline, Illinois. She is graduating this winter from Saint Ambrose university with degrees in painting and graphic design, with a minor in art history. She will have her senior honors show this December.

The medium for the paintings are Oil on Canvas.
Certificates of  authenticity and provenance for all art sold throught the Phoenix Fine Art Gallery is provided with all sales.
The Phoenix Fine Art Gallery is at 1530 Fifth Ave. Moline.
First floor of the Moline Club building, corner of  5th. Ave and 16th. Street.
23 Aug 2011

A Book Discussion of "The Pencil" by Henry Petroski

By German American Heritage Center

In connection with the current PENCIL exhibit at the German American Heritage Center and Museum, the Book Discussion Group will discuss the book "The Pencil" written by Henry Petroski. The discussion will be led by St. Ambrose University Professor Michael Hustedde.

 

Petroski's witty and unexpected history of the pencil includes a wide range of characters: from the American philosopher Henry David Thoreau, and Toulouse Lautrec, who declared, "I am a pencil", to the great nineteenth-century manufacturing families, such as Dixon and Faber. Petroski charmingly celebrates the design history of one of mankind's most essential, and yet undervalued tools.


 

The program will be held at the German American Heritage Center and Museum, 712 West 2nd Street. Davenport, at 2:00 on Sunday, August 28th.

 

Free to members, free to non-members with museum admission.

 

See the pencil art and collections on display at GAHC.

Watch for information regarding the visit to the Quad-Cities of the author Henry Petroski.

23 Aug 2011

LEARN HOW YOU CAN BECOME A TOUR GUIDE AT THE FIGGE

By Susan Horan

Information session offered Wednesday, August 24

The Figge Art Museum is offering an information session on the museum's Candidate Docent Training Program at 10:30 am Wednesday, August 24. Docents are volunteers who lead exhibition tours for schoolchildren and adults. Museum staff will explain the program requirements and answer questions prospective docents may have about the program. The information session will last about an hour.

The Candidate Docent Training Program consists of art history talks, gallery talks, and group activities to learn how to talk about and help visitors appreciate works of art on display in the Figge galleries. The program runs 9:30-11:30 Wednesday, September 14-December 7. The program is taught by Figge Curator of Education Ann Marie Hayes-Hawkinson, guest lecturers, and Figge docents who serve as mentors.

For more information about the Figge's Docent Program, please visit the Figge website at www.figgeart.org.

-end-

 

19 Aug 2011

Art at the Airport news release

By Dawn Wohlford-Metallo

WHAT:   Quad   City   Arts Art @ the Airport

WHEN:          September 1- October 26, 2011   

WHERE:       Quad City International Airport Gallery,   2200 69th Ave. ,  Moline ,  IL    

WHO:             Michael Johnson, photography and Donald Noon, sculpture  

In September and October, Art @ the Airport features photography by Michael Johnson and sculptures & drawings by Donald Noon.

Michael Johnson of   Mount Carroll ,  Illinois   is a photographer that has forty continuous years of studying the landscape of  Northwestern Illinois . He spends most of my time looking at the land and planning the finished image before photographing his image. His beautiful large prints emphasize the rich complexity and specific qualities of light. When planning the appropriate motif, Johnson requires a suitable pattern of shadow and light which can take weeks or months to evaluate and find in the right combination to resolve the composition.

Donald M.  Noon  of   Streator ,  Illinois   is a sculptor whose work strives to evoke the viewer through reflection and the use of amorphous shapes that stem from Native American culture.  Noon  will be exhibiting his dramatic sculptures based of Monoliths, which have carried spiritual, religious and scientific significance throughout the course of mankind. His sculptures and drawings aim to conjure the significance of this beyond the formal aspects of composition.

Both artists focus on the history and significance of life. One artist addresses the natural beauty and journal of  Northwestern Illinois  landscapes, and the other on the spiritual and human significance of the Native American culture.

Don't miss this is exhibit just because you don't have a plane to catch-the lights in the gallery are always on and the airport offers free parking for the first hour. Meet a friend for lunch and enjoy the art! Quad City International airport gallery is easy to access with one hour of free parking to allow plenty of time to browse the exhibit.

Quad City Arts is a nonprofit local arts agency dedicated to the growth and vitality of the Quad City region through the presentation, development, and celebration of the arts and humanities. All Quad City Arts programs are funded in part by Festival of Trees, Quad City Arts Partners and operating grants from the Illinois Arts Council (a state agency) and the Iowa Arts Council, a division of the Department of Cultural Affairs. This gallery and exhibit is generously sponsored by the Quad CityInternational Airport.

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