Students Can Experience a College-level Drawing Program

The Figge Art Museum and Western Illinois University have partnered to offer the "Summer Drawing Program at the Figge" for high school students from 9:30 am-12:30 pm July 18-22 and July 25-29.  This two-week program gives talented high school art students a college-level experience while helping them prepare their portfolios for college admission and scholarships. The "Summer Drawing Program at the Figge" is open to any high school student in Iowa or Illinois who has completed 9th, 10th or 11th grade. To be considered for this program, students must complete the application and submit a portfolio of four drawings and a letter of support from an art teacher. Applications are due by April 16 and the drop-off period for portfolios is 10 am - 1 pm Saturday, April 16.

The program was developed in 2007 with Western Illinois University, and is the only program of its kind in the Quad Cities for aspiring young artists who plan to major in Art or Design.  The course is taught by Western Illinois University Department of Art professors Bruce Walters and Brett Eberhardt. This program is funded in part by the Brand Boeshaar Foundation, Butler Insurance Service, Inc., and Western Illinois University's College of Fine Arts and Communication.

The "Summer Drawing Program at the Figge" program introduces high school students to a college-level drawing curriculum, helps them improve their skills in drawing from observation, which is a required component for most college admission portfolios, and helps them to be competitive for the annual Brand Boeshaar Scholarship. This local art scholarship is funded by the Brand Boeshaar Foundation, managed by the Figge Art Museum, and administered by the Community Foundation of the Great River Bend. In addition to daily drawing assignments, students will participate in individual and group critiques, which will help teach them learn how to talk about their work with others when they apply for college admission.

Students selected to participate in this program will be notified by May 1. If accepted into the program, students must pay the program fee of $175 and provide some of their own art supplies. For more information about the program, or to complete the application online, please visit www.figgeartmuseum.org. For more information, call Ann Marie Hayes-Hawkinson, Curator of Education, at 563-326-7804 x7887.

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Artists & Writers series offered at Figge

The Figge Art Museum presents the final talk in the series Artists and Writers at 7 pm Thursday, March 31. Dr. Owen Rogal, who teaches nineteenth-century British literature, will present the lecture "The Beauty of Life: Ruskin, Morris, and Wright." Dr. Rogal will explain how John Ruskin, William Morris, and Frank Lloyd Wright made connections between the natural world and the things men and women make, between those things and the health of society, and between the things and the nature of the work that produces them. The talk explores what the three writers learned from each other, how Morris developed and spun Ruskin's ideas in new directions, and how both Ruskin and Morris's radical ideas about the role of art in society?what a building means, for example, to the lives of the people who live in it? shape in part Wright's own thinking and practices.

The Artists and Writers series is part of the Figge's weekly Thursdays at the Figge programming. Admission to the museum and lecture is $7. Admission is free to Figge members and Figge institutional members. The Figge Arts Café and Bar will be open before and after the lecture.

Washington, DC - March 24, 2011 - Today, Congressman Bruce Braley (IA-01) invited high school students across Iowa's first district to submit original artwork for the annual Congressional Art Competition, "An Artistic Discovery". This year, Rep. Braley's office will be raising the stakes and taking the competition "high tech" by accepting submissions online and allowing constituents to vote for their favorite artwork on the internet. The winner of this year's competition will receive two roundtrip plane tickets to Washington, D.C. to attend a ribbon-cutting ceremony at the Capitol.

"Each year, talented students from across Iowa submit great artwork to the Congressional Art Competition," said Rep. Braley. "And this year, we're moving the competition into the 21st century. By allowing students to submit their artwork online, and allowing Iowans to cast their vote on my website to help choose the winner, we're giving more students the opportunity to participate."

The Congressional Art Competition, initiated by Congress in 1982, is a nation-wide high school arts competition sponsored by the Members of the U.S. House of Representatives. One piece from each Congressional district will be displayed in the Cannon Tunnel of the U.S. Capitol Building in Washington, D.C. for a year.

All artwork must be submitted to Rep. Braley's office by April 22 and will be displayed in an online gallery on the Congressman's website. Constituents are encouraged to visit the Congressman's website to vote on their favorite student artwork between April 23 and May 8.

For more information about the competition or to submit artwork, please visit http://braley.house.gov/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=85&Itemid=48

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Davenport, Iowa - March, 2011- "The Pollock 'Mural' Debate: What Have We Learned?" is the topic of a presentation set for 3 p.m. on Sunday, March 27, at the Figge Art Museum, 225 West Second Street in Davenport.

The presentation and discussion is a collaborative effort of the Figge and the University of Iowa Museum of Art (UIMA). Andrew J. Butler, president of the board of directors of the Figge Art Museum, and UIMA Executive Director Sean O'Harrow will comment on the questions raised by recent efforts by state legislators to mandate the sale of the Jackson Pollock's "Mural" as a means of providing scholarships for UI students.

The presentation will also examine the role of art objects and art museums in public education, including the role of real objects for use in teaching; and how cultural institutions advance economic development.

Participants will also have the opportunity to see "Mural," which is on display at the Figge, along with other UIMA works of art following the flood of 2008.

Free with Figge membership or paid admission.  University of Iowa students, faculty, and staff are admitted to the Figge free of charge with a UI ID card. UIMA donors are admitted free with their donor courtesy cards.

For more information see uima.uiowa.edu.

FIGGE ART MUSEUM

225 W. 2^nd Street|Davenport, Iowa|52801

NOW ON EXHIBITION:

Tracks: Photography and the Railroad from the George Eastman House Collection | Through April 23, 2011

Crossing the Mississippi: The Quad Cities, the Railroad and Art | Through April 24, 2011

University of Iowa School of Art Faculty Exhibition | Through March 6, 2011

The John Deere Collection | Through May 2011

Legacy for Iowa: Pollock's Mural and Modern Masterworks from the University of Iowa Museum of Art | Ongoing

Portraits: Photography from the Brent Sikkema Collection | Ongoing

Frank Lloyd Wright: The Art Living | Ongoing

UPCOMING EXHIBITIONS: 

Celebrating Ideas: Bridging Communities with Augustana's Liberal Arts through the Ages | Mar 19 through May 29, 2011

Waterviews from the Figge Collection | May 7 through Aug 21, 2011