On Sunday January 30th, the Figge Art Museum and the University of Iowa will be hosting a public reception celebrating three new exhibitions at the museum - "Tracks: The Railroad in Photographs from the George Eastman House Collection"; "Crossing the Mississippi: The Quad Cities, the Railroad and Art "; and "Those Who Can: The University of Iowa School of Art & Art History Studio Faculty Exhibition." The event begins at 2:00 P.M. with a lecture by University of Iowa professor of Art History Joni Kinsey, PhD. Dr. Kinsey's lecture will survey an array of images relating to American artists' involvement with railroads and the impact of their art on tourism and travel. From the earliest "Artists Excursions" sponsored by railroads for the creation of corporate railroad art collections, artists have been an integral part of our relationship with trains, travel and tourism.  Following the lecture, at 3:00 P.M., the Figge and the University of Iowa will celebrate its continued partnership with light hors d'oeuvres and a cash bar in the lobby and café.  Representatives from the University of Iowa will offer remarks on the "Those Who Can" exhibition at 3:30 P.M. in the lobby.

The lecture and reception are free to members, University of Iowa faculty, staff and students, or with general museum admission.  For more information and museum hours, contact the Figge at 563.326.7804 or visit figgeart.org.

"Tracks" and its educational programming are funded in part by the Riverboat Development Authority, Humanities Iowa and the National Endowment for the Humanities.

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[DUBUQUE, IA ] DubuqueFest Fine Arts Festival is now accepting applications for the 33rd annual juried fine art fair scheduled for May 21 & 22 in Dubuque, Iowa. All interested artists and fine craft artisans are encouraged to apply. The juried fine art fair features the work of 80 artists & artisans from across the region. $1000 cash prizes are awarded to Best in Show, Second Place, & Third Place during an artist's appreciation reception on Saturday, May 21 at the Dubuque Museum of Art. Dubuque, Iowa is quickly building a reputation as an arts & culture destination in the midwest. Through successful arts programming and dedicated city partnerships the DubuqueFest Fine Arts Festival grows along with it drawing lovers of fine art and history to the oldest festival in Iowa's first city.

IMPORTANT INFORMATION

  • Application deadline is April 1, 2011

  • Application fee: $110

  • Jury fee: $15

  • Two Emerging Artist Scholarships are available.

Applications are available on the DubuqueFest website: www.dubuquefest.org. To request one by mail contact Paula at 563.564.5290 or paula@dubuquefest.org.

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[DUBUQUE, IA ] DubuqueFest Fine Arts Festival, scheduled for May 20-22 in downtown Dubuque announces the appointment of Paula Neuhaus as their new art fair director. Neuhaus has spent the last five years working in non-profit arts administration including program development and promotion. Neuhaus is the Director of Maquoketa Art Experience in Maquoketa, Iowa and developmental coordinator for the Eastern Iowa Cultural Alliance. She also manages two independent projects; Wordcure Spoken Word Series and Art Gumbo Micro-funding Program that provides funding to Dubuque artists and arts groups. Neuhaus served five years on the Board of Directors for Dubuque County Fine Arts Society and volunteers with the Dubuque Winter Farmers Market. She holds degrees from both Loras College and University of Iowa.

"Goals of the DubuqueFest 2011 committee," Neuhaus says, "Include enhancing the reputation of this art fair as one that offers the best in fine art and fine craft in the region and to attract serious buyers who believe in directly supporting artists & artisans who are creating original work." Neuhaus joins current DubuqueFest Festival Director, Aaron Hefel in co-management of the all arts festival including children's art activities, a two-day art fair, and three days of live music on two stages.

"Paula has served on the DubuqueFest committee since 2007," Hefel said, "She brings a lot of new ideas to the table with her experience in arts and culture development."

DubuqueFest Fine Arts Festival celebrates its 33rd year in 2011. Visit the DubuqueFest website for a full schedule of events: www.dubuquefest.org.

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(MAQUOKETA, IA) Maquoketa Art Experience announces the return of the weekly Sunday Drawing Sessions scheduled for February 6-May 1, 2011.

Beginning February 6, 2011 Maquoketa Art Experience will host a drawing session every Sunday afternoon from 1-4 p.m. at Maquoketa Art Experience, 124 S. Main Street in Maquoketa. Drawing sessions are open to artists of all skill levels. There is no instruction for these classes, rather, a growing community of artists working alongside each other. Each Sunday session, hosted by artist Evanny Henningson, features a live clothed model that holds poses of varying length. Sessions will start with several quick sketches of poses that last for just a few minutes and gradually increase minutes until we reach a final full hour pose.

Artists of all levels are invited to drop in for the sessions. Sessions cost $8 at the door or you can purchase a 10-session punch card for $60. Punch cards can be purchased at the beginning of the session, by stopping in to Maquoketa Art Experience, or by mailing a check to: MAE, PO Box 993, Maquoketa, IA 52060 and they will mail you a punch card.

Easels & drawing horses are provided. Bring your own pencils, sketch pads, and other materials that you prefer to draw with. Register by calling Maquoketa Art Experience at 563.652.9925 or just drop in.

Maquoketa Art Experience is dedicated to bringing accomplished artists to Maquoketa for short- and long-term residencies, workshops, and exhibitions. For more information contact Paula Neuhaus at maquoketaartexperience@hotmail.com or by calling 563.652.9925.


Opening this Saturday, January 15th, at the Figge Art Museum is the Young Artists at the Figge exhibition. Each year, the museum presents six exhibitions of elementary schoolchildren's artwork in its Mary Waterman Gildehaus Community Gallery. Through this museum-school partnership, more than 500 area students, from six different school districts, have the opportunity to display their artwork at the Figge and share the walls with Pablo Picasso, Grant Wood and Jackson Pollock. These annual exhibits encourage the creative activities of the children and the museum is able to recognize and promote quality visual arts programs in the schools and the importance of its role in intellectual development. This past year, nearly 2,000 people attended these events; many were first time museum visitors. The recognition ceremonies introduce young artists and their families to the Figge exhibitions and collections, providing further inspiration for their artistic endeavors.

The exhibition schedule, beginning this Saturday:

Geneseo Community Schools
January 15-30, 2011
Recognition Ceremony:
1 pm Sunday, January 16

Moline Community Schools
February 5-20, 2011
Recognition Ceremonies:
6 pm and 6:30 pm Thursday, February 10

Davenport Community Schools

February 26-March 13, 2011
Recognition Ceremonies:
12:30 pm and 1:30 pm Sunday, March 6

North Scott Community Schools
March 19-April 3, 2011
Recognition Ceremonies:
12:30 pm and 1 pm Sunday, March 27

Bettendorf Community Schools
April 9-24, 2011
Recognition Ceremony:
1 pm Sunday, April 17

Pleasant Valley Community Schools
April 30-May 15, 2011
Recognition Ceremonies:
12:30 pm and 1 pm Sunday, May 1

 

For more information and museum hours, contact the Figge Art Museum at 563.326.7804 or visit figgeart.org.

Friday January 28th

6pm to 9pm is the Opening reception for White Trash Peg

The show runs from Jan 28th to Feb 18th

At: Star Dog Gallery and Studio for Regan at

Bucktown Center for the Arts, 225 East 2nd st Davenport, Iowa 52801. 563 514 - 5886

The "Call for Entries" is out for the Thirty-fifth Annual Rock Island Fine Arts Exhibition, with a discount for entries received by January 14, 2011 ($20 for two entries). Final entry deadline is January 20, 2011 ($30 for two entries). The annual juried competition, co-sponsored by the Rock Island Art Guild and Augustana College, is open to visual artists working in any media except video, and residing within a 150-mile radius of the Quad Cities. Entry forms, specifications and size limits are on the Call for Entries prospectus. The entry form can be found and downloaded on the Augustana College in Rock Island web page by clicking on: Arts, then Art Museum, then the exhibit. For phone assistance, call 309-794-7231. We hope that you will enter; we count on the participation of area artists to continue the program.

The Figge Art Museum is saving the last dance for you; come see the Figge Art Museum's exhibition, Dancing Towards Death: The Richard Harris Collection, before it closes this Sunday, January 9th. Although the show is about to meet its end, the opportunity still remains to experience a fabulously Figge-curated exhibit that centers on the inevitable and futile struggle with mortality.  With themes played out in print, oil, and sculpture, Dancing Towards Death addresses the certain fate bestowed upon all people; death is inexorable and spares none, regardless of status and wealth. The exhibition highlights a popular theme addressed throughout the art of Western Europe for the past six centuries, most often as a decaying corpse or skeleton embracing a victim in a dance foretelling his or her demise. Works from Albrecht Dürer, Rembrandt, Georg Grosz, and Sue Coe are featured.

For more information, contact the Figge Art Museum at 563.326.7804 or visit online at figgeart.org.

 

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Tracks: The Railroad in Photographs from the George Eastman House Collection makes its way to the Figge Art Museum, Davenport, on January 15th, 2011. Organized by the George Eastman House, Tracks covers 160 years of railroad history in photography. Both the railway and photography developed concurrently at the beginning of the 19th century and shared similar impressions on people's view of previously unseen landscapes. These inventions permitted, for the first time, a person's ability to be transported, both visually and physically, to worlds they had only previously imagined. Both forever changed the way the world was perceived.

Tracks offers the opportunity to learn about the history of the railroad and to visualize its impact on our country's development. The exhibition contains some of the earliest photographs of trains and railway scenes up through the end of the 20th century. In this survey of railroad images from around the world, trains appear as potent emblems of the modern industrial age and as crucial role players in transformation of the social and physical landscape. Included is the work of legendary photographers: Bisson Frères, Aaron Siskind, Henri Cartier-Bresson, and William Henry Jackson.

Tracks will be accompanied by a companion exhibition of photographic prints in a separate gallery that will explore the history and significance of the railway in the Quad Cities area. Crossing the Mississippi: The Quad Cities, the Railroad and Art includes works on loan from the Rock Island Arsenal Museum, the Richardson-Sloane Special Collections Center of the Davenport Public Library and the Putnam Museum.

Both exhibitions are sure to please a variety of audiences; including history buffs, lovers of the American West, but especially photography and rail enthusiasts.

Guided group tours are available for the exhibition as well as full museum tours to enhance your visit. Contact the Figge Art Museum at 563.326.7804 or visit online at figgeart.org for more information.

Tracks is funded, in part, by the Riverboat Development Authority and the Iowa Arts Council.

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the Figge is "Flooded" with New Art

The past several weeks have brought numerous changes to the Figge Art Museum that includes new works hanging in the permanent and special exhibition galleries. New photographic images from the Figge's Brent Sikkema Collection are up in the permanent galleries that address the human form, including portraits of famous artists (Dali, O'Keeffe, and Miro) shot by Horst P Horst, Eliot Porter and Irving Penn. Also new to the permanent galleries are prints by the English Romantic John Martin (The Deluge) and Mexican-Costa Rican artist Francisco Zunig (Yucateca con Fruta). Furthermore, the John Deere Collection has several new additions of works by Streeter Blair, Fritz Scholder and illustrator Walter Haskell Hinton.

 

The Figge partnership with the University of Iowa Museum of Art continues, as well, with a new, ongoing exhibition of African Art from the university's world-class collection. Selections from the Stanley Collection features numerous wooden, three-dimensional objects from cultural groups throughout West and Central Africa, such as masks from the Bwa peoples of Burkina Faso and statuettes by the Dogon from Mali.

 

The Figge will be closed for the holidays on Friday, December 24th and Saturday, December 25th. The museum will re-open on Sunday, December 26th - noon to 5pm. For more information call the Figge at 563.326.7804 or visit figgeartmuseum.org.

 

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