If you visit the Quad City Botanical Center by the end of May – and you certainly should – you’ll see a portrait of an artist as a young man. A very young, talented man indeed. Eight-year-old Levi Folker of Davenport is the youngest artist ever to have his own exhibit in the 23-year-history of the QCBC, with 28 of his deeply colorful, imaginative paintings on the walls in the main hallway. They’re on display for all of April and May. “I like painting because it makes me happy,” Levi, a second-grader at Adams Elementary, who’s been homeschooled this past year, said recently. “I like... Read More

Elaine Folker certainly has an eye for beauty, order, style and impeccable design. The 37-year-old photographer – who works with her husband Stephen and his business Giraffe Photography in the Village of East Davenport – is striking out on her own with her own venture, Moss + Mercantile Interiors. “I’ve loved interior decorating since I was a kid and would watch Christopher Lowell every day,” Elaine Folker said this week. “I’ve always been artistic and have spent the last 13 years as a full-time photographer. I’m starting a decorating business because I think everyone should have... Read More