ROCK ISLAND — Through Facebook and their website, Quad City Arts announced the winners of the 43rd Annual High School Art Invitational and presented $5000 in cash prizes and scholarships to area high school students and teachers for excellence in fine art. The awards are as follows: Senior Scholarship sponsored by The Butterworth Foundation, Zimmerman Honda and Jane & Kevin Koski: Liam Haskill, Rock Island High School   Senior Scholarship sponsored by Morency Family Foundation Lydia Bloome, Bettendorf High School Best of Show sponsored by Carlo Centore Michael PK, Central DeWitt High... Read More

ROCK ISLAND – Yenework Munson has come a long way in her short life so far. Just shy of 7, the Rock Island girl was adopted by Tony and Lindsey Munson from the African nation of Ethiopia in 2013. But she’s made an even bigger journey – within herself – in the past 18 months. Lindsey feels that difference in Yene’s life has been provided mostly by the Center for Living Arts, at 220 19th St., and its owners, Dino and Tina Hayz. Yene (along with dozens of other area kids) were looking forward to putting on “High School Musical, Jr.,” with three separate casts, but the spring show has... Read More

The Quad City Arts 43rd Annual High School Art Invitational might not be able to have a live showing due to coronavirus concerns, but Quad City Arts isn’t letting them get them down! QCA has set up the artists’ works online in a Virtual Gallery Live NOW at this link. Each spring, Quad City Arts shows works from top Quad City high school visual artists and their art teachers. The exhibit fills the walls of Quad City Arts’ downtown Rock Island gallery, the opening ceremony is attended by hundreds of Quad Citians supporting young artistic talent, and students receive thousands of... Read More

“I don’t know what I’m going to do.” His voice, usually brash and loud, is quiet and cracked. “I mean, I’m depressed. Obviously, it sucks, because the money is a big thing. It’s not just me playing out. My wife is a waitress and bartender, and I’m a bartender a couple nights a week. That’s just extra. But we need it.” They have a couple of kids. They have five jobs between them. Or, well, they used to. Now they have one. His. His “day job,” he used to call it. Now it’s their only lifeline to an income that was way too small for them all to live on, but which now has to... Read More

WQPT – PBS for the Quad Cities Region and Western Illinois University – Quad Cities’ Student Services encourages all Quad Citizens to submit images of art, photos, and designs for possible display in the 5th Annual Campus Art Show.  A limited number of works will be selected by a panel of judges, but the deadline for entry is Wednesday, March 18, 2020. The show will run from April 1st through April 30th 2019 in the WIU-QC Library. A Community Reception will be held on Wednesday April 15th at 5:30pm on Western Illinois University – Quad Cities’ campus. The Exhibition is limited to paintings,... Read More

Looking to check out some colorful artworks? Quad City Arts Art @ the Airport presents encaustic paintings by Cindy Lesperance (McHenry, IL), color reduction woodcuts by Cathie Crawford (Peoria, IL) and mixed media sculptural work by Dawn Wohlford (Bettendorf, IA) March 3 to April 28. Cindy Lesperance’s work will explore the abstractness of the earth when viewed from an aerial perspective. Lesperance uses encaustic medium (wax with pigment) to create smooth polished sections of color and then adds her signature drop technique to provide interesting textural areas. Each work becomes a composition... Read More

Artists and those who are interested in art can attend a meeting about creating an art gallery in Northpark Mall for local artists to display and sell their art at 1 pm on Saturday, Feb. 29, in suite 203, Bucktown Center for the Arts, 225 Second Street, Davenport, Iowa. The leaders of the meeting, Barb and Jim Toner have lived in the Quad Cities for more than 30 years. Barb has been a fused glass artist for about six years and has sold her pieces in Bucktown and The Artery. These two art centers will close March 31, and many of the artists have few options to sell their art in the Quad Cities.... Read More

Midcoast Fine Arts and Bucktown in downtown Davenport have got two great new exhibits adorning the walls over the next month. The art of Jane Doty and Amber Williams runs through March 28 at Bucktown. Amber Williams has worked in collage since childhood and refocused on the medium in 2010. “I deconstruct materials by color, pattern, shape, etc. to create new images.” Her new collages expand the kinds of materials and processes she incorporates, including underlying collages, chips of paint, feathers and polyacrylic phototransfers. She also has moved from landscapes above ground to playful interpretations... Read More

Beginning this week, the Figge Art Museum’s second-floor Mary Waterman Gildehaus Community Gallery will feature the artwork of local elementary art students (K-5) for the annual Young Artists at the Figge exhibition. The exhibition will kick-off with works by elementary art students from Geneseo Schools. For the 2020 installment of Young Artists at the Figge, eight area school districts will be represented throughout the winter/spring including Geneseo Schools, Bettendorf Schools, North Scott Schools, Pleasant Valley Schools, Moline Schools, Muscatine Schools, Davenport Schools and ending... Read More

The Rock Island Art Guild, a volunteer-run organization founded in 1955, promotes and fosters the appreciation of the visual arts in the Quad Cities. Beginning Saturday, the Guild’s 41st juried exhibition will be installed in the Figge Art Museum’s fourth-floor gallery. Sponsored by IHMVCU and the Rock Island Art Guild, the 41st Rock Island Art Guild Fine Arts Exhibition is open to artists within a 150-mile radius of Rock Island working in a variety of mediums, and is juried from online submissions. Candace Moeller, independent curator and associate director of Cristin Tierney Gallery,... Read More