Fontana is in southern California, over 1,800 miles from the Quad-Cities, but that didn’t stop Yuji Baba, a graphic designer and illustrator there, from using The Force (and his amazing talent) to win the Quad City Arts Chalk Art Fest. The 30-year-old California native, who was raised in Osaka, Japan, won the first place of $500 with his gorgeous rendition of a book cover featuring Natalie Portman as Padme from the “Star Wars” prequels. “I’m so honored,” Baba said Monday. “If I had other graphic design work, I would not have been able to enter this festival.” For the fourth-annual... Read More

In this time of paralyzing pandemic, unreal unemployment, furious racial unrest and bitter political division, we could all use some simple peace and beauty. The eloquent, inspiring artist Cecile Houel provides it – displaying 20 deeply penetrating portraits of Nobel Peace Prize winners throughout the Quad-Cities, in a cooperative exhibit starting Friday. Convinced that art can contribute to world peace, the 56-year-old French woman started the “Nobel Peace Prize Collection: Peace Starts Within” in 2014, to celebrate all of the Nobel Peace laureates of the prestigious Nobel Foundation since... Read More

This month marks the 100th anniversary of the passage of the 19th Amendment, guaranteeing and protecting women’s constitutional right to vote. This historic centennial offers an unparalleled opportunity to commemorate a milestone of democracy and to celebrate the achievements of women — especially in the arts. Quad City Arts’ September and October exhibition at Quad City International Airport, Moline, titled “A Portrait of Remarkable Women,” will feature portraits painted by Heidi Hernandez of Davenport, and Cecile Houel of Fort Madison, Iowa, as well as sculptures by 11 women... Read More

Quad City Arts is proud to present three gifted Midwestern artists: Ralph Scott of East Galesburg, Illinois; Andrea Van Wyk of Pella, Iowa; and Terry Rathje of Long Grove, Iowa. Community members can view artwork from these three amazing artists at Art at the Airport, located in the Quad City International Airport Gallery (2200 69th Avenue Moline) Monday – Friday through Aug 31. Admission is free, and parking is only $1. A little more about the artists: Ralph Scott – Scott manipulates cell-phone images to create digital paintings, and through the use of software, the artist can achieve... Read More

QuadCities.com proudly presents FUN10, a list of the top 10 things to do in the Quad Cities this week, and every week! Every Sunday, we’ll drop a new FUN10, to give you a head start on your week and a heads up on what’s going on over the coming seven days. Check out FUN10 every Sunday for the details on ten awesome events happening around town. It’s a cool read, and a great way to get started planning your entertainment for the week. As the current health situation in our country continues to force the cancellation of so many regularly scheduled events in the Quad Cities, we are once again... Read More

Local artists are being sought by the city of Moline and Renew Moline to create a $10,000 public art display on the Spiegel Building, 200 20th St., just north of River Drive on the ground floor’s boarded windows. The vacant Spiegel Building is owned by the city, and is one of the few remaining factory buildings in downtown Moline from the industrial era – originally built between 1928 and 1930 as the Eagle Signal Building, according to Renew Moline, a nonprofit organization and public-private partnership. The project intent is “to beautify and draw attention to the building, a city-owned... Read More

Several Quad-Cities artists were honored this past weekend with awards at the 29th-annual Iowa Motion Picture Association (IMPA) award ceremony. Due to Covid-19, the Aug. 8 event was held online this year.   The IMPA recognized outstanding creative and technical achievement in Iowa’s moving image production industry, in all its forms. “Sons & Daughters of Thunder,” a docudrama produced by Moline-based Kelly and Tammy Rundle of Fourth Wall Films, received seven awards, out of eight IMPA nominations. It won five top Awards of Excellence:   Best Live Action Entertainment —... Read More

After thoughtful and careful consideration, Quad City Arts along with the Riverssance planning committee have made the difficult decision to cancel the 2020 Riverssance Festival of Fine Art originally scheduled to take place  September 19th-20th at Lindsay Park in the Village of East Davenport. Riverssance — formerly organized by Midcoast Fine Arts, before disbanding this spring — will return on September 18th and 19th, 2021 in support of arts programming through Quad City Arts.  As one of the Midwest’s finest outdoor arts fairs, this event has long been recognized for its careful... Read More

On exhibit from August 21st through October 9th, 2020 is the show SIGNALS featuring Matthew Boonstra & Alan Pocaro with Original Prints by Elizabeth Powell. SIGNALS is a collaborative presentation by sculptor Matthew Boonstra, Charleston, IL and printmaker Alan Pocaro, Champaign, IL. The show will consist of sculptures and wall-mounted works on paper. The artists explore what it means to communicate in an era dominated by technologies that promise to enable deeper, more meaningful sharing, but just as often provide the opposite. Both artists have shown extensively throughout the Midwest, as... Read More

Austin Robertson is innately drawn to chalk pastel art. The 23-year-old Davenport artist, who earned an associate’s degree in fine arts from Scott Community College, was the first-place winner in the first Quad City Arts Chalk Art Fest in 2017, in downtown Davenport, and has taken part every year since. “Just watching the creations come alive – it’s fun to see them go from concept to finished piece,” Robertson, a Davenport North alumnus, says of his love for art. “It’s fun to see its progress.” In 2015, he won the best of show in Quad City Arts’ High School Art Show, a self-portrait... Read More