Quad City Arts invites artists residing within a 250-mile radius of Rock Island, IL to submit a proposal for a gallery exhibition during 2021-22. Selected artists will be paired with one or two additional artists for a 2-month long exhibition between July 2021 through August 2022 in one of our two large exhibit spaces. Cohesive bodies of work are highly desired. All media will be considered. To enter, go to QuadCityArts.com and click on the Programs tab, then Visual Art Opportunities. The entry fee is $10. The deadline: Jan. 1, 2021. Quad City Arts’ Rock Island Gallery occupies a 1908 department... Read More

Welcome to the QuadCities.com Virtual Art Gallery! In this feature, we’re spotlighting area artists and their work. Every Tuesday we’ll feature a new local artist. It’s free and our way of showcasing awesome area artists and allowing them to include a link to their own online gallery or patreon! If you’d like to be included in the gallery, just send your bio, a headshot pic of yourself and up to a half-dozen .jpgs of your art to Sean@QuadCities.com. We look forward to featuring you and your artworks in our gallery! This week’s artist is Kevin Richard Schafer. Here’s his bio: “Kevin... Read More

Friends and family in the Quad-Cities are mourning the sudden, shocking loss of Keith Bonnstetter, a beloved Bettendorf Spanish teacher and master of intricate paper cutting. He died Sunday morning at 52 after collapsing during a run. Bonnstetter was a Spanish teacher at Bettendorf High School since 2001, said principal Joy Kelly in a Sunday post on the school’s website. “He loved his students, he loved his colleagues and he loved teaching,” she wrote. “Keith was a positive, compassionate and talented presence on our campus and he will be missed dearly by all of us. “On behalf of our... Read More

Skeleton Key Art and Antiques of Rock Island is hosting additional Quad Cities artists this Saturday, September 19th. The family-friendly pop-up shopping will take place from 10 am – 5 pm in the parking lot of Skeleton Key at 520 18th Street, Rock Island. In addition to the 80+ local antique dealers, artists and makers with goods normally available at Skeleton Key, this Saturday shoppers can find local artists Carolyn Krueger, Glen Lowry, Stephanie Canterbury, and Mindy Mathews of High Strung by 3M. In addition, artist and Skeleton Key co-owner John VandeWalle will be unveiling a number of... Read More

A dilapidated brick building, right off the 74 bridge on Moline’s riverfront, is all about possibility. And Brandon Nees is thrilled about bringing that surging potential to colorful life. The 25-year-old Davenport artist, who graduated from Moline High School, has been chosen to create a $10,000 public mural on nine panels of the boarded-up ground floor of the Spiegel Building, 200 20th St., just north of River Drive. Renew Moline partnered with the City of Moline and Quad City Arts to issue a call for entries, resulting in 28 submissions from artists around the Midwest. Renew’s Public Art... Read More

Welcome to the QuadCities.com Virtual Art Gallery! In this feature, we’re spotlighting area artists and their work. Every Tuesday we’ll feature a new local artist. It’s free and our way of showcasing awesome area artists and allowing them to include a link to their own online gallery or patreon! If you’d like to be included in the gallery, just send your bio, a headshot pic of yourself and up to a half-dozen .jpgs of your art to Sean@QuadCities.com. We look forward to featuring you and your artworks in our gallery! This week’s artist is Kevin Richard Schafer. Here’s his bio: “Kevin... Read More

Renew Moline is pleased to announce the selection of Quad Cities artist Brandon Nees to complete the public art project on the city-owned Spiegel Building on River Drive in downtown Moline. Renew partnered with the City of Moline and Quad City Arts to issue a Call for Entries, resulting in twenty-eight submissions from artists around the Midwest. After culling the proposals that did not meet submission requirements, Renew Moline’s Public Art Steering Committee evaluated twenty of the proposals and chose three for further consideration. On September 8, Mr. Nees’ proposed concept was endorsed... Read More

ATTENTION LOCAL ARTISTS! QuadCities.com is featuring the QuadCities.com Virtual Art Gallery every Tuesday to display your work! We’ll display up to a half-dozen of your artworks, along with an artists bio and pic of you and a link to your patreon, paypal or contact info so interested patrons can contact you to buy your artworks! If you’re interested, email Director of Digital Media Sean Leary at Sean@QuadCities.com!  Read More

Saturday in the Arts is a comprehensive, in-depth look at a personality, issue, or trend in the Quad-Cities arts and entertainment scene, running every Saturday morning on your site for fun, free, local entertainment and features, QuadCities.com. The Quad-Cities would not be the Quad-Cities without Quad City Arts. Founded in August 1970 as Quad City Arts Council, the nonprofit serves a six-county area in eastern Iowa and northwestern Illinois and is celebrating its 50th anniversary, committed to making quality arts education accessible to everyone through arts opportunities, programming, and community... Read More

The 100-mile-per hour winds that pummeled the Quad-Cities on Aug. 10 produced more than power outages, downed trees and other property damage. The fast-moving, devastating derecho gave wood artist Steve Sinner of Bettendorf an opportunity. The 78-year-old native of Omaha, Neb., is an internationally acclaimed woodturner and one of his latest projects is turning a chunk of a large tree trunk downed in Bettendorf, into a beautifully polished vessel. Sinner found the hard maple trunk along Devils Glen Road, ideal for his use since the pieces he needs have to be as close to the center of the tree as... Read More