Why did the chicken cross the road? To get to Riverssance!
Sunshine, great art, food and music—that was the 2018 Riverssance Festival of Fine Art. MidCoast thanks everyone who attended and helped with our premier outdoor art festival held in beautiful Lindsay Park, Village of East Davenport. Our thanks go to individuals and sponsors who will be recognized in our November newsletter. At this time we particularly thank Dee Schricker, who devoted time and talent to painting hundreds of wine glasses for the wine tasting tent. We had a late-breaking sponsor, Costco, and thank them for their support. The shirts, with the chicken painting by Riverssance exhibitor Carole Kasowski, still are available for sale at the Bucktown Artists’ Market, while supplies last.
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An ingenious carved wooden spoon award, created by Cliff Logan, was awarded (and was immediately useful!) to these Riverssance artists: Best of Show to Rich Peterson (ceramics) (see photo); People’s Choice to Tom Hempel (watercolors), and Students’ Choice to Bob and Connie Anderson (ceramics).
Honorable Mention Awards, including spoons, were won by Janet Ahrens (mixed media), Jim Cronk (ceramics), Tahmi DeSchepper (jewelry), Dave Johnson (wood), Brent Langley (oils), Sean Miller (oils), Kathrin Schmidt (jewelry), Radim Schreiber (photography), Amy Taylor (jewelry) and John VandeWalle (sculpture). We congratulate them and thank Pat Bereskin, the juror, for her time and expertise.
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A big success was the new presentation time of the annual Harley Award as a 5:30 p.m. reception on Saturday during Riverssance. We had fun honoring Rachael Mullins Steiner. Past recipient Mary Ellen Chamberlin was in the audience. We thank the Regional Development Authority for help to try out the new timing to honor an individual who has positively affected the visual arts and artists in the Quad Cities during his/her lifetime. If you have a suggestion for the 2019 honoree, let me know at
info@midcoast.org.
Riverssance proceeds are an essential funding source for arts programs year-round at MidCoast. I try to avoid the fund raising pitch in this forum, but today it's needed. The prevailing wisdom is that organizations such as MidCoast need to derive the majority of their support from private sources. The community and you are not charged a fee to see our gallery exhibitions or enjoy receptions. Artists who apply for shows contribute an entry fee that is a fraction of the cost of receptions, signage, utilities and staff time.
We REALLY DO NEED YOUR grassroots financial support. At whatever level you can help, please do. The Go Fund Me and mailing address options are below. MidCoast is a 501c3 non-profit organization.
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We turn the corner into fall and are already preparing for 2019 exhibitions. Please note the Call for Entry is out with an October 3 deadline. Group shows can be proposed. The application is for exhibitions at any of our three gallery sites and designation may be requested but will be decided by the jury committee.
Bucktown artists are busy with ideas for Final Fridays. We specially host poets this month, and next month will see an exhibition of Bix 7 Road Race photography by Mark Stegmaier. We thank Whitey’s Ice Cream, Elizabeth Wakita and Becky Hausmann for support of and help with the August Bucktown Final Friday reception.
Bucktown and its artists recently were featured by Fran Riley in
Where the Gifted Gather on KWQC Channel 6. We appreciate Fran’s enthusiastic support of our local artists.
As a closing thought, I like to cherish one or two lasting thoughts about Riverssance each year. One I will share in November. The other, on the lighter side, is this image that shows you (and Amy Taylor) can have your award and eat with it too.
~ Sherry
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LAST CALL: 2019 Exhibitions at MidCoast Galleries Call for Entries
Entry Deadline: October 3
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The deadline for the 2019 MidCoast Call for Entries is quickly approaching!
Deadline for submissions is October 3.
Artists will be considered for exhibitions at the Bucktown MidCoast Gallery in Davenport, Gallery West in Rock Island and Moline Centre Station.
Exhibiting opportunities for original art are open to artists residing within a 90-mile radius of the Quad Cities. Group shows are eligible.
Entries will be juried by a committee of MidCoast staff and board members. Selected artists will be given exhibition slots at one of the three sites for an approximate six-week period. Artists are responsible for transit and insurance.
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CALL FOR ENTRIES: Rock the Arts, Dec 7-8
Friday, December 7, 6-9 p.m.
Saturday, December 8, 12-3 p.m.
Entry Deadline: November 24
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The December
Rock the Arts will take place in a focused trio of Rock Island venues: the Desoto Building,
MidCoast Gallery West/The ARTery and Quad City Arts.
Demonstrations include the Quad City Wood Turners (wood turning) and Joel Knanishu (raku firing) at Desoto.
Artists may register to show their art works at booths or tables: $35 for an indoor space and table.
All fees will be pooled to market the December
Rock the Arts.
For registration information and form, contact Sherry at
info@midcoast.org or 563-424-1210.
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CALL FOR ENTRIES: Winter Ornament Contest at Bucktown
Entry Deadline: December 1
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Submissions are due December 1, and will be on display at Bucktown through Final Friday (December 14). Top prize is $100, with several additional awards.
Ornaments will be for sale, with proceeds going to support public art programs at Bucktown.
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SPACE AVAILABLE at Bucktown
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First floor casement
68" high x 53" wide x 22" deep; $55/month
Second floor suites
Suite 200: 454 sq. ft., $340/month
Suite 201a: 522 sq. ft. $392/month
Suite 201b: 749 sq. ft. $562/month
Suite 203: 966 sq. ft. $725/month
Suite 205: 815 sq. ft. $611/month
Suites 202-206: 2,030 sq. ft., $1,523/month
Leases will run through December 2019, with the option of month-to-month rental. Access 24/7, utilities included. Suites do not have individual sinks. There's access to second floor restrooms, as well as first-floor mail delivery. Visual artists are encouraged, other activity options, including office space, will be considered.
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Support the Arts. Support MidCoast.
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We're a non-profit community arts agency founded and run by artists. Our mission to stimulate our community's cultural and economic vitality through the support of regional visual arts and artists is accomplished by having amazing art-focused programming and events like Final Fridays, ArtWorks Expo and Riverssance Festival of Fine Art.
Donations can be
online or mailed to:
MidCoast Fine Arts
225 East 2nd Street
Davenport, IA 52801
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MidCoast Gallery West / The ARTery
1629 2nd Avenue, Rock Island
Open: Wed. - Sat., 11:30 a.m. - 5:30 p.m.
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Chris Clark and Joel Erickson
through September
Lori Miller and David Hast
October - November
Friday, October 12, 6-9 p.m., Opening Reception
Meet the artists while enjoying snacks, drinks, and live music!
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Gold Crow (mixed media) by Lori Miller
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Eating DNA (pen and ink) by David Hast
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Moline Centre Station
1200 River Drive, Moline
Open: Mon. - Fri., 6 a.m. - 7:30 p.m.;
Sat., 8 a.m. - 5:30 p.m.; Sun., 9 a.m. - 5 p.m.
This is the only art gallery in town that is open every day of the week!
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George J. Schlenker Photography
through September
Glen Lowry
October - November
Since childhood, Glen Lowry has been inspired by lively illustrations in children's books. Using a variety of media, he blends the boundaries of fine artist, illustrator and designer. He works in charcoal drawing, pastel, acrylic paint, digital drawing/painting and screen printing.
His images show "different animals in friendships to convey understanding the other, or diversity, by looking at all the types of animals around the world."
Lowry holds a BFA degree from the Minneapolis College of Art and Design.
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Bucktown Center for the Arts
225 E. 2nd St., Davenport
Open: Wed. - Sat., 11 a.m. - 6 p.m.
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Three Poets/Storytellers
Final Friday, September 28, 6-9 p.m.
6:30-7 p.m. -
Stephen Baldridge Louck, professor emeritus from Blackhawk College, author, playwright, and actor
7:15-7:45 p.m. -
Violet Eiting, poet
8-8:30 p.m. -
Shellie Moore Guy, poetic storyteller
Thanks to Gary Burlingame for planning the evening.
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MidCoast Bucktown Gallery
Jessica Teckemeyer
through September
Emma Farber Cunningham &
Barbara Toner
October 13 - December 1
Emma Cunningham’s main body of work is composed of imagined landscapes that mix representational and abstract elements. Her goal is to create art that “strikes a poetic balance between extremes and that calls upon the viewer's imagination to effectively ‘complete’ each scene.”
She utilizes a vibrant palette while playing with a myriad of painting strategies—“hard edges against soft ones, large brushy passages adjacent to smaller, more detailed ones, and smoothly blended wet-on-wet areas vs. choppy, layered sections.”
Her Bucktown exhibition works were inspired by the cosmos—nebulas, galaxies, and all sorts of colorful interstellar bodies. “Because I use my imagination to generate content, it seemed appropriate that I finally ‘look to the stars’ for inspiration.”
A graduate of Black Hawk College and St. Ambrose University, Cunningham received her MFA from Illinois State University and returned to the Quad Cities as an adjunct art instructor for both Black Hawk College and Scott Community College.
Barbara Toner was born in Philadelphia, but has lived in Bettendorf, for more than 30 years. She discovered the lure of fused glass creation shortly after her retirement, first dabbling in jewelry, then mastering mosaics and plates, and finally coral and floriform bowls, clocks and plates.
She notes, “I like to call my body of works for this exhibition
Fragile: Flowers and Nature in Glass. I've been excited at times with how glass can mimic the forms and fluid lines of trees, flowers and animals as it changes during the firing process. Straight lines become curvy, hard edges become rounded.”
Since glass is both a natural substance (silica) but is fragile in finished form like the environment, she sees the medium as an appropriate and exciting metaphor for thinking about protecting our world.
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Oct 13, 12-4 p.m.
Rock Island Artists’ Market
parking lot of Skeleton Key Art and Antiques
October 26, 6-9 p.m.
Artoberfest Final Friday
Beer and root beer tasting and chili cook-off
Bucktown Center for the Arts
November 24
Shop Small Saturday at
Bucktown, Centre Station and Gallery West
November 30, 6-9 p.m.
Final Friday Wine Walk
Bucktown Center for the Arts
December 14, 6-9 p.m.
Winter ornament competition awards &
music by a string quartet including
Bucktown artist Gwen Patton
Bucktown Center for the Arts
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Copyright © 2018 MidCoast Fine Arts. All rights reserved.
MidCoast Fine Arts
PO Box 4142 Rock Island, IL 61204-4142
225 East 2nd Street Davenport, IA 52801
MidCoast Fine Arts programs are partially supported by operational grants
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