The Business of Art
business of art: spark session
elevate your art, expand your reach
June 16, 2025
4:30-7:30pm
Pop-Up Chicken Shop
800 SW Adams St
Gallery Ready: How to Present, Promote, and Get Accepted
John Heintzman, Jeff Heintzman, Shannon Cox
Are you an artist ready to take the next step and share your work with a wider audience? This session will walk you through the essential steps to getting your art into galleries and juried fine art fairs. From building a professional portfolio and writing an artist statement to understanding what curators and jurors look for, you’ll learn practical tips and insider advice to help you navigate the art world with confidence. Whether you’re just starting out or looking to grow your exposure, this presentation will give you the tools to make your work gallery ready and fine art fair worthy.
From My Camera to the Gallery Wall
Natalie Jackson
If you’re ready to take your art from the confines of your studio and have it placed on gallery walls, come join me as I share practical strategies to help you do just that. I’ll be discussing how I’ve taken my work from being viewed on the back of my camera to being showcased in the front windows of galleries. Let’s talk about making your art visible, valued, and seen!
March 20, 2025
5- 6:30pm
Cafe Santa Rosa
Snacks and non-alcoholic beverages will be provided.
$25 per person
creative deductions: tax tips for artist
john and jeff heintzman
John and Jeff Heintzman are curators, collectors and educators here in Peoria. Both gained a passion for contemporary art while attending the University of Iowa.They serve as volunteer curators at the Peoria Art Guild — curating and installing exhibitions of local, regional and international artists. They conduct studio visits with artists and act as liaisons for the Mentor Arts Program (MAP), a college level studio course that they developed with Susie Best in the 1990s.John and Jeff were instrumental in moving the Fine Art Fair from Junction City to the Riverfront location 25 years ago. They also have been involved with Sculpture Walk Peoria since its inception ten years ago. They have conducted docent tours since it began.John Heintzman is a visual artist. His art practice centers on mark-making using varied techniques from graphite, torn paper and non-traditional materials to create collage drawings. His commitment to abstraction involves repetitive processes of composition and deconstruction inviting viewers to engage with interplay of form and meaning. He has exhibited nationally and internationally and published several catalogues and articles on contemporary art and artists. Together they have built a collection of Modern and Contemporary Art which is a promised gift to the Peoria Riverfront Museum. Their collecting efforts are focused on increasing appreciation and understanding of Contemporary Art in central IL.
Shannon Cox
peoria art guild
Shannon Cox is a visionary arts leader and the transformative Executive Director of the Peoria Art Guild. Since stepping into her role, she has revitalized one of Central Illinois’ oldest arts institutions, guiding it from financial uncertainty to a dynamic center of education, inclusion, and creative innovation. Through strategic board development, expanded programming, and an unwavering focus on community, Shannon has redefined what it means to lead in the arts.Under her leadership, the Guild now hosts hundreds of classes each year, welcomes thousands of visitors to exhibitions and events, and champions major initiatives like Sculpture Walk Peoria and the Peoria Fine Art Fair — a nationally recognized event that brings artists and audiences from across the country to the riverfront. She is the force behind programs like the Mentor Arts Program (MAP), which provides high school students with free, hands-on instruction from professional artists. Whether supporting emerging talent, bringing international works to local audiences, or designing inclusive community workshops, Shannon’s leadership is rooted in the belief that art should be accessible to all.
natalie jackson
Truth, Beauty, and Pride are the themes of photographer, Natalie Jackson’s work. They come together to tell gripping stories of Black life, past and present. Having lived in Chicago, St. Louis, Atlanta, and Charlotte, she gathered experiences, education, and history and returned to the Midwest. She has worked as a staff photographer for Good News Magazine in Atlanta, Georgia to a medical photographer for Soderstrom Skin Institute in Peoria, Illinois. Years after receiving a Marketing degree she went back to school to study photography, a lifelong passion. Her long time hobby quickly became a means for expression. Notable projects were a shoot for Art AIDS Africa, Jane Fonda’s Lost Boys of Sudan project, and a birthday shoot for jazz artist Freddy Cole. She currently resides in Peoria, Illinois where she sits on the Board of Directors at the Contemporary Art Center of Peoria and the Central Illinois Jazz Society. She has a studio and gallery in her father, artist, Preston Jackson’s building, the Contemporary Art Center of Peoria. She shoots, sells, and displays her artwork there. Her most widely known body of work, Crowns of Empowerment, is a love letter to the Black woman who is often neglected and disrespected. It is a series of empowering pieces, highlighting the importance of the Black woman’s role throughout history. This exhibition opened in the spring of 2017 and continues to travel and educate today. Solo exhibitions of Crowns of Empowerment in Time Gallery 2017, Contemporary Art Center of Peoria 2017, SAUK Community College 2019, Macomb Art Center 2020, and McLean County Art Center 2020. Solo exhibition, And Still I Rise, highlighted her work’s connection to The 1619 Project. Her piece, The Juxtaposition of Ebony, was purchased and presented to Treyvon Martin’s mother, Sybrina Fulton, at the Martin Luther King, Jr. Luncheon in January 2022, by the City of Peoria’s Employees for Community Concerns. She’s been awarded several photography awards including the Award of Excellence at the Peoria Fine Art Fair 2018, and First Place Photography in Decatur Fine Art Fair 2019 and 2024. She was a winner of Art Pop in 2019 and Sky Art in 2021 which resulted in billboards of her work displayed throughout the region for an entire year. She was selected as a juror for the Peoria Sculpture Walk in 2018 and Photography Exhibition at Buchanan Center for the Arts in 2020 and 2024. In 2022 she won the Purchase Award for her piece Triptych Warrior in National Juried Exhibition at Buchanan Art Center. In May 2023, her jazz art body of work, Straight, No Chaser, was a solo exhibit at the Buchanan Center for the Arts in Monmouth, Illinois. In 2024, she exhibited The Boldness of Being on Chicago’s Magnificent Mile. Her work was juried into the National Afro-American Museum and Cultural Center exhibition Black Joy, in 2024. She has produced two photo books of her most noted bodies of work, Crowns of Empowerment and Straight, No Chaser. In 2025, she has exhibited in SoNa Chicago Gallery’s Lightness of Being Exhibition, Galesburg’s Galex 58 National Competition, Chicago’s Woman Made Gallery’s 26th International Open Exhibition, and won this year’s Martin Luther King Drum Major Award for the Arts.
Special Thanks To:
