Come visit our latest art exhibit at Peoria Public Library. Sanguine by the artist Feral.

The Mid-Illini art show celebrates the artistic talents and creative journey of our high school art students. Each artwork demonstrates the inspired vision, dedication, and potential of our emerging artists. We invite everyone to join us in recognizing the artistic achievements of our students.

Join us for the reception from 5-8 pm, April 25th.

The exhibition will be on view and open to the public April 20th-27th.

Gallery Hours: M – F, 9:00 – 4:00
Artist Reception: Thursday, May 2 from 5:00 – 8:00

Gallery Hours: M – F, 9:00 – 2:30; M – Th, 4:30 – 6:30
Artist Reception: Thursday, 5/2 from 5:00 – 8:00

Gallery Hours: M – F, 9:00 – 4:00
Artist Reception: Thursday, May 2 from 5:00 – 8:00

Gallery Hours: M – F, 9:00 – 2:30; M – Th, 4:30 – 6:30
Artist Reception: Thursday, 5/2 from 5:00 – 8:00

The Foster Gallery is excited to present “Imperfect Pears” by Betina Flemming with special guest artist Ann Klungseth.

This exhibition is a teacher’s reflection on the unique complexities of students who have passed through her class. Each of the ninety-seven distinctly painted pears in the show represents people, relationships, or cherished memories.

Reception: Friday, May 3, 5-8 PM
Live Music

Exhibition Dates: May 1 – May 26

Gallery Hours:
Sundays 8:30 AM-NOON
Monday through Friday – 9 AM – 1 PM
Other showings by appointment.

For additional information, call (309) 673-3641 or email [email protected].

Peoria Historical Society 60th Annual Rennick Art Show
The Old and the New: Envisioning Peoria History in New Ways
Variable Times
For more information, visit peoriahistoricalsociety.org or 309tix.com.

May exhibition in the Main Gallery at the Peoria Art Guild

Exhibition Statement:

Macrocosm, a collaborative exhibition by artists Jan Brandt, Kelly Hieronymus Whiting, and Krystal Kay Lyon, speaks to the wonderment of exploration, travel, observation, and connection to our surroundings.

Brandt’s lushly dense, botanically inspired fiber sculptures are installed on the wall in prolific color groupings reminiscent of seasonal changes. Hand cut, formed, and stitched, using many up-cycled components, these layered compositions offer a dimensional contrast to Whiting’s flatter, geometrically strong, topographically inspired woven “rugs” on the floor. The scale between Brandt’s overgrown sculptures and Whiting landscape paintings stretches the veil between big and small… a sense of vastness and connection to all things. Whiting’s work is tethered to the real world as it is inspired by her time traveling by air and car.

Krystal Kay Lyon provides woven, circular forms that fashion into large, human-like sculptures. These personas inhabit the world Brandt and Whiting have created. Playing with scale, Lyon’s work questions the interplay and importance between people and their surroundings. Viewers may perceive Lyon’s sculptures as stand-ins for themselves, or as an invitation to go deeper into the installation, to join Lyon’s sculptures to decipher the other artist’s visual decision-making.

This installation is meant to challenge the viewer’s perspective, as it would be challenged standing on the edge of a mountain. Perspectival changes in the installation lead the eye to look up, down, and around. Just as technology allows one to zoom in and out on a location, we intend to provide an immersive experience, sometimes literal, sometimes not, changing the gallery space into an adventure in discovery.

Join us for the opening reception of “Macrocosm: JAN BRANDT, KELLY HIERONYMUS WHITING, KRYSTAL KAY LYON” in the main gallery, and “Reaching: BRADLEY UNIVERSITY PHOTOGRAPHY CAPSTONE STUDENTS” in the Project Space Gallery.

Refreshments will be available as well as an opportunity to meet and visit with the artists.

Studios on Sheridan Resident Gallery features at least one new artist each month with music for a pleasant atmosphere. We invite you to stroll through the building, visit working studios, and galleries.

The Foster Gallery is excited to present “Imperfect Pears” by Betina Flemming with special guest artist Ann Klungseth.

This exhibition is a teacher’s reflection on the unique complexities of students who have passed through her class. Each of the ninety-seven distinctly painted pears in the show represents people, relationships, or cherished memories.

Reception: Friday, May 3, 5-8 PM
Live Music

Exhibition Dates: May 1 – May 26

Gallery Hours:
Sundays 8:30 AM-NOON
Monday through Friday – 9 AM – 1 PM
Other showings by appointment.

For additional information, call (309) 673-3641 or email [email protected].

May exhibition in the Project Space Gallery at the Peoria Art Guild.

Exhibition statement:
Reaching is the Bradley University Photography Senior Capstone exhibition showcasing work from artists Chrissy Boisvert, Dasha Duffy, Robert Morin, and Kristen Valley. While each artists’ mediums and subjects differ, they all share similar examinations of reaching for connection, understanding, and remembrance. Boisvert’s series features self portraits printed on interactive three-dimensional objects that the viewer can touch, wear, look through, and manipulate, breaking the barrier that usually stands between art and the observer.

Just as the viewer desires to reach out and touch the art, the art desires to reach out and touch the viewer back. Morin’s imagery sheds light onto the ephemeral nature of memories and the subconscious. Imagery coupled with an auditory experience explores discomfort, inner tension, uncertainty, and remembrance, seeking to deepen our understanding of the psyche. The imaginative nature of this series is discovered instead of captured. In the broader context of this exploration, Robert unearths inner trials and fluctuating emotions from both the past and the present. Duffy’s series represents universal experiences such as grief, love, and new adventures through collages of personal objects and recognizable iconography paired with inspirational phrases that can resonate with the viewer’s own experiences. Valley’s series highlights the connection between location and memories, using images collected over the last four years to show how memories breathe life into the spaces in which they were created. Overall, this exhibition investigates the impermanence of time, the lasting impressions of memory, and the barriers that inhibit connection.

Gallery Hours: M – F 9:00 – 4:00

The Peoria Art Guild announces the 2024 Sculpture Walk Peoria will be open for public viewing May 18, 2024. The outdoor public art exhibit will feature 8 new sculptures installed along both sides of Washington Street from the Peoria Riverfront Museum to the Bob Michel Bridge.
A jury of local community leaders and arts professionals selected the sculptures for this year’s exhibit from 539 entries submitted by 110 artists from across the countryand one from Ukraine.
The Opening Day Event will be held on May 18, 2024 at the Peoria Art Guild from 9-noon. You can join this free event to meet the artists, create art activities and enjoy live music with Sarah Marie Dillard. Food and beverage vendors will be on site as well.
The 2024 Sculpture Walk Peoria exhibit will remain in place until late spring of 2026. Printed maps will be available in brochure boxes along Washington Street, at the Peoria Art Guild and in the lobby of the Peoria Riverfront Museum. Additionally, the public can experience an audio tour narrated by the artists featured on this year’s Walk by going to the App Store and downloading the Otocast© App to their smartphone.
Sculpture Walk Peoria is an initiative of The Peoria Art Guild. It is coordinated with the support of the City of Peoria, and funded through the generous financial support of corporate and individual sponsors. Additionally, Sculpture Walk Peoria is made possible in part by a grant received from the Illinois Arts Council, Tax-deductible donations to support the future of this program can be made at www.peoriaartguild.org/.

Location- Bradley University – 834 N Duryea Place, Peoria Il

Harowitz Auditorium

May 30, 2024 – 7:00 PM

Peoria Art Guild in colaboration with Bradley University Department of Art & Design will present a performance of artist Bob Diven’s original one-man show “John Singer Sargent: Painting Madame X”.

Sargent’s Portrait of Madame X hangs in the Metropolitan Museum in New York City, and was recently featured on the cover of Artists Magazine as one of the top 10 portraits of all time.

Sargent – a child of expatriate Americans – was a rising young star of the Parisian art world at the age of 27 when he began the painting that would become the center of a scandal at the annual Salon of 1884. Deeply wounded by the criticism, he moved to London at the urging of Henry James. Sargent went on to become the most famous portrait painter of his time, and the once scandalous “Portrait of Madame X” became, in the end, his most famous and enduring image.

Now the artist Bob Diven has created a dramatic portrayal of the January evening in 1916 when (an older) John Sargent makes the decision to sell this portrait that he has kept from public view for over 20 years.

Written and performed by Diven, and directed for the stage by Tony Award-winning playwright Mark Medoff (Children of a Lesser God), this is a densely-packed 40 minutes of theater in which Sargent reveals the little-known story of his “Portrait of Madame X”. Immediately followed by a discussion (led by the performer/playwright) the entire program lasts one hour.

This is a unique opportunity to witness the life of an artist, written and performed by an artist. Bob Diven has been a professional working artist for over 44 years, working in both commercial and fine art. He is an award-winning painter and internationally published illustrator, as well as a musician and performer who lives and works in Las Cruces, New Mexico. More information on his work can be found at: www.bobdiven.com.

Peoria Art Guild Members and Student price is $15 with code- MADAMEX

May exhibition in the Main Gallery at the Peoria Art Guild

Exhibition Statement:

Macrocosm, a collaborative exhibition by artists Jan Brandt, Kelly Hieronymus Whiting, and Krystal Kay Lyon, speaks to the wonderment of exploration, travel, observation, and connection to our surroundings.

Brandt’s lushly dense, botanically inspired fiber sculptures are installed on the wall in prolific color groupings reminiscent of seasonal changes. Hand cut, formed, and stitched, using many up-cycled components, these layered compositions offer a dimensional contrast to Whiting’s flatter, geometrically strong, topographically inspired woven “rugs” on the floor. The scale between Brandt’s overgrown sculptures and Whiting landscape paintings stretches the veil between big and small… a sense of vastness and connection to all things. Whiting’s work is tethered to the real world as it is inspired by her time traveling by air and car.

Krystal Kay Lyon provides woven, circular forms that fashion into large, human-like sculptures. These personas inhabit the world Brandt and Whiting have created. Playing with scale, Lyon’s work questions the interplay and importance between people and their surroundings. Viewers may perceive Lyon’s sculptures as stand-ins for themselves, or as an invitation to go deeper into the installation, to join Lyon’s sculptures to decipher the other artist’s visual decision-making.

This installation is meant to challenge the viewer’s perspective, as it would be challenged standing on the edge of a mountain. Perspectival changes in the installation lead the eye to look up, down, and around. Just as technology allows one to zoom in and out on a location, we intend to provide an immersive experience, sometimes literal, sometimes not, changing the gallery space into an adventure in discovery.

May exhibition in the Project Space Gallery at the Peoria Art Guild.

Exhibition statement:
Reaching is the Bradley University Photography Senior Capstone exhibition showcasing work from artists Chrissy Boisvert, Dasha Duffy, Robert Morin, and Kristen Valley. While each artists’ mediums and subjects differ, they all share similar examinations of reaching for connection, understanding, and remembrance. Boisvert’s series features self portraits printed on interactive three-dimensional objects that the viewer can touch, wear, look through, and manipulate, breaking the barrier that usually stands between art and the observer.

Just as the viewer desires to reach out and touch the art, the art desires to reach out and touch the viewer back. Morin’s imagery sheds light onto the ephemeral nature of memories and the subconscious. Imagery coupled with an auditory experience explores discomfort, inner tension, uncertainty, and remembrance, seeking to deepen our understanding of the psyche. The imaginative nature of this series is discovered instead of captured. In the broader context of this exploration, Robert unearths inner trials and fluctuating emotions from both the past and the present. Duffy’s series represents universal experiences such as grief, love, and new adventures through collages of personal objects and recognizable iconography paired with inspirational phrases that can resonate with the viewer’s own experiences. Valley’s series highlights the connection between location and memories, using images collected over the last four years to show how memories breathe life into the spaces in which they were created. Overall, this exhibition investigates the impermanence of time, the lasting impressions of memory, and the barriers that inhibit connection.

Join us for the Peoria Art Guild Chalk Art Competition on Saturday, June 1, 2024, from 10:00 am to 3:00 pm at the Shoppes at Grand Prairie, where artists of all ages and skill levels will transform the pavement into stunning works of art!

Categories:

Under 10: Square size 3 ft by 3 ft
First Prize $100
Honorable Mention (2) $50

Age 10-16: Square size 3 ft by 3 ft
First Prize $200
Honorable Mention (2) $50

Age 17 and over: Square size 4 ft by 4 ft
First Prize $300
Honorable Mention (2) $50

Professional: Square size 4 ft by 4 ft
First Prize $500

Registration is open to all participants, with a registration fee of $15 for each square and $25 for professional artists. Check in at The Peoria Art Guild at #415 at the Shoppes at Grand Prairie on the day of the event to receive square assignment.

Must provide your own chalk.
Entry fees are per square. More than one participant can contribute to the artwork of the square, but all participants must fit within the age category, or will compete in the category of the oldest participant.

Judging will begin promptly at 3:00 pm on June 1, 2024. Winners will be contacted the following week.

Studios on Sheridan Resident Gallery features at least one new artist each month with music for a pleasant atmosphere. We invite you to stroll through the building, visit working studios, and galleries.

Studios on Sheridan Resident Gallery features at least one new artist each month with music for a pleasant atmosphere. We invite you to stroll through the building, visit working studios, and galleries.

Studios on Sheridan Resident Gallery features at least one new artist each month with music for a pleasant atmosphere. We invite you to stroll through the building, visit working studios, and galleries.