Follow Your Arts
"Memoir III"
by Peggy West
On July 20, 2023, my world came to an abrupt halt. I suffered six cardiac arrests on that day, and I am here only through the heroic efforts of my artist friends, my family, and Peoria’s outstanding medical community. My art practice before this event focused nearly exclusively on advocacy for our local flora and fauna, and a commitment to restoring native plants of our region. While this intention remains, following “the event,” my art shifted and grew into essential physical and emotional therapy: processing memory, percolating a new vision of life and eternity, managing fear, gratitude and regrets, reinforcing priorities, and confronting physical and emotional limitations. Building on skills and a body of work in botanical illustration, bookmaking, fine art, collecting, and collage, my invention of the “interactive book panel” became the visual and narrative manifestation of my life, health, joy, and recovery.
Gallery Hours:
Monday 9am – 5pm | Tuesday 9am – 1pm | Wednesday – Thursday 9am – 3pm | Friday 9am- 1pm
Peggy West
Peggy West studied printmaking and earned an MA in Museum Studies at Western Illinois University. She holds a certificate in Botanical Art & Illustration from the Morton Arboretum (Lisle, Illinois) and is a University of Illinois Extension Master Naturalist. She has taught Book Arts at Bradley University and is a member of the Colored Pencil Society of America, and the national Handmade Book and Cartonnage Clubs. Her artworks have been exhibited at the Lyme Art Association (Lyme, CT), Indiana Dunes National Park, Peoria Art Guild, The Contemporary Art Center of Peoria, The Foster Gallery, The Morton Arboretum, The Buchanan Center of the Arts, The Galesburg Arts Center, The Quincy Arts Center, The MAC (Macomb, IL), fine art fairs, museums, and private collections. Peggy maintains a print shop (Wild Type Press) and a home studio in Peoria, Illinois. She can be followed on Instagram @wildtypepress.
