Quad City Arts' Chalk Fest at Schwiebert Riverfront Park -- June 26 and 27.

Glorious colors and imaginative designs will be gracing the pavement of Rock Island's Schwiebert Riverfront Park in Quad City Arts' 2021 Chalk Art Fest, a June 26 and 27 weekend featuring live music, children's activities, food and drink vendors, and cash prizes, plus, eventually, the recognizable visage of rock legend David Bowie.

One of the most expansive exhibitions in the Davenport venue's recent history, with the works on display numbering well over 100, POP Power from Warhol to Koons will enjoy an engagement at the Figge Art Museum through September 19, treating patrons to explosions of color, unforgettable imagery, and specific artistic visions that have continued to capture the public imagination for more than 50 years.

The talents of a gifted painter with two masters degrees from the University of Iowa will be showcased in the latest exhibition at the Figge Art Museum, with the Davenport venue, through September 26, housing the exhibition Franklin Evans: Franklinsfootpaths, an installation that will explore elements of Evans' personal history in Iowa while also encouraging new ways of experiencing the Quad Cities museum.

A chat between two gifted artists and a sneak preview of a forthcoming exhibit are on the docket in a June 10 virtual program hosted by the Figge Art Museum, with the Davenport venue presenting New York artist Franklin Evans in a webinar conversation with local artist and University of Iowa professor Laurel Farrin, an event that will find the pair discussing their art practices, the materials they use, and the humor they find in making art.

Energetic, multi-hued works by an Arizona-based artist with significant ties to the Quad Cities will be on display in the next exhibition at the Beréskin Gallery & Art Academy, with the Bettendorf venue, through July 8, housing Tim Schiffer: Paintings within Paintings, a collection of arresting pieces created by the former executive director of Davenport's Figge Art Museum.

Works by one of the most gifted and prolific artists of the 21st century will be on display in the newest exhibition at the Figge Art Museum, with the Davenport venue, through August 22, housing Lesley Dill – Wilderness: Light Sizzles Around Me, a showcase for the talent whose wide variety of media including sculpture, print, performance art, and music explores the power of language and the mystical nature of the psyche.

One of the most popular recent series for binge-watching will be explored, and critiqued, in a special virtual presentation on May 20 with the Figge Art Museum's hosting of Why Did “Bridgerton” Erase Haiti?, Dr. Marlene L. Daut's webinar discussion of her article of the same title that examines the black aristocracy present in Haiti during the English Regency era, and how the Caribbean is often ignored by historical costume dramas such as Netflix's Bridgerton.

Praised by the New York Times for his “unblinking alertness” and delivering “a new kind of oddity and a renewed sense of provocation about painting,” a lauded artist will be the subject of the virtual May 16 presentation In Conversation: Jeremiah William McCarthy and Walter Hatke, in which McCarthy – the National Academy of Design's curator and co-curator of For America: 200 Years of Painting from the National Academy of Design speaks with Hatke about how his practice resonates with the work of the artists featured in the exhibition.

The multi-faceted experiences of individuals from America and abroad are being reflected in a pair of new exhibitions at the Quad City Arts Center, with the Rock Island venue, through June 18, presenting art on the walls, on the floor, and hanging from the ceiling courtesy of the Peter Xiao paintings in iNundATIONs and Ioan Marcu's mixed-media sculptures in Immigrants.

Many thanks to all who entered the River Cities' Reader’s Spring 2021 Photo Contest for which we received entries in the categories of "Life," "Liberty," and "The Pursuit of Happiness." Here are our winners and favorites. Thanks to all who submitted!

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