Wednesday, September 4, through Monday, October 28
Quad City Arts International Airport Gallery, 2200 69th Avenue, Moline IL
Collages, paintings, and inventively crafted birdhouses will all be on display in the Quad City Arts International Airport Gallery from September 4 through October 28, with the venue boasting featured works by Amber Williams and Carla Markwart, as well as colorful and functional birdhouses created by 20 artistic talents based in the Quad Cities.
Williams creates fascinating collages out of repurposed magazines and paper, and in her new series titled Paradise & More, she employs many themes in her work including aquatic, landscapes, and animals. Her compositions have an incredible amount of detail and her color palette is stunning, filled with a menagerie of patterns and texture. As Williams explains in her artist statement at AmberWilliamsArt.com: “Continuously I find myself drawn to the outdoors. It's where I go to unplug, to think over a problem, or to put things back into perspective. My current work is encouraged by everything from the deep canyons cutting into the Colorado Plateau to the alpine lakes found in the Rocky Mountains. I strive to capture the essence of what my personal experience was like in each location. If it was a wide expanse that made me feel small or a texture of a rock that pulled me in, then that's what I focus on. I simply hope to provoke the array of emotions that people often experience n nature so that I can help bring attention to how important these places are to all of us.”
Markwart creates brilliantly colored acrylic paintings on paper and canvases, with her later pieces depicting abstract versions of downtown Chicago, where the artist was born. Her work has an architectural flair and draws the viewer in with her many angles, shapes, and bright colors. In her own artist statement at CarlaMarkwart.carbonmade.com, Markwart says, “I find I am always trying to figure out how lines that define shapes also create a pattern that flattens out the world. Looking at maps, I see space; looking at space, I see patterns I want to map. By limiting myself to straight lines in this series (with a few curves allowed in), I am making the edges into interlocking shapes, trying to make an overall pattern using only lines. Color is the element that allows in the irrational. After working from observation in a traditional way for many years, I don't find the slowness of mimetic painting refreshing anymore. I'm still looking at the same old things, but I'm trying to put more into each painting: more space, more color, more clarity. In each one, I get a little closer.”
Adding whimsy, creativity, and imagination to the latest Quad City International Airport Gallery exhibit are colorful and fascinating birdhouses by more than 20 Quad Cities artists, including: Dorothy Beach, Kelly Bird, Michael Bird, Rick Frels, Carolyn Kruger, Philip Laber, Lisa Mahar, Ryan McGuire, Amy Neilson, Kristin Quinn, Megan Quinn, Gail Ray, Kelly Schrader, Steve Sinner, Kathleen Washington, Skip Willits, Bill Wohlford, Dawn Wohlford, Bruce Wood, Peter Xiao, and David Zahn.
The Quad City International Airport Gallery is located opposite the airport's gift shop and restaurant, there is a $1 fee for parking, and more information on the Amber Williams and Carla Markwart exhibits on display from September 4 through October 28 is available by calling (309)793-1213 extension 108 or visiting QuadCityArts.com.
