This week on Emphasis, Rich Egger’s guests are Susan Twomey, Executive Director of the Buchanan Center for the Arts in Monmouth, and Sean Genovese, President of the Board for the West Central Illinois Arts Center in Macomb. They talk about upcoming events at the arts centers.
(Editor’s note: Egger serves as Board Secretary for the WCIAC).
The Buchanan Center for the Arts
The Buchanan Center will host the 45th Annual Town & Country Show, February 16 – March 30.
“Basically it’s a show where school children can bring in a piece of art work and we hang it in our gallery,” said Twomey. She said the children come from Warren, Henderson, and Mercer Counties.
The Buchanan Center will also host an evening with writer Chad Simpson, author of the award-winning collection of short stories, Tell Everyone I Said Hi. It takes place Friday, February 22, 7:00 pm.
Twomey said the Buchanan Center will try something new in the spring with the exhibit From Agua Zarca to Monmouth. It is scheduled to open April 19.
“We discovered that a lot of families that live in our community and surrounding areas have come from a couple of the same towns in Mexico…and they’ve come here for generations,” said Twomey.
“I thought it would be a nice bridge to use that as the seed or the germination of thought for this exhibition to honor that portion of our community.”
The exhibit will explore religion, foods, festivals, and more. It is being developed on collaboration with Monmouth College and the Warren County Library along with local Mexican families.
A $5,000 grant from the Illinois Humanities Council will help make the exhibit possible.
The West Central Illinois Arts Center
The WCIAC’s new exhibit opened Thursday, February 7 and remains on display until March 2. It is called Funtemporary. It features a wide variety of work from five artists: Jason Ackman, Brenda Brosi Benson, Kim Kissinger Marino, John Selburg, and Mike Yager.
After that, the arts center will feature a show by printmaker Bill Howard.
“(He) has amazing work,” said Genovese. “He has techniques that he’s developed himself that I’ve never seen anywhere else. That should be an amazing exhibit.”
After that, the WCIAC will show the work of WIU students, followed by exhibits featuring the works of high school, middle school, and grade school students from around the region.
Last year, the WCIAC tried a new exhibit called A Few of Our Favorite Things. It proved to be so popular that it’s being brought back this year.
“The concept behind this one is we asked local dignitaries to choose something from their own collection to put on exhibit for the public for a while, along with a statement of why they’ve chosen it, its history, what it means to them,” Genovese said.
He said the exhibit will run June 3 – July 6 with an opening reception on June 7.
