On Friday, June 6, 2025, from 5:30 to 7:30 pm, the Western Illinois Museum invites the community to an immersive evening of sound and visual art, featuring the work of composer James Romig and ceramicist Ian Shelly. In this unique program, the Museum’s garage space becomes an active participant in the experience, shaping how visitors hear the resonance of Romig’s composition and encounter Shelly’s artwork, which is interwoven among the Museum’s historical artifacts. The result is an invitation to listen, wander, and discover.
Doors and the bar open at 4:30 pm. The program begins with an artist talk at 5:30 pm, followed by music at 5:45 pm. A $5 donation is suggested at the door.
Romig’s 2021 composition, Spaces, performed live by percussionist Tony Oliver on vibraphone, will unfold as a sound installation. Audiences are welcome to listen from the comfort of the Museum’s front porch or move freely among the artifacts as the music reverberates through the garage.
Spaces is a modular work for solo vibraphone that can be performed in up to eight iterations. Each iteration comprises three strands of regularly occurring pulses that intersect and evolve at slightly different speeds. Listeners are invited to experience each musical moment as both a glimpse of what lies ahead and a dream-like memory of what has passed.
Meanwhile, ceramicist Ian Shelly’s interactive visual exhibit, Settlement, consists of recent mixed-media, three-dimensional works placed among the Museum’s collection of historic items—hutches, post office shelves, farm equipment, vintage kitchen appliances, and other artifacts from the region. A printed guide will help visitors discover these pieces at designated “waypoints” throughout the space.
“When I walk into the Western Illinois Museum, I enjoy getting lost in the carefully cataloged shelves of artifacts as well as the warehouse of centuries of odds and ends. This is also how my newest works have come together—I live in this community, I discover things, I make things, I respond to shapes and textures—I attach, I remove, I form, I destroy, I preserve... I repeat.”
— Ian Shelly
Viewers of Settlement are encouraged to search for Shelly’s objects and the vignettes he creates, forming connections between his artwork and the rich textures and forms found throughout the Museum’s collection.
Both works—Settlement and Spaces—will interact with the garage’s raw, resonant acoustics and its industrial yet historic and inviting atmosphere. Shelly’s sculptures will be installed within the architecture of the space, illuminated by found lamps and exposed fixtures, while Romig’s music animates the environment, inviting visitors to rest and reflect—or wander and explore.
