Quincy philanthropist John Willis Gardner accomplished two goals in one stroke when he founded the Gardner Museum of Architecture & Design in 1977, preserving important pieces of Quincy’s history that otherwise might have ended up in landfills and saving a gorgeous stone Romanesque Revival structure that had been built in 1888 to house Quincy’s public […]
Arts Features
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art seen 3-3-05
It’s not often that two such eminent photographers as Bea Nettles and Fern Logan show their work in Springfield, let alone collaborate for a unique exhibit that celebrates women. Merge, their joint exhibit at the University of Illinois at Springfield, runs for another week, but today (5:30-7:30 p.m. Thursday, March 3), visitors get the opportunity […]
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backstage pass 3-3-05
How long has it been since a high-school show caused controversy? A few years ago, Springfield High School’s production of a harmless Gilbert and Sullivan operetta caused a stir when a female student was cast in a male role. And a few high schools around the country have received some ire by staging The Laramie […]
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Remembrance of things past
The Springfield Art Association shows off part of its outstanding collection of early-20th-century paintings at a special exhibit that continues through March 19. The show includes the first painting purchased by SAA, “Sardine Boats, Brittany.” The work by C. Arnold Slade, an internationally known artist at the time, was among several paintings displayed in the […]
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Taken by Take
A deliriously affectionate ensemble of actors is having a ball in Springfield Theatre Centre’s production of the 1930s comedy You Can’t Take It with You, by Moss Hart and George S. Kaufman, which concludes its run this weekend at the Center for the Arts (8 p.m. Friday and Saturday, 2 p.m. Sunday). Felicia Coulter must […]
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Two for the show
Visiting the art gallery on the second floor of the Illinois State Museum is comparable to discovering a cookie factory in your neighbor’s garage, two doors away. It may be the best-kept secret in central Illinois, thanks in part to the much greater fame of the museum’s outstanding natural-history collection. ISM’s gallery currently features two […]
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An unlikely canvas
It’s the darnedest thing: Landscape painter Marina Mangubi paints on two-by-four boards. That’s right, lumber. Her curious miniature panoramic scenes of rural Ohio and Oregon, as well as the French Riviera are on view in the Visual Arts Gallery at the University of Illinois at Springfield — and they are certainly worth a look. Mangubi, […]
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backstage pass 2-3-05
Many area theaters take the opportunity to present new and innovative works during the winter months, something I noted in my last column. The latest example of this trend is Born with a Veil, a work by local playwright Kari Catton Anderson that is being given a workshop production in the third-floor Club Room of […]
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Feats of clay
Call it destiny: Small-town girl or boy seeks fame and fortune in the big city and falls for an uptown opposite number, and the couple lives happily ever after. Lady Luck dealt a different hand to Gloria and Jerry Josserand, and they’ve parlayed that hand into considerable success as one of the most prolific partnerships […]
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Milo learns a lesson
The theater department at Parkland College in Champaign invites community members to participate in campus productions. By combining the talents of student and community actors, Parkland has been able to give us such outstanding recent productions as Assassins and The Laramie Project. This week, the college stages a play for young people, The Phantom Tollbooth, […]
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A glimpse back, a look ahead
Let me mention some of the many good things that happened on area stages in 2004 before taking a look at what’s planned for the Springfield-area theater scene this year. The Hoogland Center for the Arts is undoubtedly the main story of the arts community this past year. Not a week goes by in which […]
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Second coming
At first glance, the 80-plus paintings on display at Prairie Art Alliance are a circus of styles, techniques, and colors, ranging from black-and-white to psychedelic. What’s striking is the diversity of abstracts, dancers, wildlife, portraits, and skyscapes. More remarkable is the fact that all of these works were produced by one man: John E. Erickson. […]
