Visual Art

“People keep pulling up and then immediately driving away,” said a bemused Allison Lacher, one of the local organizers of the Terrain Biennial, which held its preview night Saturday in Enos Park, with festivities spread throughout the neighborhood. “That’s not usually the way things go at art openings – it’s a little disconcerting.” The Terrain […]

 Two of Springfield’s most reliable venues for contemporary visual art presented openings of very different exhibitions this past Friday, Sept. 8. However, only one of the venues will still be standing next year at this time. DEMO Project – a small gallery space dedicated to contemporary art from across the country, located on the Springfield […]

Since launching in the autumn of 2013, DEMO Project – the alternative art gallery located on the campus of the Springfield Art Association – has steadily developed a reputation regionally and nationally as a unique space for contemporary work, attracting artists working in a variety of approaches ranging from painting to sculpture to video to […]

Downtown Springfield Inc.’s image and design committee’s most recent project will come to fruition this Thursday evening with…a party in an alley. Of course, that’s not the whole story. Two young artists will unveil new murals, turning the alleyway between the Reisch Building and the Old Town Mall between Fourth and Fifth streets – immediately […]

The Springfield Art Association is currently in high gear with a unique exhibit featuring nearly 300 specimens of modernist furniture and décor. The SAA is also now hosting the first two visiting artists to participate in the recently established Enos Park residency program for visual artists. “Many [20th-century] designers and consumers rejected traditional styles and […]

This past Friday saw two concurrent opening receptions featuring eight artists spread across two galleries on the Springfield Art Association campus in the Enos Park neighborhood. Between the two exhibits, Springfield art appreciators were exposed to innovative work from artists based in Illinois, Iowa, Ohio and California. Camille Silverman credits the sense of hectic movement […]

A wildlife photo contest in Girard goes all out on teaching students to embrace nature photography. In its fifth year, the Robert L. McKemie Award for Photographic Excellence in Outdoor and Wildlife Photography, held at North Mac High School, has developed into an anticipated attraction. The top prize is a $200 scholarship, while second- and […]

The Pharmacy Gallery and Art Space’s most recent group exhibit,, which had a two-evening opening this past Friday and Saturday, is entitled “Bio-Region.” According to promotional material, the show’s theme is “how every person explores the creativity of their unique space.” As usual, each member artist in the Springfield-based group interpreted the common idea in […]

Springfield’s independent contemporary gallery known as DEMO Project is heading into its final year. The small building on the Springfield Art Association campus is expected to meet its long-ordained demolition in either the spring or summer of 2018, in order to make way for new SAA facilities. As the inevitable end approaches, however, the high […]

Self-described by founder and director Alex Martin as “DIY rogue theater,” Springfield’s  Absurdist People’s Theater Troupe would like nothing more than to shake things up in Springfield. “I went to Blackburn College and did theater for four years,” Martin said. “When I came back here to my home community and looked around at the different […]

A new exhibit at the Illinois State Museum (ISM) aims to introduce visitors to contemporary artworks.  “Just Good Art: The Chuck Thurow Gift” opened Feb. 4. It is a collection of modern paintings donated last year to the ISM by art collector Chuck Thurow. Thurow, a former executive director at the Hyde Park Art Center […]

On Jan. 14 the downtown YMCA hosted an event called the “Cookies & Canvas Monster Mash Up,” during which kids between the ages of six and 12 were encouraged to draw depictions of monsters (or other creatures – aliens were a popular choice). The resulting works were later handed over to the member artists of […]