Visual Art

 Art by Delinda Chapman The artists of The Pharmacy Gallery & Art Space will be hosting Pharm Aid this Saturday, October 3, from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m.. It is the nonprofit group’s second annual fundraising event with all proceeds benefiting The Pharmacy, which is in the process of applying for  501c3 status.  Art by Bernie […]

Tramp art radio cabinet. PHOTO COURTESY ILLINOIS STATE MUSEUM I always learn something when I visit the Illinois State Museum in Springfield. Walking through the new exhibit, “Spectrum: Selections from Fine and Decorative Arts,” I learned about the phenomenon of Tramp Art. In this show is a six-foot-tall cabinet carved out of wooden cigar boxes […]

Two-time IT cover subject David Brodsky is a wonderful photographer with an eye for the odd and striking moment and an impeccable instinct for both composition and mood. Starting tonight and running through August 31, Sangamo Club will host an exhibition of his photos. Read about David here, look at some of his work online […]

Kiddish Cup by Joy Stember, Abington, Pa. PhotoS courtesy SPRINGFIELD ART ASSOCIATION The Liturgical Arts Festival of Springfield is going strong after 20 years. That’s a feat for any nonprofit. That might be called a small miracle for a diverse group of people trying to arrange a week-long slew of events. But where there is […]

Member artist Jeff Williams and his painting “Velolincolnlandia” in The Pharmacy’s new upstairs studio space. PHOTO BY PATRICK YEAGLE Started in 2011, the once-scrappy art collective known as The Pharmacy is preparing to mount its eighth group show this Saturday, April 5. Fittingly entitled “Metamorphosis,” the exhibit is a progress report on a grass-roots group […]

Actor Jules Sitruk plays Joseph Silberg in The Other Son. Opportunities are springing up all over town to view entertaining and engaging foreign and independent films on the big screen. Here’s one that focuses on Jewish and Israeli culture. Springfield Jewish Film Festival begins Sunday, March 2, and takes place every Sunday in March at […]

Annie Leibovitz PHOTO BY GINNY LEE Legendary photographer Annie Leibovitz herself was in town last week for the opening of her new photography exhibit, “Pilgrimage,” at the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Museum. The exhibit features some 70 color photographs from her recent personal work. Known as a photographer of celebrities for Rolling Stone and Vanity Fair […]

“Blow ashes into flame. Start a brotherhood of your own. Live in the New City that is revealed to you, as we are living in our City and in the streets of our Tomorrow.” – Vachel Lindsay Renowned Springfield poet Vachel Lindsay’s 1920 novel, The Golden Book of Springfield, quoted above, expressed a romantic, utopian vision […]

There’s a new quilt coming to town and you’re invited to have your name embroidered on it. The Vachel Lindsay Home State Historic site and Vachel Lindsay Association are re-creating a century-old signature quilt that has 520 names of Springfield folk from 1912 on it. The original quilt was a gift to poet Vachel Lindsay’s […]

Carol Watts and Mary Selinski enjoyed a watercolor class together years ago. Neither could have guessed that in 2012-13 they would collaborate on a sizable statewide watercolor exhibit and contest. Carol owns Watts Copy Systems, headquartered at 2860 Stanton Ave. She and her late husband, Bowen E. “Skip” Watts, have supported the arts in central […]

Midway through the filming of Jump In, director Kimberly Conner of Springfield faced a day of personal reckoning. “We were on day five of a 10-day shoot,” she recalls. “My emotions were basically everywhere, I was facing my greatest fears.” It had become clear that the tightly budgeted film was going to require several more […]