Maquoketa Art Experience
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email:
info@maquoketa-art.org

563•652•9925
124 S. Main St
mail: PO Box 993
Maquoketa, IA 52060

Open Tuesday through Friday from 11am-5pm, Saturdays and Sundays: 12-4pm.

shows and events
The Juggler: An Illustration Exhibit by Stormy Mochal

   

December 10-January 11
Opening Reception & Book Signing
Friday, December 16, 2011
6-8 p.m.


Stormy Mochal

Maquoketa Art Experience welcomes Iowa artist Stormy Mochal this December for an exhibition of the original drawings from her recently published storybook, written by Jeanette Hopkins, entitled The Juggler. In her illustrations, Stormy explores her native Iowa landscape for inspiration for the illustrations. The Juggler’s pages are filled with the colorful simple pleasures of starry skies, country sides, farmhouses, and birds. Stormy Mochal received her degree in painting from Loras College, has taught at Northeast Iowa Community College, and is the co-owner of Outside The Lines Art Gallery in Dubuque. The Juggler, published by Ice Cube Press is her first children’s book.

Maquoketa Art Experience will host an opening reception and book signing for Stormy Mochal on Friday, December 16 from 6-8 p.m. at 124 S. Main Street in Maquoketa. The exhibit will run through January 16, 2012.   


past events





If you were unable to attend the Fundraiser on Dec 2nd, please consider making a tax deductible donation to Maquoketa Art Experience, a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization by contacting Paula Neuhaus at 563-652-9925, or you can make a donation by credit card or PayPal by using the button below:



Saturday | November 19
Holiday Art Ornament Making

11 a.m.-1 p.m.
Free!



Help us decorate our holiday tree!  YOU will create an ornament from recycled materials & hang it on MAE's tree or take it home with you.

Join us all day for Maquoketa Chamber's "It's a Wonderful Life in Maquoketa" Holiday Event. Shop a variety of holiday vendors at MAE from 9 a.m.- 5 p.m!





“Drips + Daubs: Painters Mary Zeran & Dena Tollefson Explore Nature”



October 4-November 4, 2011
Opening Reception
Friday, October 7, 6-9 p.m.

   

Regional artists Mary Zeran and Dena Tollefson have created an exhibit that explores what it means to examine nature. Their paintings are about acts of exploration, seeing things in a new way.  Although their methods and materials are different, the common link is their innovative approaches to leaving a mark on a surface.  The marks are daubs of color, and layers of drips.  They combine these marks to create a bigger picture. Both artists are adventurers in color, exploring the palettes found in nature and in imagination, delighting in combining the two to make something new and fresh.


ROSE FRANTZEN:
PORTRAIT DEMONSTRATION FUNDRAISER FOR MAQUOKETA ART EXPERIENCE

JUNE 11, 2011



Thanks to all who were able to attend and support MAE!

At our special fundraiser on June 11th, nationally-acclaimed artist Rose Frantzen painted a portrait of the lucky person in the audience whose name was drawn.
  This fundraiser will help Maquoketa Art Experience to create a permanent home for Frantzen’s 180 paintings of her townspeople, Portrait of Maquoketa, which was shown at the Smithsonian National Portrait Gallery in Washington, DC from November 2009 to July 2010.

This informative, art-filled day allowed the audience to watch Rose at work, sharing stories, discussing her painting process, and responding to questions from the audience.  The event also featured a wine tasting by Tabor Home Winery, wonderful hors d'ouevres, and our current portrait show with wood sculpture portraits by Fred Cogelow and by Rick Harney, alla prima oil portraits by Rose Frantzen, and mixed media portraits by Chuck Morris and by Heidi Draley McFall.  



Rose Frantzen's portrait demo in front of an audience of 700 people at the Portrait Society of America national conference in Washington, DC, April, 2010.


Left: Rose competing in the Portrait Society of America's Face-Off portrait painting contest, which she won over 14 other nationally acclaimed portrait artists.  Right: Rose speaks in front of Portrait of Maquoketa at the Smithsonian National Portrait Gallery.  Click here for a video of Rose's Gallery360 talk a the NPG.


SINDI MUELLER EXHIBIT
April 1 through May 31, 2011
124 S. Main Street



Maquoketa Art Experience welcomes Sindi Mueller to the MAE Artist-in-Residence Program with an opening reception on Friday, April 1. Sindi Mueller’s exhibition entitled “Unveiling” offers an exploration of kinetic photography and a study in rural and urban landscape photography. Sindi’s kinetic work, photography in which the camera is moved while the shutter is open, captures light, color, motion, and abstraction. Her landscape work explores color, shape, light, and texture of nature in her home state of Iowa, as well as the magnetism of the Chicago urban landscape.  Sindi's landscape images have been published in the Maquoketa Sentinel Press and Bellevue Herald Leader. Her first solo exhibit was held at Darkroom in Chicago entitled "Seduced by the Darkness" in December of 2010.

Works by Brent Houzenga
featuring HYBRID PIONEER, a film by Kristian Day



Iowa artist Brent Houzenga's mixed media works are influenced by modern art, comic books, graffiti, and punk rock poster art. Houzenga’s work offers an eclectic mix of painting styles incorporating drips and graffiti with stencils on found objects including reclaimed windows, rustic frames, and antique photographs. The artist has exhibited throughout Iowa and across the U.S. including the Alcove Gallery in Atlanta, Georgia, The Hive Gallery in Los Angeles, and Art Whino Austin at Seventy-Seven Gallery in Austin, Texas. The exhibit also featured ongoing screenings of Hybrid Pioneer, a documentary film about Brent Houzenga and his work by Des Moines film maker Kristian Day. 

"Death and Such"

Maquoketa Art Experience artists/musicians/writers and such made interactive boxes with openings to stick your head inside or crawl inside... a sort of haunted houses for your head filled with images, sounds, and words suitable to the season. 

Terry Rathje Sculpture and Digitalia

Maquoketa Art Experience presented the work of Terry Rathje, artist and professor at Western Illinois University. Terry's art covers a wide range, including sculptural assemblages of discarded objects, interactive installations, and digital images.


The outside world contains many amazing things- natural phenomenon, ancient ideas, discarded objects, people in love, and communication on many levels. The world inside us is equally interesting and contains another world- one made up of flesh and blood and which also contains misinterpretations, genetic propensities, events colored by experience, and a mental junkyard that contains memories waiting to be retrieved or abandoned. Things in this internal world are always linking to each other and to the outside world, inspiring new forms. Technology is a great tool for realizing these forms, but imagination is the most important. 
-Terry Rathje

                      

Arthur Geisert's Etchings

Maquoketa Art Experience presented over 70 of Arthur Geisert's art history related cartoon etchings, which were created for art calendars over the course of ten years.

Geisert practices the 500-plus-year-old technique of copper plate etching. He is an artist and illustrator with many books in print in several languages. His publishing credits include “Hogwash,” “Nursery Crimes,” “The Giant Ball and String,” and “Lights Out,” many telling stories strictly through visuals. His works have been featured in national publications such as “The New Yorker” and have been on display in the Art Institute of Chicago, the National Museum of Art in Washington D.C. and the Figge Art Museum in Davenport, IA.

    

photo by tony schmidt

                              

                      

Guitarist Chris Davis' Performance

Maquoketa native, Chris Davis' show at Maquoketa Art Experience brought in a crowd to hear a collection of classical songs performed live.Chris holds a Bachelor of Music degree in Guitar Performance and Music Business from Drake University, and is currently pursuing graduate studies in guitar performance. 


                      

"What Figures to be Art" by Charles Morris

 
Morris exhibited his hand-painted slide mounts with images from art history books viewed through magnifying glasses.









On June 27th, 2009 Maquoketa Art Experience participated in Timber City Days with an open collaboration on a large canvas in our new exhibition/workshop space at 124 S. Main.  All visitors were invited to add to the painting.  Wine tasting was offered by both Tabor Home Winery and Brush Creek Winery.  Works on paper from MAE’s weekly drawing session were available for purchase.  Red Henton provided musical entertainment.

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Maquoketa Art Experience held its first Holiday Art Walk in downtown Maquoketa, the day after Thanksgiving, November 28th, 2008 from 5 to 9pm.  Three new fine art spaces downtown and the Old City Hall Gallery were open to the public and featured drawings and paintings by artists including Rose Frantzen, Charles Morris, and Thomas Metcalf.  Brush Creek Winery provided a wine tasting at The Drawing Room, 103 S. Main St., where works on paper from MAE’s weekly drawing session were available for purchase.  The Thomas Metcalf Studio at 106 S. Main, and The Charles Morris Studio at 103 E. Platt St. were open and featured exquisite drawings and paintings by each artist.  Frantzen’s acclaimed oil paintings were seen at Old City Hall Gallery, 121 S. Olive.

Throughout the evening, the artists were present to discuss their works with visitors.  Musical entertainment was provided by Scott Dalziel at The Drawing Room.

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On June 28th, 2008 Maquoketa Art Experience participated in Timber City Days by placing a large canvas on the sidewalk outside of our workshop space at 103 S. Main, inviting anyone to add to the painting. Black, white, and gray paint were used to create a sprawling, somewhat surreal landscape.  The whole process was videotaped intermittently to capture the painting coming to life.  Raffle tickets were sold for the finished painting and a DVD of the video.  The winner was Heather Rickertsen.

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Maquoketa Art Experience hosted an Open House Reception on Friday, May 30th, 2008 from 5 to 8pm at 103 S. Main, Maquoketa to introduce the public to the activities and objectives of the Maquoketa Art Experience.  The event was open to the public, who had an opportunity to meet and observe established and resident artists in a drawing session.

Drawings by artists Rose Frantzen, Chuck Morris, and Thomas Metcalf were sold, and an auction was held for a live drawing session.  The highest bidder in the auction, Angela McColley, became the model and received the drawings that Frantzen, Morris, Metcalf, and Nikko Francois drew from 7 to 8pm.









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