Rock island gallery
Featuring exhibitions by regional Midwest artists
Gallery Opening Reception
FRIDAY, JULY 8, 2022 | 6 - 8 pm | FREE Admission | Beverages will be Served
1715 2ND AVE, ROCK ISLAND, IL
Make plans to visit our Rock Island on Friday, July 8 between 6-8 pm to meet two up and coming artists and witness performance art.
See: performance art created in response to artist Melissa Airy’s quest to find a deep sense of home, and oversized, jewelry-like sculptures by Ali Hval.
See: performance art created in response to artist Melissa Airy’s quest to find a deep sense of home, and oversized, jewelry-like sculptures by Ali Hval.
ROCK ISLAND GALLERY
Melissa Airy & Ali Hval
July 1-August 12, 2022
From July 1 through August 12, 2022, Quad City Arts presents jewelry-like sculptures by Ali Hval and multi-media installations by Melissa Airy. The public is invited to attend the opening reception on July 8th from 6-8 pm to meet the artists and watch art performances. Refreshments will be served.
Come Home Safe
Melissa Airy
I have been on the quest to find a deep sense of home for far too long. I yearned for a location to settle in as home or maybe a person to act as home. I wanted a direction to follow to bring me the sense of familiarity of home. I hoped to possess a deep awareness of self to feel at home regardless of my external surroundings. After years of searching abstractly and conceptually, far from the home I grew up in, the pandemic made me settle. I stopped physically searching, but never stopped emotionally seeking what I needed most. Instead of finding home like I had originally desired, I decided to start creating the home needed. Regardless of how settled I may feel, the questions remained the same. Have I really found it? Did I take the long road to get here? Is this my final settling place? Regardless of the destinations of home, it has always been the signs, the signals, and the journey that point me in the right direction that hold more significance than the final destination.
Ali Hval
My work is a balancing act: one between the sensuality of forms and the innocence and playfulness of the materials I use: sparkling rhinestones, oversized plastic gems, feathery pom-poms, sumptuous fabrics, glossy vinyl, and liquid latex. I am interested in how women collectively and individually discover their sexuality through clothing, experiences, and relationships. My work is an ongoing attempt to explore ways to embrace my sexuality in ways that are liberating opposed to limiting and based solely on conditioned social and familial expectation. There is some in-between area that exists between these two extreme points on a spectrum, a balance I unearth in my work to understand the relationship to my body.
The sculptural wall pieces I make are an unconventional marriage between era-specific jewelry, bodily forms, objects of pleasure, and home decor. They embrace, highlight, and empower sensuality and femininity rather than hiding or denying it, as well as acknowledging the awkwardness, humor, and performance that can come with it. My pieces are interdisciplinary, joining the craft-based mediums of ceramics and fabric with painting and sculpture. I use ceramics in an unconventional way where I begin a piece by creating a high-fired ceramic component then add rhinestones, fabric, and eyeshadow mixed into paint to create a finished piece. The forms I use reflect my interest in adornment and the relentless critique and politicization of the body: they imply bodies, brooches, earrings, and nipple tassels, among other adornments.”
Come Home Safe
Melissa Airy
I have been on the quest to find a deep sense of home for far too long. I yearned for a location to settle in as home or maybe a person to act as home. I wanted a direction to follow to bring me the sense of familiarity of home. I hoped to possess a deep awareness of self to feel at home regardless of my external surroundings. After years of searching abstractly and conceptually, far from the home I grew up in, the pandemic made me settle. I stopped physically searching, but never stopped emotionally seeking what I needed most. Instead of finding home like I had originally desired, I decided to start creating the home needed. Regardless of how settled I may feel, the questions remained the same. Have I really found it? Did I take the long road to get here? Is this my final settling place? Regardless of the destinations of home, it has always been the signs, the signals, and the journey that point me in the right direction that hold more significance than the final destination.
Ali Hval
My work is a balancing act: one between the sensuality of forms and the innocence and playfulness of the materials I use: sparkling rhinestones, oversized plastic gems, feathery pom-poms, sumptuous fabrics, glossy vinyl, and liquid latex. I am interested in how women collectively and individually discover their sexuality through clothing, experiences, and relationships. My work is an ongoing attempt to explore ways to embrace my sexuality in ways that are liberating opposed to limiting and based solely on conditioned social and familial expectation. There is some in-between area that exists between these two extreme points on a spectrum, a balance I unearth in my work to understand the relationship to my body.
The sculptural wall pieces I make are an unconventional marriage between era-specific jewelry, bodily forms, objects of pleasure, and home decor. They embrace, highlight, and empower sensuality and femininity rather than hiding or denying it, as well as acknowledging the awkwardness, humor, and performance that can come with it. My pieces are interdisciplinary, joining the craft-based mediums of ceramics and fabric with painting and sculpture. I use ceramics in an unconventional way where I begin a piece by creating a high-fired ceramic component then add rhinestones, fabric, and eyeshadow mixed into paint to create a finished piece. The forms I use reflect my interest in adornment and the relentless critique and politicization of the body: they imply bodies, brooches, earrings, and nipple tassels, among other adornments.”
BROWSE & SHOP THE GALLERY
We offer curbside pick-up or shipping (Shipping starts at $40, call for a shipping estimate).
For more information contact Visual Arts Director Dawn Wohlford-Metallo.
For more information contact Visual Arts Director Dawn Wohlford-Metallo.
Rock Island GalleryThe Quad City Arts Gallery is home to an exhibition space located on the first floor. The building, which was once a turn-of-the-century department store, features hardwood floors, and a fourteen foot-high ceiling. The exhibition space is more than 1,500 sq. ft., a perfect space to showcase large paintings, sculptures and enjoy an occasional performance.
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Artist CALL For EntriesView our latest call for entries and submit your work! Quad City Arts provides a multitude of locations to display and exhibit artwork. Join countless of artists that have exhibited in our galleries in our 50 year history. Most call for entries at Quad City Arts are free and open to midwest artists.
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