Quad City Arts
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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.
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.
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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.

Melissa Airy Here, There, Where

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Ali Hval Disco Drops

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Melissa Airy Home Is So Far From The Rest of The World

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Ali Hval Tether and Lead

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Melissa Airy Elevation Palpitation

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Ali Hval Gunmetal Barroco

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Melissa Airy Explorations of Home

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Ali Hval Lover's Not

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Melissa Airy Just Keep Going

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Ali Hval Scalloped Peek-A-Boos

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Melissa Airy Foundational Intersections

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Melissa Airy The Land I'll Call Home

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Melissa Airy Come Home Safe

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Melissa Airy R. Dean Airy

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Melissa Airy Home Where / We R Home

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Melissa Airy 2022

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Melissa Airy Just Pick Up

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Ali Hval Stoplight Spotlight

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Ali Hval Something Worn, Something Blue

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Rock Island Gallery

The 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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Address

1715 Second Avenue
Rock Island, IL 61201
Get Directions

Hours

Mon–Fri: 10am–5pm
Sat: 11am–5pm
Closed Sundays
FREE ENTRY

Artist CALL For Entries 

View 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.
View all
​Calls for Entry

Interested in buying artwork? Don't hesitate to reach out for more details. For artists interested in participating in a gallery show, or selling artwork please contact us.

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DAWN
​WOHLFORD-METALLO

Visual Arts Director
309.793.1213 ext. 108
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Quad City Arts does not trade, share, or sell information that you provide to us. 

​Rock Island Gallery
​& Store Hours

Mon–Fri: 10a–5p
Sat: 11a–5p
Closed Sundays

CONTACT

Phone: 309.793.1213
Fax: 309.793.1265
info@quadcityarts.com
1715 2nd Ave, Rock Island, IL 61201

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ABOUT

Quad City Arts is dedicated to enriching the quality of life in the Quad City region through the arts. The organization’s dual role of presenting the arts and humanities, as well as serving as an arts resource, allows us to serve more than 350,000 people annually in the Arts Center in Rock Island and at over 200 rural and urban community sites.​

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© 2023 Quad City Arts is a 501(c)(3). Privacy Statement
  • About
  • Programs
    • Art Services
    • Visiting Artist Series & Educational Resources
    • Public Sculpture Program
    • Metro Arts Youth Apprenticeship Program
    • Arts Dollars Grant Program
    • 45th Annual High School Art Invitational
  • Events
    • All Events
    • Chalk Art Fest
    • Riverssance Festival
    • Performing Arts Signature Series (PASS)
    • Annual Celebration & Lloyd Awards
    • Festival of Trees
  • Galleries
    • Rock Island Gallery
    • Airport Gallery
    • Second Avenue Window
    • Past Exhibits
  • Opportunities
  • Blog
  • Support
  • Artist Index