A.B. Art creates poetry, performance art, photography, collages, comics and drawings to document the long history of LGBTQ persons feeling erased, hidden or shamed.
The act of writing civilized humanity. When we learned to take that which is indescribable and capture part of it in time in a permanent way, then transmit that to another person, commerce grew and cities flourished.
In an age of screens and keyboarding, when kids hardly learn cursive anymore, fountain pens — along with their old-timey accoutrements like blotters, bottled ink and fancy nibs — are making a comeback. There are jazzy new colors and styles, and an array of affordable options.
Among the many exciting events taking place at Cedarhurst Center for the Arts in Mount Vernon this year, one of the most awe-inspiring and entertaining is the Raku pottery firing that happens just a handful of times each year.
From humble beginnings, an artist was born.
Rachel Malcolm Ensor
Loren Herold’s life story reads like the plot of a modern day, charming tale. A city girl moves to the countryside, embraces the surrounding natural landscape and wildlife, all while rediscovering hidden talents that prove to be rewarding and prosperous.
Thirty-five years ago, Joan Skiver-Levy viewed a program on PBS in which a female artist was creating paintings with a pallet knife. Inspired by the technique and confident that she could master it on her own, Levy went out and purchased the materials necessary to begin painting. What has tr…
If you ask an artist to name the driving force behind their creations, what their inspiration is, you would likely get a wide array of compelling and complex answers.
Tom Ulrich, esteemed wildlife photographer, was the embodiment of wonder and adventure. Described by life partner, Linda Martin, as “a rugged man with a soft-spoken voice,” he was loved and revered by those that knew him. Since 1975, he photographed more than 2,500 species, had his work feat…
When Brianna Pay (née Presley), artist and Art Specialist/Teen Coordinator for the Boys & Girls Club, moved to Carbondale from Japan in November 2015, something about the transition seemed inevitable. After all, her family migrated to Southern Illinois in the 1800s. Raised in a military …
Peter Toth is swinging his mallet into a chisel which rings as it digs in to the wood. For those of you unfamiliar with the statue, it depicts a Chickasaw Chief whose name translates as “to have understanding,” stands 35 feet tall, and is carved from a 56,000-pound piece of Red Oak. Toth car…
Carbondale newcomers Henry Neubig, and his wife, Linda, have both worked extensively with mud.
Loud bell instruments, messy paint and wild laughter. When instructors Jennifer Sarver and Carrie Gibbs arrive to work Wednesday mornings at Cedarhurst Center for the Arts in Mount Vernon, they know controlled chaos is in short order — the good kind.
An elephant on a roller coaster, riding off into a rosy sunset. Blue-spotted giraffes craning over buildings in a strange city. A crowned whale swimming otherworldly depths. These are just a few of the works that have sprung from the distinctive imagination of Erin Alice Gray.
Dave Dardis is the quintessential artist, a man who chose his art in tandem with his lifestyle way back when, and has been the way he is since anyone around here has known him.
Jennifer Johansson is an artist. She creates mixed-media wall art, along with prints and illustrations that she uses on greeting cards, buttons, calendars and throw pillows. Some of her favorite subjects are birds and unique chairs, which are featured on many of her pieces. She also loves dr…
Stephen Grimmer is an artist who has recently returned to his roots in Southern Illinois, and his art, ceramics and pottery. He and his wife, Kristie, own Alto Clay Works in Alto Pass, home of Steve’s studio, a showroom featuring his handmade functional pottery, a classroom for adult and you…
Walk into artist Renée Mavigliano’s Carterville home and everywhere you look, on almost every wall, there is art, almost all of it hers.
Tim Shepherd is a glass artist, but embodied in that brief description is a world of swirling colors and truly breathtaking art, something most of us can only stand back and admire. But, to Tim, this is his world. He lives in it almost every day, as he heats and shapes and creates his work, …
Kyle Kinser is an artist, a craftsman and a woodworker, but that doesn’t really come close to describing what he does. Kinser makes one-of-a-kind, high-end, hand-made furniture that is so unique and beautiful it will take your breath away. And, it’s made so well that each one is an heirloom …
Stained-glass artist. Mixed-media specialist. Collegiate instructor.
Sometimes, to truly appreciate the present, one has to understand the past.
Molly Groom Alter knew from an early age that art was her calling. It wasn’t until many years later that she found her preferred medium: Metal.
Tucked away on a Murphysboro side street is a historic home inhabited by an innovator with an eye toward the future. Rachel Malcolm Ensor is a self-proclaimed “modernist” with rich educational and professional backgrounds as diverse as the eclectic collages hanging in her Burton Studio Schoo…
Steven Martin’s career and passion began with an acorn.
When Polly Mitchell accompanied other SIU University Museum patrons to Saint Louis Art Museum many years ago, she didn’t walk away as much in awe as her traveling partners.
The world is Christine Deshazo’s gallery, but while hundreds of people see her work each day, very few likely even know it.
World travel has been a part of Burghilde Gruber’s life from the very start, and as she aged and set out across lands both familiar and unknown, each stop along the way influenced both her life and her art.