Renaissance at the Art Association

Betsy Dollar’s fresh ideas for Springfield’s oldest arts organization

During the Middle Ages, the church used art in its cathedrals to draw the eyes of worshippers toward the heavens. Today, art is at the center of an effort to resurrect a blighted urban area once known

Artist to paint a five-story mural in pursuit of ArtPrize

Mike Mayosky needs a little help from his friends

Springfield artist and mural painter Mike Mayosky is always working on and promoting something. Our colorful local artist has something very big that he is promoting right now. He has entered the ArtP

The blacksmith as artist

See ‘L. Brent Kington: Mythical Metalsmith’ at the Illinois State Museum till Sept. 6

L. Brent Kington, professor emeritus at Southern Illinois University in Carbondale, is widely regarded as the father of blacksmithing as an art form. The Illinois State Museum is hosting a retrospecti

ObamaComics

A prescient presidential pastiche

“I’ve caught a lot of flak for it,” says Springfield resident Chris Ward, author of the nonfiction comic book Barack Obama. “It’s just divisive by nature. I get people sa

Let the arts take you on a spiritual journey

Though war, poverty and tough economic times have some of us living in a state of despair, the journey to peace and solace can begin with Springfield’s biennial Liturgical Arts Festival. Held Ma

Stranger in Paradise

The outsider art of Rev. Howard Finster on exhibit in Champaign

The Rev. Howard Finster produced more than 46,000 pieces of art before he died at age 84 in 2001. He was a man possessed, not by demons, but by the need to create art. He was a self-proclaimed “

Alaska visits Springfield in photos and artifacts

The work of Robert Glenn Ketchum at the Illinois State Museum

The eminent nature photographer Robert Glenn Ketchum has been photographing the Alaskan landscape for nearly 40 years and has become one of the most foremost photographers championing the environment.

Exhibition: Inspired photographs of poverty and hope in Africa

Seen through a camera lens is a world of extremes.Extreme poverty, disease and death. And then there’s the love, hope and courage it takes to remedy them.These are displayed through the images o

Bob Waldmire’s farewell tour

The artist and his love affair with the Mother Road

Last month Bob Waldmire made public what he has known for some time – that he has colon cancer and he probably won’t live much longer. Last Sunday, Nov. 22, “Bob’s Last Art Sho

Springfield’s universities co-host Russian artist’s American debut

In 1988, Sergei Chepik, a 35-year-old Russian, arrived in Paris, France, carrying only a canvas, his father’s easel and a painting banned from exhibitions in his homeland. A sign of things to co