Current Happenings:

GENESEO FINE ART EXHIBIT 2025 - The show opened on May 4 at The Cellar Restaurant and our Gallery and will remain open during regular hours (Th. - Sat. from 10:30 to 3 at our gallery and Wed.-Sun. 5-9 p.m. at The Cellar) through May 27. We have 16 student artists exhibiting this year from three local high schools: Geneseo, Rockridge and Mercer County. Also 22 adults entered. Below and at right are photos of the award winners from the May 4 reception.

Marinn Cisna of Galva, IL is pictured with her Best of Show entry, “Bringing Her Home” done in oil.

Pictured above left are Tessa Wilebski of Geneseo, who received the 2nd Place/Shirley Burnett Memorial award for her entry “A Neighboring Castle” in pencil. At right is Serina Nimrick of Geneseo, with her Youth Excellence 1st winning entry “Spring Blooms”, done in acrylic.

Pictured above left are Aryanna Stahr of Andalusia with her entry “Made in U.S.A.” (graphite/colored pencil) which received the Youth Excellence 2nd award and at right Lexi Gordon of Geneseo with her 3rd Place/Dick Carlson Memorial award winning entry “Still Life” (acrylic).

Pictured here are Jackson Parchert of Rock Island, at left, with his graphite entry “The Blessing of Davion” which received the Youth Honorable Mention 1 award, and Joyce Mattan of Geneseo with her oil pastel “Moon Over the Barn”, Honorable Mention 1 award.

Upcoming Event: We will be holding a group exhibit at the Clinton River Art Center in July and August. Stay tuned for the opening date and make a trip to visit this gallery!

Recent events: Artwalk 10 in Geneseo was a blast! Many people were in the gallery to see Joyce Mattan working in pastel, Karen Vroman doing copper tooling and Les Hoste working in watercolor. We were also taking art in so it was a busy day but weather was wonderful!

Below are some past fun photos from events. :-)

New member Jeanne O’Melia presented two Chinese Brush Painting classes in March. Above is Jeanne (in red hat! :-) ) with the class attendees and their work.

Members, clockwise from top left, Elaine Hofman, Mary Copersmet, Joyce Mattan, Sharon Michaelsen, Lexi Gordon and Les Hoste on a gallery studio day.

Karen Vroman photographing our cyanotype class projects for our FaceBook page. Class was great fun!

Sharon with a pastel of our mascot, Clancy. He has crossed the Rainbow Bridge but is not forgotten. <3

 

Mike Lawrence of Rock Island is pictured here with his 3-Dimensional Award winning entry “Box of Antiquities.”

Karen Vroman of Erie is pictured with her watercolor “Chickens in the Cornfield” which received the Honorable Mention award. Karen is quite talented with her use of negative space and turns it into something so positive!

Sunny Roberts of Seaton, IL is pictured here with her photograph “Milky Way at Midnight” which received the Youth Honorable Mention II award.

Two award recipients were unavailable for photos. They include the Honorable Mention 3 recipient, Rick Lodmell of Wilton, IA for his acrylic painting “Stark” and Kathy Williams of Waterloo, IA for her photograph “Daddy/Daughter Dance-Age 4”. Congratulations to all of the award winners and many thanks to all of the entrants!!

This exhibit involves alot of work but it is SO REWARDING to see the work entered and celebrate the artists who are creating such wonderful work!

Our thanks to Geneseo Foundation, The Cellar Restaurant, Central Bank Illinois, Wyffels Hybrids, Inc. and Vorac Pharmacy in addition to Blick Art Materials for their sponsorship. They and our patrons and members are greatly appreciated!!

Our thoughts go out to the family of member Warren Hadley who passed away on 2/14/2025. Warren was a great man and talented artist and will be missed.

 Member Shirley Burnett passed away in late October, 2024 and is also missed for her great spirit and talent.

This Just In: The Geneseo High School Awards Night was held on May 7. RutabagA provided scholarships to two recipients - the Decnie Jeschke Memorial Award (provided by Pauline Swanson in honor of her granddaughter) was awarded to Emma Skovranski of Colona and the RutabagA Art Scholarship was provided to Antonio Ramirez of Colona. Antonio and Emma are pictured above with Karen Stewart Casper of RutabagA who presented the awards. Congratulations to you both and best of luck in your artistic endeavors!

Want to support the arts? Enjoy working with other artists? Join our nonprofit side, RutabagA, the Heart of Regional Art, NFP! Stop by the gallery and ask a member for further details.

 

Here's a sampling of the community enrichments our members have been involved in over the years.

  • Sponsoring a regional judged art competition, the Maple City Fine Arts Exhibit, for 35 years and now starting our own, the Geneseo Fine Art Exhibit, begun in 2023.

  • Partnering with civic groups to provide low- and no-cost instruction for children.

  • Leading art projects for life enrichment at area senior care facilities.

  • Teaching art for local home-schooling families.

  • Teaching classical fine art techniques.

  • Bringing nationally-known instructors to teach in Geneseo.

  • Painting community murals.

  • Giving time to area causes, such as Dress For Success, Henry County Humane Society, Braveheart Childrens' Advocacy Center, the Quad City Symphony Orchestra, and others.

 

Geneseo High School held its 2024 Senior Awards Night on May 1. Sharon Michaelsen presented the RutabagA Scholarship to Kay McAvoy and Pauline Swanson presented the Decnie Jeschke Memorial Scholarship to Kathryn Hogue. Above, from left to right, are Pauline, Kathryn, Sharon and Kay. Congratulations to these young women and we wish them well on their journey utilizing the fine arts!

 

Below is a group photo of members from late 2021. It is a pleasure to work with these artists and call them friends. Salute!

Blick Art Materials can be found online at: https://www.dickblick.com.