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Artists + Community = Heart Art

Credit Guy Stephens / WNIJ
/
WNIJ

The Rockford University Art Gallery holds its biennial fundraising event, “Heart Art” this Friday, Feb. 20.  The silent art auction gives attendees have a chance to bid on pieces donated by a wide range of artists.

Molly Carter is the director of the Rockford University Art Gallery, and organizer of this year’s Heart Art.  An artist herself, she’s also donated one of her own pieces to the show.  Carter says quite a few people look forward to the event.

“The artists that are participating, the art collectors in the community, so it really brings together the Rockford art community,  I feel like, to not only to support our exhibition program here, but to support each other. “  

Carter says at least 42 artists will be represented in the show, working in a wide variety of media – painting, drawing, fiber, photographs, found objects and more.  One of those is Sarah Reed McNamara, who’s donated to the show before.  This year, she’s contributing a linoleum block print of a stylized owl.  She majored in art history at Rockford, with printmaking on the side.

“So it’s been pretty fun to donate and support the college. I love the programs that they offer in the Arts Center, so it’s been pretty neat for me.”   

Another artist in the show is David Menard.  He’s offering a transfer drawing from a series he’s been working on.  Artists donating works for fundraisers is not all that unusual, but Menard says this show has quality as well as quantity.

“It’s funny because usually with these donations you don’t want to give something big and expensive and one of your best pieces.  But then you see who turned out and what they gave, and then you end up giving one of your best at the end, because you want to fit in with the rest of the work.”

Carter says that quality has its roots in the response to her request for donations, one that based on her experience, she hadn’t expected.

“Overall, what I was really surprised with, a lot of the artists were really excited and willing to participate and give a work of art.”

Menard says Rockford University is a small school but has a big impact on the local community. He says “Heart Art’s” inclusion of work by faculty, alumni and artists working in the area reflects that.  It’s also why it’s more than just another fundraiser.

“It highlights the relationship that the university has with the community so it’s a friends and family kind of a thing. Everybody that supports the gallery comes out”.

“Heart Art” runs 6-9 P.M. Friday, Feb. 20, at the Gallery, in the Clark Arts Center at Rockford University. You can find more about the event and the Gallery on its Facebook page.

Guy Stephens produces news stories for the station, and coordinates our online events calendar, PSAs and Arts Calendar announcements. In each of these ways, Guy helps keep our listening community informed about what's going on, whether on a national or local level. Guy's degrees are in music, and he spent a number of years as a classical host on WNIU. In fact, after nearly 20 years with Northern Public Radio, the best description of his job may be "other duties as required."