Community Calendar

An encore of Bernadette Curl-Woodruff's solo collection of photographic art will be shown at the DeKalb Area Women's Center from August 1 to August 31, 2025.

We invite you to join us for a RECEPTION celebrating her work on Friday, August 22nd from 6pm to 8:30pm. Hors d'oeuvres and beverages will be served. Live music TBD.

The show is titled STRANGE LOOKING CREATURE and is a life-sized photographic exploration of how she sees/is seen in this world. Using hybrid analog/digital techniques and equipment, her work is also informed and augmented by her previous professional experiences as a metal and wood worker.

If you cannot join us at the reception, we hope you will be able to stop by the center sometime during the 1 month run.

Christ Community Outreach Center is proud to partner with Administer Justice to provide legal counsel to individuals in our community. This program takes place on the first Saturday of every month from 9 AM to 12 PM at our location: 316 N 6th St, DeKalb. To make an appointment, please call 855-818-4554 or visit AdministerJustice.org/GetHelp. Walk-ins are also welcome on a first-come, first-served basis.

Learn all about flying creatures at this free, family friendly event. Learn about the science of flight, bat echolocation and so much more!

Join the discussion with Keep Northern Illinois Beautiful’s Education Director Corinne Sosso and test your knowledge of what goes where. Get the do’s and don’ts of curbside recycling and discover what you can do with recyclables the bins won’t take. Walk away with a list of all the items that can be recycled through KNIB and find easy ways to keep it green!

All ages are welcome and your RSVP is appreciated. Suggested donation $5.

Corinne Sosso, the Education Director at Keep Northern Illinois Beautiful, acts as the public liaison and cheerleader for recycling and litter prevention. Corinne imparts information and gives presentations at schools, corporations, organizations, and community functions. She taught for a dozen years as a classroom science teacher and spent more than three decades practicing and promoting informal hands-on science education in science centers and children’s museums (including Rockford’s Discovery Center). Rather than retiring, Corinne uses her knowledge, skill, energy and enthusiasm to promote environmental stewardship across the region.

June 1 – July 31: Taft Gallery - Artist Mary Howe

Born and raised on the Northwest side of the city in Chicago, Mary along with her husband George moved to the quaint town of Oregon Illinois in 2019. After raising two sons, a long career in retail management and real estate Mary finally found the time to dedicate herself to her favorite hobby of painting.

Mary continues to welcome the challenges of working through landscapes, still life and portraits as well as participating in the Rock River Valley Painters Guild Plein Air Group.

Sam Tucibat, Feature Wall, July 1 -July 31

Sam Tucibat is a retired instructor of photography and graphic design who taught for twenty years at Highland Community College in Freeport, IL.

Sam’s creativity is motivated by the wonder of exploring new visual territory through the powerful medium of digital photographic composition. His method involves combining photographs or parts of photographs into one visual space, building unique images that are greater than the sum of their parts.

Larry Bond, Lowden Gallery, July 1 - August 31

Through the years I have experimented with different forms of 2D and 3D art .Acrylics, oil, charcoal, pen and ink, and watercolor have been my primary painting and drawing mediums; however, my first love is Watercolor.

In terms of competition and recognition I have won several awards, entered numerous art show competitions, and was accepted into the 2018 San Diego Watercolor Society’s International Watercolor Show. I have won awards from shows at The Next Picture Show, Dixon, Illinois, Norris Gallery, St. Charles, Illinois, and Illinois Watercolor Society Member Shows. I am a Signature Member of the Illinois Watercolor Society.

When asked to describe my style I often describe it as “realistic contemporary with an occasional abstract slant”. In short, I want the viewer to see the painting as mostly realistic and be drawn-in to the scene. I enjoy painting Urbanscapes, Abstracts and Rural Landscapes.

The Next Picture Show community arts center in Dixon presents 2 juried shows through Aug. 9: "Abstract," an exhibit that explores artists who push the bounds of their 2-and-3-D artwork through abstraction; and "The Power of Words," exhibit that invited artists to find a fusion between word and visual arts in their works.

An opening reception and awards presentation will be held on Friday, Jul. 9, from 6-8 p.m.

Ellen Mumford, Taft Gallery

As a child I really never had an interest in art. It wasn’t until my junior year in high school that I decided to take an art class due to the fact that I needed an elective course. Here I found my niche and won a summer semester art scholarship at the University of Illinois. During my college years I did not major or minor in art as I would certainly have become a “starving artist." However, I always took an art course.

My career as a civil engineering technician drove me to focus on math causing a conflict that was at odds with my artistic creative processes. So, during those 42 years of highway work I produced very little art, only mainly for my home. While considering future retirement, I decided it was time to “up” my art game. Because I had never considered watercolor, in 2012, on a whim, I enrolled in Graydon Cafarella’s watercolor landscape classes at The Next Picture Show gallery. I LOVED IT! To further my watercolor experience, I also painted with David Becker in Venice, Italy, and then every Thursday (fighting rush hour traffic!) with Dale Popovich of Palette and Chisel Art Academy in Chicago. When possible, I still paint with Dale at Dillman’s Resort in Wisconsin.

My work is eclectic at best but tends toward realism. I am always trying new methods, paints, topics, etc. As a “snowbird” I have recently joined Scott Hiestand’s acrylic wildlife/landscape classes and Gail Bokor’s experimental mixed media/abstract classes. Both are teaching in the Daytona Beach area. My paintings in this gallery exhibit their influence but also Graydon’s and Dale’s.
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I have won many awards for paintings created in all 3 mediums (most recently at TNPS Best of Show Abstract) but have only exhibited locally. Exhibiting at CMAAA is opening a new area of exposure of my art to the masses. I try not to be too philosophical about my art. I paint what I like and what brings me pleasure – and sometimes a challenge. In the words of Georgia O’Keeffe “I have but one desire as a painter - that is to paint what I see, as I see it, in my own way.”

Greg La Mont, Feature Wall

Greg has been fascinated with art and artwork since he was young, always experimenting with wall art, illustrations, mechanical drawings, and caricatures for the high school yearbook to name a few.

Intrigued by creating in many different genres, he kept building upon his knowledge bank. A self taught artist, he brings an eclectic mix to his body of work.

He enjoys visualizing and creating work in varying mediums, and has been showing locally in the surrounding area for years now.