Feb 01 Sunday
Homecoming: In Color celebrates the reopening of Rockford Art Museum after a year-long renovation closure. This exhibition features a selection of popular pieces and hidden gems, showcasing the rich diversity of our revered collection. Come witness the power of art and community as we welcome you back to a vibrant space of creativity!
Join the Friends of the Opera House for a delightful fundraiser that hits all the right notes! Wake Up with Wolfgang & Willie is a charming morning celebration designed to awaken your senses and support the arts. And it will get you ready for a fun day of Groundhog Day festivities in Woodstock. Breakfast treats, bubbly, musical petting zoo, live music and behind the scenes tour of the newly renovated Woodstock Opera House. For all ages.
Get ready for an unforgettable dive into the heart of American music! The blues, born in the Mississippi Delta with deep African roots, tells powerful stories of love, loss, joy, and faith. Join Downtown Charlie Brown (keyboard and vocals) and Harry Binford (acoustic guitar) as they return for the third year running! They will explore the migration of the blues from the Delta to Chicago, bringing to life legends like Robert Johnson, Muddy Waters, Howlin' Wolf, Son House, and more. Hear the music, the stories, and the history that shaped a genre.
Feb 02 Monday
Chicago-based artist Michael x. Ryan gathers the quiet imprints we leave behind — from sidewalk stains and river paths to shower puddles and fallen tree limbs — and gives them form, weight, and voice. Through drawing, mapping, wood relief, and 3D printed objects, Ryan captures traces of human presence — the edge of a river, the imprint of a wet body, the marks on a street — and renders them as physical forms that evoke movement, memory, and place.
This exhibition brings together key installations spanning over four decades, from early works shaped by the Ox-Bow landscape to large-scale reliefs inspired by the streets of Chicago to one tree of interest on the family property in Woodstock, Illinois. By drawing attention to overlooked details, Ryan invites us to consider how our everyday movements shape the spaces we inhabit — and how those spaces, in turn, record and reflect our presence and passage through time.
Feb 03 Tuesday
Mitch Frumkin, Chicago Auto Show historian, presents a 50-minute video featuring a captivating mix of vintage photos, color film clips, period music, and voices from over 100 editions of the classic Chicago Auto Show.
Emphasis will be given to showcase a pair of Guanci SJJ 1 GT sports cars displayed at the 1980 Chicago Auto Show due to its relevance from the Guanci Automobile Factory once located at 220 N. Madison St. in Woodstock.
At the end of the program, five sets of complimentary passes to the 118th Chicago Auto Show taking place February 7-16 will be raffled off to one lucky participant, among other prizes.
Free to attend, but advance registration is required.
Feb 04 Wednesday