Northern Illinois Community Calendar

The Coliseum Museum is honored to host a special collection of China by members of the Pickard Collectors Club. The club was founded in 1992 by Joy Luke of Bloomington, Illinois, who along with a small group of Pickard enthusiasts thought it was time to bring together collectors of Pickard porcelain and glass.

Wilder A. Pickard (1857-1939) started the company in 1894 by offering his customers hand-painted giftware, artware, and eventually dinnerware of the highest quality.

Today, Pickard, Inc., remains a family-owned business proudly producing high quality, hand-crafted china. Each Pickard generation carries on the tradition of producing Ivory and White porcelain for individuals as well as for government and corporate organizations, both domestic and international. For more information visit their website at https://pickardcollectorsclub.org

Les Allen
Taft Gallery, August 1 – September 30

Les Allen, an award-winning photographer based in Dixon, IL, specializes in Fine Art Traditional Black and White Photography. Using a large format camera, Les captures the surreal and abstract elements of the world around him.

In the world of analog photography, Les is a master printer, creating luminous and mesmerizing images that challenge perception and invite viewers into a dreamlike realm. His photographs, a manifestation of his deep connection with nature, convey his instinctual understanding of light, shadow, and composition. Evoking emotions, provoking thought, and inspiring viewers to explore their own intuitive connections with the world.

This Science Saturday invites local Indigenous groups to utilize Severson Dells Nature Center to teach community members about stewardship of nature and Indigenous culture and traditions. Join us at Severson Dells for these family-friendly, open-house style events. Each month will have a different nature theme full of hands-on, minds-on activities for guests of all ages to participate in. Weather permitting, there will also be guided hikes.

NO REGISTRATION REQUIRED FOR THIS FREE EVENT!

For more information, visit WildRootsNatureCenter.org/Science-Saturdays

Janet Beiler
Feature Walls, September 1 – 30
Sponsored by Stillman Bank

“I am a full time artist pursuing my third career in life. I work in oils, acrylics, and watercolor medium and my artistic inspiration has been landscapes, florals, and narrative art, consignment on request. I exhibit at The Next Picture show in Dixon and The Loft in Morrison, IL. Currently you may view my art on Instagram Janet Beiler username Serafinas_window and on Facebook at art created by jbeiler.”

Rock River Valley Painters Guild Plein Air Art Show
September 2 – October 31
Lowden Gallery, Coliseum Museum

Sponsored by the RRVPG

​Artists participating in the 2026 annual show include Carol Bingham, Pam Bradford, Dick Cholke, Janice Conkrite, Charles Gregory, Anne Hilliard, Tom Linden, Nancie King Mertz, Sharon Saponari, Donna Smith, Terry Werntz, Lucinda Winterfield and Leah Zahn.

Awards will be presented by judge Jean Apgar, on October 9, in conjunction with the Moments in Monochrome Awards & Reception.

The RRVPG is a not-for-profit organization promoting local art and art education (North Central Illinois).

Through the somatic practices of Movement FundamentalsⓇ, explore the relationship between the human body and the Earth, approaching them as partners to revitalize your body, mind, and spirit. As below, so above. As within, so without. This outdoor workshop is for anyone longing to feel more grounded, restored, and connected to their body and the living world around them. This workshop is an optional additional way to participate in the e(art)h Land Art Exhibit, which will have an opening reception following the workshop at 4:00pm.

Open to those 13 and older. All abilities welcome, and no prior movement practice is necessary. Standing, moving, and sitting options available. $10/person.

Facilitated by Jane Hawley. Jane’s research in Movement Fundamentals® investigates the body to be understood and experienced as a primary source for integrating body, mind, and spirit to support the practitioner’s development of selfhood and artistry. Inspired to educate dancers as artists and empower people to love and feel gratitude for their bodies, she developed Movement Fundamentals as a creative, regenerative, and inclusive practice that challenges existing dance paradigms and invites uncommon trans-disciplinary collaboration. Jane has taught at Luther College since 2000, where Movement Fundamentals® has been an ongoing experimental curriculum in practice since 2001.

Eight Fifteen Capital and the West Side Show Room present Nat Turner in Jerusalem by award-winning playwright Nathan Alan Davis.

In August 1831, Nat Turner led a slave uprising that shook the conscience of the nation.

Nathan Alan Davis’s timely new play imagines Turner’s final night in a jail cell in Jerusalem, Virginia, as he is visited by attorney Thomas R. Gray and they reckon with what has passed, and what the dawn will bring.

Woven with vivid imagery and indelible lyricism, Nat Turner in Jerusalem examines the power of an individual’s resolute convictions and their seismic reverberations through time.

Nat Turner in Jerusalem is the third play of Rockford native Nathan Alan Davis to be presented in partnership between Eight Fifteen Capital and West Side Show Room.

Step outside of the ordinary and consider our human relationship with the environment in new ways through an immersive art experience. This land art installation - a collection of sculptures created from organic and earthly materials - is created by both professional and emerging artists and will be an ephemeral exhibit along the trails. Our collective goal is to spark wonder, acknowledge eco-anxiety, and inspire new connections.

From 4:00-5:30pm, experience an interdisciplinary performance, artist introductions and Q&A, and guided walking tour of the installations. Refreshments and live music provided. All ages are welcome to this free community event. Thank you to Visit Beloit and Rockford Area Arts Council for supporting this event. RSVP below to receive a reminder when the time comes.

A deviously delicious Broadway and Hollywood sci-fi smash musical, Little Shop of Horrors has devoured the hearts of theatergoers for over 30 years.

The meek floral assistant Seymour Krelborn stumbles across a strange new plant he names Audrey II after his coworker crush. This foul-mouthed, R&B-singing carnivore promises fame and fortune to the down-and-out Seymour—as long as he keeps feeding it blood.

As Audrey II grows, so do Seymour’s dreams, but he soon discovers the plant’s shocking origins and its terrifying plans for world domination. Packed with unforgettable songs, outrageous comedy, and larger-than-life characters, Little Shop of Horrors is a wildly entertaining musical with a bite.

A century ago, these stories were read aloud for family entertainment. Today they come alive in performance.

Michèle LaRue tells a tale of sudden death, family secrets, and things that go bump in the night as she presents Mary E. Wilkins Freeman’s “The Shadows on the Wall” (1903). Next she speaks of strange sightings on the prairie in Elia W. Peattie’s “The House That Was Not” (1898).

Freeman (1852 – 1930), a popular and prolific short-story writer, was born and lived most of her life in Massachusetts, continuing her work after marrying and moving to Metuchen, New Jersey. She wrote insightfully and with sympathetic humor about her fellow small-town New Englanders—and she penned many ghost stories.

Peattie (1862 – 1935) grew up in her native Michigan. With her husband, a fellow journalist, she made her home, first in Chicago, then in Omaha. She was the Chicago Tribune’s first woman reporter and wrote fiction, as well as observant editorials and reviews, for major papers in both cities.

Michèle is a professional actress who has toured nationally for 24 years with dramatizations of stories by America’s Gilded Age authors. Her one-woman performances are sure to leave you wanting more.

“You transported us totally to another time, another place, and filled our lives with new friends.” - Livingston Public Library, NJ

This show is intended for ages 12 and up. No registration is required.

For more information, please contact Samantha at samanthah@dkpl.org or at (815) 756-9568 ext. 1701.