Northern Illinois Community Calendar

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.

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).

SECOND NATURE
Salvaged Metal Sculpture & Haiku Michael Zant + Thomas L. Vaultonburg A benefit for Wild Roots* Second Nature brings together the salvaged metal animal sculptures of Michael Zant and the haiku of Thomas L. Vaultonburg. Created from reclaimed and repurposed materials, each sculpture is paired with an original haiku inspired by the animal it depicts. The exhibit celebrates the wild lives around us, the possibilities of discarded things, and the idea that everything deserves a second chance.

You are invited to experience the collective wisdom and personal experience of artists' interpretation of the theme Echoes of a Changing Planet. Participating artists:
Norm Knott, Marsha Goodheart, Holly Blair-Cascio, Susan Berry, Julie Kennelly, Maya Simmons, Caitlyn Jahn, Paula Flanagan-Marsh, Barbara Berney, Lori Gustafson, Sadie Hoessrich, Becca Houlihan, Jose Sente, Greg LaMont, Clara Krick, Jessie Crow-Mermel, Wren Medina, Cassie Blair, Ventie Houi, Drew Helge, Annette McLean and Cherie Heck.

Hike You!: Six Years of Photographs and Haiku from the Heart of Rockford comes to RevHaus for Fall ArtScene 2026.

For more than six years, photographer Ryan Davis and poet Thomas L. Vaultonburg have explored Rockford one walk at a time, finding familiar streets, forgotten places, strange objects, and unexpected moments through photography and haiku. Hike You! brings those two ways of seeing together, following a journey through the city in which the familiar gradually becomes new, mysterious, and magical. The exhibition also offers a preview of the forthcoming Hike You! book.

Hike You! is part of a larger four-artist exhibition at RevHaus, a creative automotive space bringing craftsmanship, design, and art together. Also exhibiting are Oscar Pagles of Foraged, with reclaimed metal and wood artwork, and Shayne Pagles of VinGogh, LLC, with metalwork. Visitors can also see live metalworking and woodworking demonstrations throughout ArtScene.

Take Root is BACK!

Take Root is a virtual farm business class that will be running from September 14th, 2026 to November 19th, 2026.

Take Root is a business class new farmers with 0-10 years experience.

In Take Root, we will build a farm business plan, an enterprise plan, learn how to budget and manage a farm enterprise, and market your business.

Take Root is held on Tuesday and Thursday nights from 6-8PM CT. This class is virtual and ran over zoom. The class will have both facilitated classes, and speakers. In addition to the online class, you will also receive one on one consulting from Jillae, our Take Root Program Facilitator.

Sign up today for Take Root!

Questions? Email Jillae at jillae@farmersrising.org

See you there!
Jillae
Farmers Rising

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.

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.

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.