Community Calendar

Peoria Camera Club

Taft Gallery, December 1 – January 31
We are pleased to host the photography work of 12 artists from the Peoria Camera Club during December and January.

Participating artists include Joe Virbickis, Jill Attaway, Marilyn Rierma, Becky Dailey, Ray Keithly, Cindy Brackney, LaDean Spring, Tom Ruhland, Lori Townzen, Andrea Monninger, Bennett Johnson and Dan Ricks.
The Peoria Camera Club (PCC) was founded in 1954. Over these 70+ years, the PCC has worked to promote the art and science of photography in Central Illinois. As a group, PCC members produce a diverse array of images in both digital and print formats. They have received awards and recognitions at the local, regional and national levels. The PCC meets twice monthly from September through May. Website: www.peoriacameraclub.com

For 24 years, Carolyn Lee McKee-Freese served the public school system with honor, devotion and skill. Having the opportunity to teach was a dream come true, as she loves sharing knowledge with others. She prepared for her endeavors by earning a Bachelor of Education from North Illinois University in 1969 and by becoming a certified teacher in Illinois. The degrees propelled Ms. McKee-Freese to become an art teacher at Simmons Junior High School immediately following graduation, where she stayed for three years. After that, she worked as a substitute teacher at Moose Heart School for a year and as an art teacher at Yorkville District High School for 20 years.
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Although Ms. McKee-Freese has since left the public sector, she remains committed to education. She currently using her background and expertise as a private contractor in the education department of the Chicago Field Museum, where she has been since 2002, and as the visual art curriculum developer for Yorkville District 115, where she has been since 1990. She also holds membership with the Illinois Art Education Association, the Illinois Artisans Program and the Guild of Natural Science Illustrators.​ Over the years, Ms. McKee-Freese has found a variety of mediums, through which she can express herself in addition to academia. She has published artwork in exhibitions at the Norris Gallery, the Ironwood Gallery of the Arizona Sonora Desert Museum, the Sprague Gallery, Aurora University, the James R. Thompson Center Atrium and the New York State Museum in Albany, among other places. She was also an art contributor to the Life Over Time Exhibit at the Chicago Field Museum, and was an art show judge at regional shows and fairs. Further, Ms. McKee-Freese has been published in Nature Magazine, Natural History Magazine and the British Journal of Paleontology. She has authored the likes of “A Popular Guide to the Nature and the Environment of the Fossil Vertebrates of New York” and “Papers in Paleontology.”In recognition of her achievements, Ms. McKee-Freese received a variety of accolades. She was named Teacher of the Year by Yorkville High School students in 2006 and 2007, Most Influential Educator for several years between 1996 and 2007 and Educator of the Month by Coco-Cola Co. in 1995. Further, Ms. McKee-Freese was honored to be featured in numerous editions of Who’s Who in America, Who’s Who in the World and Who’s Who of American Women.

When Ms. McKee-Freese isn’t working, she enjoys horseback riding, hiking, bird watching and paleontology. She also likes to teach scientific illustrations at summer camps for children; she thinks combining nature and art is fascinating. If she could offer some advice to the younger generations, it would be to find a passion and pursue it, just like she did. She still finds joy in receiving letters and emails from former students thanking her for the life lessons they learned from her classes.

Rockford Art Guild Exhibit
Main Floor, December 12 – January 16
Opening Reception, December 13​

​In 1955, a group of 10 area artists formed the Rockford Amateur Artists, whose mission was to hone their expertise and expand community awareness of and exposure to the visual arts. Rockford Art Guild (RAG), as it is now known, is a 501 (c)(3) nonprofit organization. Their mission is to promote, exhibit, and preserve visual art, focusing on education and creative exploration.

Speaker Brad Keyes is offering the second in a three part series on Jerks in Chicago: Rescheduled to December 20, More Jerks in Chicago. covers the period from 1900 to 1945. One of those jerks was responsible for the death of 600 movie goers; another jerk glibly married one woman after another for her wealth, all of whom disappeared. On the other hand, one woman was responsible for the death of five husbands. We'll learn about the beginning of the White Stockings or White Sox, and the cruel twist at the end for the players. Not to mention the world famous Al Capone and John Dillinger all during the time of Prohibition, bootlegging and speakeasies. Is Eliot Ness a real or a Hollywood character? Come to the talk and learn about all these famous and infamous people.

The Next Picture Show is pleased to welcome back the Winter Scenes & Holiday Dreams Art Exhibition. Winter Scenes & Holiday Dreams captures the beauty and magic of the holiday season. From snowy paths to fresh pine and the glimmering lights of the season, artists were encouraged to submit both 2-D and 3-D work that captures the whimsy of winter.

The opening reception and artist award ceremony will be held on November 21 from 6:00 to 8:00 p.m. We will provide light refreshments and a cash bar.

This exhibition is sponsored by G&M Distributors.

It’s the holiday season and a perfect time to build a gingerbread house with the family! Join us for our seventh annual STEM Gingerbread House Family Fun Science. We’ll have the supplies to build—graham crackers, frosting, and candy. Bring your creative ideas!

At the end, we’ll have a friendly competition for Best House and the winner will get a $5 Target gift card.

The program is limited to the first 30 children to arrive. Sign-up will begin at the children’s desk 1 hour before the event. This has become one of our most popular Family Fun Science events, so if you want a spot, come early.

For additional information, please email Laura at lauraw@dkpl.org or call (815) 756-9568 ext. 3350.

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.

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!

“High Strangeness" is an exhibition that explores the intersection of the uncanny and the unknown, where the boundaries between reality and the surreal blur. Featuring a diverse array of photography, painting, and sculpture, this show invites viewers into realms of altered perception, mysterious phenomena, and the strange undercurrents of contemporary life. Each work in the exhibition engages with the concept of "high strangeness"—a term often used to describe encounters with the unexplained, the bizarre, and the otherworldly.

The Freeport Art Museum is thrilled to host Resilient Wonder, two solo exhibitions through Dec. 27. These exhibitions feature impressive works by Chelsea Bighorn from Chicago Illinois and Hattie Lee Mendoza from Peoria Illinois.

Chelsea Bighorn was born and raised in Tempe, Arizona, and is Lakota, Dakota and Shoshone -Paiute. Bighorn’s work is the result of her combining traditional Native American design with elements from her Irish American heritage. Using this process, she tells her personal history through her art. Bighorn has shown her work at the Museum of Contemporary Native Art, SITE Santa Fe, Catharine Clark Gallery in San Francisco, and The Center for Native Futures in Chicago, IL. She graduated from The Institute of American Indian Arts in 2021 with a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Studio Arts. Bighorn received her Master of Fine Arts in Fiber and Material Studies from School of The Art Institute of Chicago in 2024. She currently resides in Chicago, IL where she is an artist in residence with Chicago Artist Coalition.

Hattie Lee Mendoza is a multi-disciplinary artist who grew up in Fowler, Kansas, and now lives in Peoria, Illinois. She has an MFA from Bradley University in Peoria, Illinois, and a BA in graphic design from Tabor College, Hillsboro, KS. She is influenced by her Great Grandmother and namesake’s Cherokee heritage and stories, desiring to revive and continue that legacy within her family after generational loss of cultural connection. She spent three years living in Thailand, as well as traveling to various countries, while working with a non-profit organization on their fine art and media team. The experience gave her opportunities to interact and learn from many people groups and tribes in Asia and the Middle East. Afterward, she returned to the States and was motivated to connect to her own ancestral heritages. Her maternal grandmother’s frugal values, stemming from a depression era childhood, are also reflected in Mendoza’s practice by including repurposed and recycled personal, family and community items, as well as thrifted and found objects.