SCULPTURE GALENA CONTEMPORARY ART IN THE HISTORIC CITY
The Chicago Athenaeum: Museum of Architecture and Design, together with the Spring Street Gallery at the Galena Art Center, is coordinating and organizing the annual outdoor sculpture exhibition entitled, This year’s dates are June 4 through October 31, 2006. The exhibition takes place at the Ulysses S. Grant Home State Historic Site in Galena and features bold and innovative new works of public outdoor art by some today’s most prominent artists, locally and internationally. The Ulysses S. Grant Home is located off of Highway 20 at 500 Bouthillier Street in Galena, Illinois. In 1865, the citizens of Galena gave the home to Ulysses S. Grant upon his return from the Civil War. The home is now managed by the Illinois Historic Preservation Agency as the U. S. Grant Home State Historic Site. The beautifully landscaped parks surrounding the home offer a dramatic panorama of historic Galena, Illinois, creating an ideal site for this mounted contemporary sculpture exhibition. Curated by Christian K. Narkiewicz-Laine, and Belinda Shastal, the call for entries for 2006 draws applications from sculptors annually from around the United States and internationally.
The Dubuque Museum of Art (Dubuque, Iowa); the Freeport Art Center (Freeport, Illinois); the University of Wisconsin at Platteville (Platteville, Wisconsin) and the ace Episcopal Church Arts Council (Galena, Illinois) have joined the effort to promote and present the event. Other arts institutions, museums, and assocations in Iowa, Wisconsin, and Illinois are also participating. In 2005, this temporary exhibition will include sculptures by prominent local, national, and international artists. To boost this year’s exhibition, The Chicago Athenaeum has agreed to loan several works from its Permanent Collection in the Museum’s International Sculpture Park in Schaumburg, Illinois. In addition, an indoor exhibition will take place that documents the sculpture by participating artists at The Chicago Athenaeum’s new Museum Gallery at 601 South Prospect Street in Galena, Illinois. That exhibition opens on June 4, 2005 and continues through the summer. 
There is something significantly seductive about the Mississippi Valley landscape around the City of Galena and Jo Daviess County compared to the usual flat prairie lands of Illinois. A remarkable transition occurs near Stockton, Illinois, where the hills become steep and the roads curve and bend around an unparalleled panoramic landscape with incredible views of wonderful Illinois farms and pastures. Valleys unfold wonderful Midwest structures—the farms—with their red barns and white picket fences and continuing thick forests stretching out into the distances. Along the Mississippi River, more of this phenomenon takes place with an even greater beauty and intensity. In the early morning or a dusk, a slight haze covers the forests and the lush, rich landscapes—just the way they would appear in the foothills of the European Alps. Funding for this year’s exhibition is provided in part by the Galena/JoDaviess County Convention and Visitors Bureau. For visitor information to Galena, call 877/444-5850 or visit www. galena.org. For more information about the exhibition, call Lary L. Sommersat 815/777-4444. If you are interested in displaying your art in "SCULPTURE GALENA 2006" you may use this PDF form to submit a proposal: |
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The museum is heading this initiative because of its dedicated efforts to public outreach and public education and because of its own successful International Sculpture Park in Schaumburg, Illinois. The also exhibits contemporary artists and is dedicated to promoting the arts in Galena.
