Guns in America
Feb 26 – Apr 17 2021
Jeff Corwin’s conflicted feelings over finding his father’s gun collection and his convictions about gun control fueled eighteen highly charged photographs illustrating the violence America faces every day. His career as a commercial photographer took him all over the country, but when we shot for such companies as Archer Daniels Midland in Decatur and Apple Commuter in Champaign, he fell in love with the Midwest. He is proud to share the entire series for the first time in Peoria. read more
Making Faces at the World
Feb 26 - Apr 17 2021
Richard Wehrs has spent 35 years feeding his fascination to convey exaggerated facial expressions in ceramic sculpture. With extensive back stories and a twisted sense of humor, each of Richard’s creations have a hilarious tale to tell. Add to that his deep love for texture, pattern, color and whimsy, and this exhibition is a very natural result. read more
Negotiating Space
Nov 6 – Dec 18 2020
While their approaches to their craft vary, these four artists share some things in common: they are women, painting in contemporary styles, who have come from other places in the country to serve as art educators in Central Illinois. Experience how Lynette Lombard (Knox College), Susanne Nestory (Bradley University), Melissa Oresky (Illinois State University) and Lisa Walker (Sandburg College) interpret, create and occupy space. read more
7th Annual Small Wonder Gift Shop
Nov 6 - Dec 18 2020
A Small Wonder Gift Shop means small work from local artists and that means work priced for holiday gifts! Gallery 3R is turned into a gift shop for small works of art. Just like a gift shop, buyers may take home the item at the time of purchase. read more
Preston Jackson & William Butler: Walking The Line
Sept 3 – Oct 23 2020
In celebration of the 25th anniversary of the first art exhibition organized in the gallery in 1995, Contemporary Art Center’s founder Preston Jackson and Executive Director William Butler exhibit paintings together. In a return to the visceral approach of their youth, they share a fondness for bold color and big themes as they intentionally walk the line between abstraction and happenstance. read more
Mark Holmes: Open and Shut
Sept 11 – Oct 23 2020
Mark Holmes's sculpture explores the relationship of visual, material and intellectual labor in the invention of form. Whether modelled from clay or constructed from wood, his wall-mounted sculptures hold the fixed material nature of the object in tension with the contingencies of color, light and space. Holmes is currently chair of the Department of Art and Art History at Knox College. read more
Nonobjective
Jul 10 – Aug 22 2020
Peter Ahart, Lisa Nelson Raabe and Nichole Gronvold Roller all share an experience together in Bradley University’s Master’s program and the creative freedom to not reference reality while pushing the pure principles of composition. read more
Roy Rogers: Bronze Visions
Jul 10 – Aug 22 2020
Local artist Roy Rogers, a former tool designer turned sculptor, focuses on sharing his bronze sculptures, most of which were created in Bradley University’s MA/MFA program where he is enrolled in his retirement. read more
CIAO Artists Group Exhibition
Mar 13 – Jun 26 2020
The artists enrolled in the Contemporary Art Center’s Artist Membership program (CIAO) return to the Contemporary Art Center for a dynamic group exhibition featuring one work of art from each member covering the mediums of drawing, ceramics, glass, painting, printmaking and many more. All CIAO members are enouraged to participate. read more
Janis Mars Wunderlich
Mar 13 – Jun 26 2020
With playful and poignant imagery in ceramic sculpture and acrylic paintings, Janis Mars Wunderlich depicts themes of fertility, sexuality, gender and nurturing relationships. Energetic figures emerge from each other, blending animal and human characteristics to create a collective identity as they interact in complex narratives. read more
Carry Weight | Hold Light
Jan 10 – Feb 21 2020
To Carry, To Hold began as a collaborative exhibition in her studio while Brammeier was an artist in residence at International Studio and Curatorial Program in Brooklyn NY. In ISCP’s Studio #222, she created a large, vertical installation that integrated miniature works by other artists. Inspired by the common practice that artists have of gifting or trading small versions of their work, she invited artists to contribute either a miniature work that could sit on a shelf (made from a folded piece of painted canvas), or a work made on or attached to a pink triangle (also made from painted canvas). read more
Christopher Holbrook: Unique Impressions
Jan 10 – Feb 21 2020
This exhibition focuses on Holbrook’s inventive approach to the collograph process developed during the final years of his life. The images flaunt his facility with multiple techniques, yielding a highly personal and layered foray into the language of abstraction. read more
Colorful Creations
Nov 1 - Dec 27 2019
Colorful Creations will feature the photographs of Natalie Jackson O’Neal, paintings by Alice Traore and fiber art by Trish Williams. The work of Preston Jackson and other artists will also be on display. read more
A Small Wonder Gift Shop
Nov 8 - Dec 21 2019
A small wonder means small work from local artists and that means work priced for holiday gifts! Gallery 3R is turned into a gift shop for small works of art. Just like a gift shop, buyers may take home the item at the time of purchase. read more
William H. Thielen: Running with Scissors
Nov 9 – Dec 20 2019
Thielen’s abstract art runs the gamut: from two-dimensional drawings and paintings to three-dimensional free-standing sculptures in a mixed media format. The themes vary as well, but all draw from the emotional aesthetics of the artist. read more
Cynthia Merrill: Scratching Through the Surface
Sep 6 - Oct 25 2019
Cynthia Merrill creates black & white ceramic vessels that, while functional, serve as a vehicle to portray stylized sea creatures read more
Laura Lein-Svencner: Inner Most-Outer Expressions
Sep 13 – Oct 18 2019
Laura has pursued her love of paper; some she makes from the plants in her garden. Found papers, like engineer plans, nautical maps read more
Closing Event: HOT CIAO VII
Group Art Exhibition
Oct 3 - 24 2020
The artists enrolled in the Contemporary Art Center’s Artist Membership program (CIAO) convene for a dynamic group exhibition featuring one work of art from each member covering the mediums of drawing, ceramics, glass, painting, printmaking and many more. All CIAO members are encouraged to participate. read more
Hot CIAO VII
Group Art Exhibition
Oct 3 - 24 2020
The artists enrolled in the Contemporary Art Center’s Artist Membership program (CIAO) convene for a dynamic group exhibition featuring one work of art from each member covering the mediums of drawing, ceramics, glass, painting, printmaking and many more. All CIAO members are encouraged to participate. read more
Donald Mason: Double Consciousness
July 12 - Aug 30 2019
Growing up in the church, influenced by the murder of Emmett Till when Mason was 14 and troubled by the economic and social disparity read more
Twenty Dirty Hands Pottery Tour
July 5 - Aug 23 2019
Twenty Dirty Hands Pottery Tour was developed to promote ten ceramic artists in small towns in the Northwest corner of Illinois. As friends and colleagues for many years, they have shared meals, music, studio spaces, kiln building projects and a way of life. The artists participating now number more than 10 but the name stuck. 15 of the artists will exhibit in Peoria. read more
Elizabeth Davis: Dances and Conversations
May 10 - June 21 2019
After years of experimenting with other art forms, long-time CAC resident artist Elizabeth Davis discovered encaustic and it has since shaped her artistic path. This ancient medium is composed of beeswax and damar resin. Heat-fused layers can be combined with objects or paint, creating unending possible outcomes. In this exhibit, Elizabeth shows her versatility as a sculptor and painter in a dance with heat and wax, enabling a conversation between them. read more
Everchanging
May 10 - June 21 2019
Sculptor Gene Mialkowski and multimedia artists Doug and Eileen Leunig, interpret movement found in wind and water while drawing attention to their environmental concerns. Stainless steel, photons and ink are the mediums utilized to present the energy, stillness and impermanence of nature. read more