Past Exhibitions - Contemporary Art Center of Peoria

Past Exhibitions

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

River Meets the Rails: The Sequel

Contemporary Art Center of Peoria’s CIAO Artist Member Exhibition

May 21 - June 11 2021

Hot CIAO VII

Group Art Exhibition

Oct 3 - 24 2020

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