On September 13 (Friday 5-7pm), come join us as we host an exhibition of works by local youth and students. Works from aspiring artists will be on various mediums.

The opening will coincide with Freeport’s Paint-The-Port community event with the gallery as Van Gogh sponsor. Paint-The-Port is a family fun event put on by the Freeport Art Museum where downtown streets are transformed into over 800 squares measuring 4×4 as a canvas for hundreds of amateur artists of all ages. This is a family-friendly street paint party along Chicago Avenue in downtown Freeport – helping bring vibrancy and creativity to the community. All net proceeds will be used to fund facade improvement grants for qualifying projects.

Our next exhibit will feature artworks of Steve Hanks – recognized as one of the best watercolor artists in history. The detail, color and realism of Steve Hanks’ paintings are unheard of in this difficult medium.

Hanks considered his style “emotional realism,” and created works that portrayed the smallest of details, such as the patterns on a skirt to the expressive faces of his subjects, whether they were infants, children or adults. He would also obscure the faces of his subjects, instead allowing their setting and body language to convey emotions.

Our next exhibit will feature artworks of Detroit native Robert Wyland

His non-profit Wyland Foundation supports several conservation programs, including his monumental “100 Whaling Walls” mural project — an epic series of one hundred life sized marine life murals that spans twelve countries on four continents, and is viewed by an estimated 1 billion people every year. The project is now documented in a deluxe Collector’s Fine Art Book – one of 20 this prolific artist has written and published so far.

Our last exhibit of the year will honor a legend – to feature extremely limited edition giclees on canvas, numbered and hand signed by the Great Stan Lee! This will coincide with Small Business Saturday 2018, Historic Downtown Freeport.

Born in 1922 in New York City to humble beginnings, Stan Lee is now perhaps the most well-known name in the world of comics and superheroes. His career in comics began when he was 16 by becoming an assistant at Timely Comics, which would soon evolve into Marvel Comics. Lee quickly worked his way up the corporate ladder to become writer and eventually editor-in-chief. In the late 1950s, Lee was given the task to come up with a superhero team to rival the popular Justice League of America. Always preferring stories of heroes with flawed pasts and obvious humanity, Lee, with the help of artist Jack Kirby, created the Fantastic Four, which proved to be an instant success. Stan Lee is also credited with helping create Spider-Man, the X-Men, the Avengers, Iron Man, the Hulk, Thor, Daredevil, Doctor Strange, and many others. Lee’s contribution to Marvel helped expand Marvel Comics into the entertainment giant that it is today.

Stan Lee passed away November 12, 2018.

On September 21 (Friday 5-7pm), come join us as we host an exhibition of works by local youth and students. Works from aspiring artists will be on various mediums.

The opening will coincide with Freeport’s Paint-The-Port community event with the gallery as Van Gogh sponsor. Paint-The-Port is a family fun event put on by the Freeport Art Museum where downtown streets are transformed into over 800 squares measuring 4×4 as a canvas for hundreds of amateur artists of all ages. This is a family-friendly street paint party along Chicago Avenue in downtown Freeport – helping bring vibrancy and creativity to the community. All net proceeds will be used to fund facade improvement grants for qualifying projects.

Our featured artist for August is internationally-renowed artist Alexander Chen. Born in Canton, China in 1952, Alexander began his formal art education at the Central Academy of Fine Arts and the Guangzhou Academy of Fine Arts. Inspired by his various travels and his eventual emigration to the United States in 1989, Chen’s paintings and pen and ink drawings often feature national parks, cityscapes, countryside views, and the pulsing energy of New York City, Tokyo, and Las Vegas. Brilliantly colored and intricately detailed, the vivid images he creates have been collected and lauded around the world.

Opening will coincide with the August Music on Chicago festival held by the gallery. Music on Chicago is a summer outdoor live music series and beer garden,

The gallery’s next exhibit will feature artworks of Leonid Afremov, a Russian–Israeli modern impressionistic artist who works mainly with a palette knife. Exhibit opening will coincide with our sponsored Music on Chicago event, a summer outdoor live music series, beer garden, and Open Air Market by the gallery (Chicago and Main) and hosted by Greater Freeport Partnership: Main Street.

Leonid Afremov was born in Vitebsk, Belarus in 1955. Displaying an aptitude for art at an early age, Afremov was encouraged to pursue his natural talent. Afremov then attended the Vitebsk Education Institute where he studied in the arts and graphics department. During his years at school, he was introduced to the works of Chagall, Picasso, and Dali, all of whom would heavily influence Afremov’s work.

Our next exhibit will feature artworks of Chicago native, Howard Behrens.

Born in Chicago, Illinois and raised near Washington, D.C., Howard Behrens (1933-2014) was one of the world’s most renowned palette artists, inspired to create his many masterpieces with a palette knife – a tool artists traditionally use to mix oil paints before applying them to canvas with a paint brush. “I kept changing my style,” he explains. “I feel like every painting is a prerequisite for the next painting. You come across something that really rings a bell and starts you thinking differently, and you continue on with that new technique, style or subject matter. That’s how I eventually got into palette knife painting. It was an evolutionary thing.

Our next artist opening (April 21, Saturday 1pm – 3pm) will feature artworks of husband and wife team Mikhail and Inessa Garmash – considered to be two of the finest Romantic Impressionists of our day.

Both Mikhail and Inessa have a long history of artistic excellence. Mikhail was born in Lugansk, Ukraine in 1969, and began pursuing his artistic inclinations from the age of three. Mrs. Garmash was born Inessa Kitaichik in 1972 in Lipetsk, Russia. Like her husband, Inessa excelled in arts as a child, primarily in ballet, gymnastics, and music.

On Feb 17th (Saturday, 1pm-3pm) come meet Highland Community College ( Freeport, Illinois ) faculty Sam Tucibat and see his latest artworks!

Entitled “Trees and Me”, Tucibat’s original artworks will be on display through March.

Sam is a lifelong resident of northwest Illinois. He has developed a deep appreciation of the unique beauty of the area’s natural environment. After studying photography as part of his Communication degree at Western Illinois University, capturing images of the area has become a hobby, avocation and occupation for Tucibat. He learned photography in the traditional darkroom, but has developed a distinct affinity for digital processes and used them exclusively in his workflow.