When entering a museum or gallery, viewers hold certain expectations for encountering art. The museum is well-suited to display a…
Brian Prugh
Posted inArts & Entertainment
In the Iowa City art market, local galleries get creative
There’s nothing like going for an afternoon walk and seeing half a dozen art shows within a few short city blocks. To do this in a city like Chicago or New York is a true delight: Galleries sit cheek-by-jowl in tightly knit neighborhoods, and one stroll can wind through engaging and disparate worlds created in […]
Posted inCommunity/News
Apartment buildings set to replace Hawkeye Court and Hawkeye Drive will have nearly double the rent
With architecture, there’s always a story. And that story usually has something to do with money. The story about Aspire at West Campus begins with…
Posted inArts & Entertainment
Artists Sarah Kanouse, John Engelbrecht and Josh MacPhee discuss their collaboration, Exuberant Politics
During Josh MacPhee’s visit to Iowa City last month as part of Exuberant Politics, a year-long celebration of political art and action sponsored by a long list of…
Posted inArts & Entertainment
Brooklyn artist and activist Josh MacPhee to visit Iowa City next week
Visual artist Josh MacPhee — known for his emphasis on creating and curating socially engaged artwork — will be visiting Iowa City next week to participate in…
Posted inArts & Entertainment
Steven Vail Fine Arts joins the local gallery scene
Photos by Brian Prugh Coming on the heels of the closing of Public Space One’s downtown location, the opening of a new gallery is a welcome addition to the Iowa City art scene. Steven Vail Fine Arts will open at 118 E. College St., sharing first-floor space with Velvet Coat and the soon-to-be-opening FilmScene. The […]
Posted inArts & Entertainment
Art City: A look at Micah Bloom’s Codex
Micah Bloom’s Codex is set in Minot, N.D. after a flood. After the cleanup, after the rebuilding, Bloom was struck by a particular subset of the remaining debris—books that had been strewn through the landscape by the receding waters. Codex is a meditation on these remains. The film and the photographs document the final resting […]
Posted inArts & Entertainment
Art City: Untitled Bombsite Project reflects on time and space
The Untitled Bombsite Project, a video projection by Jill Baker and Jonathan Rattner, was the centerpiece of Public Space One’s final exhibition in its Jefferson Building…
Posted inArts & Entertainment
Art City: Blind spot
Sometimes artwork can be difficult to see. There are times when I have looked at a work and been unable to understand why the artist has gone to so much trouble. Most of the time, when this happens, I am missing something. Certainly, I am looking at the work—I am noticing its physical properties, thinking […]
Posted inArts & Entertainment
Highlights from this year’s batch of UI MFA shows
It’s graduation time in Iowa City, and for the University of Iowa’s School of Art and Art History, that means an avalanche of visiting artist and MFA shows are going up and then coming down far too quickly. Off campus, there is the general upswell of creative activity that spring always seems to bring: A […]
Posted inArts & Entertainment
Art City: Exploring place at the Art Faculty Biennial
I find the opening question in David Dunlap’s Artist Statement to be the most promising guide for a consideration of what the faculty show shows us. He asks, “Who are we here?” The question makes a suggestive distinction, supposing, as it does, that there could be a difference between “who we are” and “who we are here.”
Posted inCommunity/News
ARTicle: Interview with Public Space One Director John Engelbrecht
News of a potential lease termination for Public Space One (129 E. Washington), raised a lot of questions about the future of non-commercial art downtown. Here, we ask PS1 Director John Engelbrecht about the past, present and future of the space. The interview was conducted over email. Little Village: The news of the potential end […]
