Art on the River Goes 'Driftless'

DUBUQUE, Iowa – The City of Dubuque’s annual public art exhibit, Art on the River, will undergo some significant changes in its 13th year and will have the theme of “Driftless” for the 2018-2019 exhibit. 

This is the first year for the exhibit to have a theme and “Driftless” was adopted to pay homage to the people, history, geography, flora, and fauna of the Driftless Region. To identify appropriate artwork, Dubuque’s Arts and Cultural Affairs Advisory Commission appointed well-known regional curator and longtime Art on the River juror, David Wells, to conduct an invitational.

Wells is director of the Edgewood College Art Gallery and an independent community-based curator in Madison, Wis. Some of his current projects include Art On the Rooftop, an annual outdoor sculpture exhibit at the Monona Terrace Community and Convention Center, and GLEAM: Art in a New Light, an annual light installation project developed with Olbrich Botanical Gardens. He founded Curators Conversations Wisconsin, serves on the Wisconsin Visual Arts Achievement Awards selection panel at the Museum of Wisconsin Art, and juried the 2016 Northeast Wisconsin Art Annual with the Neville Public Museum in Green Bay; Wisconsin Artwest 2017 with the L.E. Phillips Memorial Library, Eau Claire; and Beloit & Vicinity with the Wright Art Museum, Beloit College. 

Seven unique works of art, including kinetic and light-based pieces, have been selected and will be installed around the Grand River Center and along the Mississippi Riverwalk at the Port of Dubuque. The opening reception for the exhibit is scheduled for Friday, August 3, from 5:30-7:30 p.m. at the Grand River Center Terrace. The youth reception and tour, now in its third year, will be held from 4:30- 5:30 p.m. The event is free, family friendly, and open to the public.

The following sculptures, in no particular order, were selected for the Driftless exhibit:

Art on the River is part of the Dubuque City Council’s Arts and Culture initiative and to date has exhibited over 110 pieces on the Riverwalk along with the newest permanent installation of Continuum.  Pieces featured in the current 2017-2018 Art on the River Exhibit, consisting of 11 works of sculpture, are still eligible for People’s Choice award. To vote for your favorite, visit www.cityofdubuque.org/ArtontheRiver2017.  All the sculptures are for sale and can be installed in both indoor and outdoor areas. The exhibit is free, can be viewed sunrise to sunset year-round, and is accessible. For additional information, please contact Arts and Cultural Affairs Coordinator Debra Alleyne at dalleyne@cityofdubuque.org  or call 563-690-6059.

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