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Dubuque's most unique art eco system, featuring three galleries and a sculpture courtyard. Available for events..

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Building Community Through the Arts

Headquarters for our Creative Space Making.  A Hub of Creative Practice in the Visual and Performing Arts, all in Dubuque’s most diverse neighborhood.

Thank You City of Dubuque!

Thank you to the City of Dubuque Arts and Cultural Affairs Dept. for an Operating Support grant to uplift programming at Voices Studios.

Thank You Iowa Arts Council!

Thank you to Iowa Arts Council for partnering with Voices and Heritage Works on humanities collaboration and meaningful placemaking engagement in the Central Avenue Corridor. 

Thank You DRA!

A HUGE thank you to the DRA for an amazing award of $19,000 to support our vision for arts in the community!

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2004 The Beginning

A group of kindred spirits hatch a plan to activate the shuttered Millwork District through the transformative power of the arts.

Press

Sun Times – Murals & Mosaics Newsletter

 Today’s edition was compiled by Sun-Times reporter Robert Herguth.

Dubuque, Iowa, has been called the “masterpiece on the Mississippi” for its hilly natural beauty and proximity to the Mississippi River. Now, the city of about 60,000 residents on the Illinois border is becoming known for a different kind of beauty — murals. “It’s a river town with working-class roots, but we’re entering a new era, and it’s kind of interesting,” says Sam Mulgrew, whose Voices Productions nonprofit has been a force behind the push for more public art. “The cultural life of Dubuque is taking on a new form.”

A mural in Dubuque done in 2018 by artists WERC and GERALUZ. | Travel Dubuque

Dubuque has about 60 murals, according to Mulgrew, all done since 2015. Some were painted to give a lift to an area, others to spur cultural tourism and help add to the vibe of a city aiming to attract and keep young residents.

The Brooklyn artist who goes by WERC has done several murals in Dubuque, including one shown above, titled “America Needs a Hug” and created in 2018 with his partner in life and art, known as GERALUZ.

“It’s inspired by an old currency note,” according to WERC, and includes “a goddess who’s holding lightning, and she’s supported by an eagle.”

A mural in Dubuque called “Owl Moon.” Done by the artist who goes by WERC in 2018, it’s since been painted over. | Travel Dubuque

Across the street, WERC did another mural the same year, “Owl Moon,” touching on “femininity, wisdom, beauty” but which since was unexpectedly painted over.

Other murals in Dubuque have purposely been given a limited shelf life. Like one done in 2021 by the Connecticut artist who goes by ARCY that celebrates two baseball pioneers with ties to Dubuque and to the White Sox: Charles Comiskey and Red Faber.

A baseball-themed mural in Dubuque painted by Connecticut artist DARCY in 2021. | Travel Dubuque

Comiskey, one of the founders of the American League, was a longtime owner of the Sox who once played for the Dubuque Rabbits minor-league team.

Faber was a Sox pitcher from 1914 to 1933 who played college and minor-league ball in Dubuque and was among the last pitchers allowed to throw a spitball, having been grandfathered in to keep using it when the pitch was banned.

Mulgrew says that mural was on a wall that’s meant to be repainted every year or two with new art, and it’s already been replaced.

Douglas Hoekzema, a Miami artist known as Hoxxoh, painted this mural, titled “Portal,” in Dubuque in 2018. | Provided

Above and below are a couple of other cool paintings in Dubuque. Both were done by artists from Miami. Both were done in 2018.

Above, by Douglas Hoekzema. Below, Luis Valle. Above, kind of mind melt.

Below, an “ode” to Dubuque, with Mother Nature, the town’s bridge, catfish and sandhill cranes.

A mural in Dubuque done by artist Luis Valle, who goes by El Chan Guri. | Travel Dubuque

Dubuque Mayor Brad Cavanagh says of the public paintings, “All in all, I think it’s been a wonderful addition to the city . . . I’d love to see more.”

A lot more to see and read about if you click here and access a longer story in the Chicago Sun-Times, as part of our weekly “Murals and Mosaics” series.

Ok I misled you, there’s a little more to share about the Dubuque artwork.

While the murals involve artists from all over the country, there are some Chicago connections.

Like to the mural shown below, done in 2015 by the South Side artist who goes by ZorZorZor, who we’ve featured a couple times in our space.

A mural in Dubuque done by Chicago artist ZorZorZor in 2015. | Provided

We caught up with her and she gave us a rundown on her Iowa art:

“I painted this character on instinct, with no plan, and when I look at it now, it just reflects who I was at that time. Feminine but tough, with a sort of armored shell, deep in myself. Content. I always feel that my deep ancestral soul comes out in these characters, as if this painting is a past life portrait of who I was. Some sort of a warrior, to still be here today. The lilac flower was placed there to protect my heart.”

She adds, “What made painting this piece so memorable was the lasting effect it had on the town. People LOVED it. There were non stop photoshoots in front of it. It was the first official piece of ‘Street Art’ in Dubuque! And it spearheaded the downtown mural takeover.”

A new mural in Moline, part of the Quad Cities in far western Illinois. | Provided

Moline, a city in far western Illinois along the Mississippi River and bordering Iowa, has had other murals. But it got its first as part of a new push on public art. And the artists? WERC and GERALUZ, who were mentioned above.

The artists GERALUZ, left, and WERC. | Provided

Kevin Maynard, executive director of the Quad City Arts nonprofit which helped oversee the project, says “the arts drive tourism, beautification, create civic pride.”

The interesting thing, as I see it, is that the organizers of this mural didn’t, says Maynard, want “a welcoming message or river motif.”

Rather, “they wanted this to make a big impact and show what public art can do, especially in our region,” and significantly “left it up to the artists.”

Please click here to read a little more.

A sculpture of a wild turkey, by Brooklyn artist Wendy Klemperer. | Provided

So it’s Thanksgiving week, obviously. I wanted to end this dispatch with a nod to the esteemed turkey. Above, a sculpture of a wild one, by Brooklyn artist Wendy Klemperer.

Her web site says: “The imagery that pervades my work reflects a lifelong fascination with animals. To make the large-scale sculptures I search scrap yards for industrial refuse ravaged by usage and demolition. Bent and twisted, such pieces contain energy and potential new life.”

More wild turkey sculptures by Wendy Klemperer. | Provided

She says about wild turkeys, “I love the way they look, they look like dinosaurs . . . they have so many different gestures . . . and their plumage is really incredible.”

Klemperer told us something I didn’t know, that “they were hunted almost to the point of extinction” more than a century ago. She marvels at how “they’ve come back and are thriving.”

 

Thanks for reading the Murals & Mosaics newsletter! Check out other newsletters from the Sun-Times ranging from general morning news to high school sports here.

If you want a copy of our two-year murals/mosaics anniversary magazine, click here, copies are just $4.99 apiece.

Got a mural or other piece of public art you’d like us to look into? Send an email to murals@suntimes.com and we’ll check it out. Have a great weekend!

Robert Herguth, Sun-Times