NEW EXHIBITS SCHEDULED TO OPEN IN ICC ART GALLERIES IN MARCH

               Two new exhibits open in March in the Illinois Central College art galleries, located on the East Peoria Campus.

               On March 9, the ICC Performing Arts Center Gallery hosts a reception from 4 to 5:30 pm as one of seven Peoria area sites for the 37th Bradley International Print and Drawing Exhibition, the second-longest running juried print and drawing competition in the country.

             In addition, Fem Scapes, a mixed media exhibit by Mica Lilith Smith, opens March 20 in Gallery 336B, located in the Academic Building.

               Smith is a visual artist and educator who earned her master of fine arts degree from the University of Cincinnati College of Design, Architecture, Art, and Planning in 2012. Her work is comprised of fabric installations, paintings, works on paper, and video. She currently lives and works in Huntsville, Texas, where she teaches fine arts foundations, drawing and painting at Sam Houston State University.

               Smith’s said her work focuses on the power of femme aesthetics – specifically those connected to trans female self-preservation and survival.

               “As a maker, I am drawn to visual contradictions: the softness and hardness that is evident in feminine and masculine aesthetics and the effects that this visual information yields upon viewers when such opposites collide in a single space,” she said in an artist statement about the exhibit.

               Smith said she calls to formalistic cues that imbue soft, haven-like configurations, while also using such elements to arrive at compositions that are, at times, foreboding and cacophonous. She aims to create works that evoke intimacy and sensual memory through a trans female lens while touching on the complexities of her own experiences as a trans woman living in, and responding to, contemporary culture.

               Both exhibits at ICC run through April 12.

               Hours of operation for Gallery 336B are Monday through Thursday, from 9 am to 5 pm and Friday from 9 am to noon. The Performing Arts Center Gallery is open Monday through Thursday from 9:30 am to 7:30 pm, and Friday from 9:30 am to noon. In addition, the Performing Arts Center Gallery also is accessible when the Performing Arts Center is open for public events. Operation of all galleries may vary with ICC’s holidays and breaks; call the Arts & Behavioral Sciences Department at (309) 694-5113 to verify a gallery is open.

               The exhibits are presented by the ICC Art Program and the Arts at ICC. The Arts at ICC has a rich history of enhancing the arts community and expanding education beyond the classroom. Arts at ICC presents more than 500 exhibits, performances, lectures, rehearsals, meetings, master classes, clinics, seminars, receptions, orientations, forums, auditions and tournaments annually.

               For more information or to confirm a gallery will be open at a particular time, visit ArtsAtICC.com or contact the ICC Arts and Behavioral Sciences Department at (309) 694-5113.