Nice Life DAVID PARKER April 6 - May 19, 2018 COMMUNITY GALLERY Using a limited palette of pine, maple, vinyl, griptape, and spray enamel I’m looking at the material language of subculture. The work is an abstract look at the outsiders: skaters, rockers, hippies, artists, stoners, goths, shoegazers… and how they project their identity to outsiders […]
Empty Dresses PAULA STREETER May 25 - June 30, 2018 COMMUNITY GALLERY Empty Dresses as a concept was conceived half a lifetime ago while attending the estate auction of an early Swedish immigrant to the Midwest. Among the many hand crafted items from the latter half of the nineteenth century were two intricately and nearly […]
Grilling Ice LEE RAINBOTH July 6 - August 11, 2018 COMMUNITY GALLERY This exhibit examines the ways that matters of mortality and masculinity manifest themselves in a contemporary Haitian context. Too often for young men in Haiti the way that they express their masculinity becomes a matter of survival itself. In an environment where simply […]
Join us for a FREE reception with artist Joanne Alberta in the Community Gallery! Artist Talk by Joanne Alberta at 6:30pm Tales from a Ghost Town by JOANNE ALBERDA is on display August 17 - September 29, 2018 Virginia City is a ghost town—the skeleton of a booming Montana gold mining camp in the late 19th […]
Tales from a Ghost Town JOANNE ALBERDA August 17 - September 29, 2018 COMMUNITY GALLERY Virginia City is a ghost town—the skeleton of a booming Montana gold mining camp in the late 19th century. As a museum it is the record of one of hundreds of get-rich-quick dramas related to the search for gold in […]
LOCATED IN THE COMMUNITY GALLERY (Street level) Artist Statement: Pacia Sallomi I began this series in 2010. In the beginning, I was focused on roundabouts or in French, rond-point, which came about because of an experience of being lost on back roads and small villages in the French countryside. I had begun to think about […]
LOCATED IN THE COMMUNITY GALLERY (FIRST FLOOR) Artist Biography Emily Lambertsen Minnie is an artist who specializes in charcoal drawing and oil painting. She earned a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree from the University of Northern Iowa and a Master of Fine Arts degree from the University of Tennessee. Emily taught art for three years […]
LOCATED IN THE COMMUNITY GALLERY (STREET LEVEL) Peggy Johnston Artist Statement My love of paper made it almost inevitable that I would discover the book arts. Since crafting my first books 30 years ago, I have explored bookmaking as an art as well as a craft. I love to be surprised by my work (and […]
LOCATED IN THE COMMUNITY GALLERY Kat Silent Water is a printmaker based out of Ankeny, Iowa, working in woodblock and linoleum relief since 2014. She recently embraced the alchemical properties of encaustic painting in her latest body of work, ‘Wax Cathedral’. Silent Water’s inspiration has taken root in Art Nouveau’s celebration of organic forms […]
LOCATED IN THE COMMUNITY GALLERY About Terry Brigman: After graduating in 1970, I went to work for a local company as a draftsman. In my spare time, I painted, sketched, and created small pieces of artwork that I sold or gave away. Art and the creation of art has wound its way through my […]
About Us
The Octagon Center for the Arts is a non-profit community art center in the heart of downtown Ames, Iowa. A cornerstone of the cultural scene in Ames since 1966, the Octagon serves more than 30,000 people each year through art classes and outreach, rotating exhibits, a retail gallery shop, and the annual Octagon Art Festival.
The Octagon Center for the Arts is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization funded in part through memberships, donations, and grants, including the City of Ames Commission on the Arts (COTA) and the Iowa Arts Council.
© 2025 Octagon Center for the Arts. All rights reserved.
Octagon Center for the Arts
413 & 427 Douglas Avenue
Ames, IA 50010
Phone: 515-232-5331
Email: info@octagonarts.org
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Octagon Shop and Community Gallery
Monday-Wednesday 10:00am-5:30pm
Thursday 10:00am-7:00pm
Friday 10:00am-5:30pm
Saturday 10:00am-5:00pm
Sunday CLOSED (except during the holidays)