LOCATED IN THE COMMUNITY GALLERY Artist Statement: Jasmine Beul I see my ceramic works as sculptural vessels. They are inspired by historical vessel forms, but without the functionality. The utilitarian function is removed by making the forms asymmetrical, and exaggerating the scale and perforations. When utilitarian nature is removed what remains is an exploration of formal elements. With my paintings, I was interested in creating a fragmented view of a landscape to be somewhere between realism and abstraction. In these close…

LOCATED IN THE COMMUNITY GALLERY Artist Statement: Pratik Ray I am fascinated by the beauty and majesty of nature and light – not just the landscapes and seascapes, but also the light that paints them in vivid colors. It is the many moods of light that gives rise to a range of emotional response to the scene. It is my endeavor to take in these moments, and capture these precious snapshots in time in a way that re-kindles the same feelings…

LOCATED IN THE SMALL WALL GALLERY (3rd floor) Artist Bio Jordan Luckow of Sioux City, IA is a recent graduate from Iowa State University. While at Iowa State he received his bachelor’s degree in Fine Arts focusing on printmaking, and painting.  Jordan currently is a full-time designer at Lincoln Center Hy-Vee Floral in Ames, where he continues to create and find inspiration arranging flowers. In his downtown he continues to make art, publishing a book, and is participating in Art…

LOCATED IN MAIN & SWEENEY GALLERIES. The Octagon Center for the Arts showcases artwork by local elementary, middle, and high school students annually. High School art instructors from schools within 20 miles of the Octagon Center for the Arts are welcome to register students in their fall and spring classes for participation. (Home-school students are also welcome to register).  The opening reception and awards are April 18, 4:30 - 6:30pm with awards being announced at 5:30pm. All are welcome to…

LOCATED IN THE SMALL WALL GALLERY Biography and Artist Statement  AJ Zandt is an artist and printmaker from Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Surface Wear is the result of his latest efforts to expand the relationship between the human body and surface through the lens of skin and clothing. Each work in the exhibition is comprised of varied combinations of pressure-printed fabrics and impressions of human skin on paper that take the shape of sewing patterns. AJ tears his prints after the first…

LOCATED IN THE SWEENEY GALLERY Artist Statement and Bio: Mary Jones Mary Jones makes maps of the wilderness of personal history. Images and words are layered out of time and perspective; space is described by the inhabitants, whose journeys are being told. Details get piled on in the way that life is lived– in steps, notes, beats, breaths, and marks. Jones is a scavenger, and whether drawing or working in print media, collage is always an element. Prior to moving…

LOCATED IN THE COMMUNITY GALLERY Artist Statement for Measured Perceptions During a 2015 trip to Spain, Katz encountered evidence of La Convivencia (the coexistence of Muslim, Jewish and Christian populations) in Medieval Spain that provided hope for our current time of vitriolic discourse. Measured Perceptions embraces the similarities and unique contributions of the varied cultures that follow the three Abrahamic religions and combines them with the human languages of arithmetic and geometry to symbolize the universal search for order and…

LOCATED IN THE MAIN GALLERY Print Retrospective   Artist Bio: April Katz April Katz received her M.F.A. degree from Arizona State University. She is Morrill Professor at Iowa State University where she has taught printmaking since 1999. For nineteen years she organized the university’s annual international postcard print exchange. From 2004 - 2006 Katz served as president of the Southern Graphics Council. Her prints, which synthesize digital and traditional printmaking processes, are in numerous collections and have been exhibited throughout…