The Labors of September

A day in which we meet Little Miss Cattle Congress, an Ent, and a skew-horned bull.

 

 The Dot Day Exhibition at WCA. Thanks to organizer Jessica Young, and contributor Ellen Shay, plus our event partners, Waterloo Public Library and Waterloo Urban Farmer's Market.

 

 An off-the-grid art collective in Omaha, NE. Beautiful, fascinating city!

A Memorable August 2025

 Stem & Stein 2025. Diane Ebert's portrait of Ace and Bev at Expo Plaza.

 

 Cedar Valley Pride 2025.

Lost Wax, and excellent cover band who played at CV Pride.
 

Art-A-Fest in Charles City, IA. 

 

 I was lucky to see Waterloo's Green Goddesses up close and personal. Well, they're not goddesses but allegories for Industry, Agriculture, Justice, and Science.

Iowa Irish Fest 2025

 

Gatherings

Matt Aytch's visit with his Nana in Nashville, July 2025.

 

 Me and Ace, nearly yellow together for the first time.

 

 Fiesta! 2025 at the RiverLoop Amphitheatre.

Wubbena's "We're Here," Part II

Here are images of Chris Wubbena's interactive sculpture titled "We're Here" from the 2025 Northend Arts & Music Festival in Fergerson Field Park on July 12. The sculpture has two parts. Part one was completed by visitors to the inaugural Chroma63 Festival back on June 14. They'll eventually stand together near the RiverLoop Amphitheatre canopy.

 

Nepal in Iowa

 WCA features two new exhibitions, Echoes of Kathmandu Valley, watercolors by graphic designer Riva Nayaju, and Nepalese Masks and Figures from the Kohler Foundation, devotional objects that are on display for the first time. It's an exciting glimpse into a vibrant culture.

 

 

 

New Bloom

 I'm so lucky to have a new Night-blooming Cereus, courtesy of the Paul Meers estate. This is the first bloom on the last day of June 2025 from a mere cutting stuck in a pot of red leaf lettuce. Amazing, beautiful, and all too brief.

 

Chroma63

Here are images of the inaugural Chroma63: Midwest Art & Sound festival at WCA, which happened on June 14. A beautiful day with dozens of creatives, featuring artists, punk rock bands, rappers, skaters, and live painting. I managed 31 artists, some veteran festival vendors and others brand new to the scene. Very exciting, very fulfilling, oh, and all-consuming.

 

 

 

Cedarloo Skate Association 

 

 

The public was invited to paint on Chris Wubbena's We're Here sculpture. 

 

 

Painters' hands 

Diversity Is Our Strength

This is Diversity Is Our Strength, a wheat-paste mural (edition #2) installed at the corner of Mulberry and E. Park in Waterloo, IA. The ribbon-cutting was May 23, 2025. Pictured at center is the artist/designer Isaac Campbell. See also Mayor Hart and WCA Exec. Dir. Chawne Paige. I posted about edition #1 back in 2020 before the derecho destroyed it.

Happenings at the Center

Michael Broshar's demo watercolor and Ethan Edvenson's collab collage at the opening for both artists, May 9, 2025.

Installing an Evelyn Alcide drapo in the Law-Reddington Galleries. At lunch with Fleuve - Revolution of Freedom & Flow exhibition co-curators Chawne Paige and Petrouchka Moise.

 

A Ra Ra Cape by Clotaire Bazile.

 

 Installation views of Fleuve.

 

A vault tour for Des Moines Art Center members and staff.

 

The new RiverLoop Amphitheatre sound panel mural. Pretty pretty.

May 2025

 Dining in the Cedar Valley.

 

2025 Black Hawk County Master Gardeners Banquet with a landscape design lecture by lily expert Phil Fass.

 

First flowers of 2025

Symposium at DMAC, April 26, 2025

WCA celebrates the most recent collaboration with the Des Moines Art Center, an exhibition of Haitian art from the collection followed by a symposium featuring Chawne Paige, Fredo Rivera, Dr. Petrouchka Moise, and Dr. Inbal Mazar. Lovely!