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• “A Call to Arts” provides artist-to-artist insight

The final session of “A Call to Arts” will take place Wednesday at the Wind, Water & Light Gallery, 10 E. Main St, Champaign. The annual event, co-sponsored by 40 North | 88 West and the Krannert Art Museum, offers artists the opportunity to present their work to the CU community, gain insight on their pieces and meet new people.

“I’d like to think of it as a salon where artists and intellectuals get together and give feedback to one another,” said Jenny Southlynn, “A Call to Arts” organizer and moderator. “It creates a stimulating and dynamic environment where they can critically look at each piece.”

Previous critique sessions for the 2007 to 2008 series have taken place each month at locations throughout Champaign County, including Cinema Gallery and Heartland Gallery, and attracted screenplay writers, actors, poets, painters and engineers. Works from interested visual, performing and literary artists were critiqued on a first come, first show basis.

“When painters get insight from musicians or poets, it’s interesting because it’s such a different perspective,” she said. “It’s great! The most interesting comments come from people outside your medium.”

Southlynn, a University alumna, first thought of holding open critiques in 1998 when her friends and local artists were unable to put their works on display. She originally held sessions the first Tuesday of each month until she no longer had her exhibition space in downtown Champaign. Years later, she suggested the idea to people at 40 North | 88 West and the Krannert Art Museum, and the open critiques were back by 2004.