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• Parkland art expands its horizons

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One of the best things about pre-college education were the days we got to skip class for educationally fun adventures, better known as field trips. For those that miss the exciting days of off-campus excursions, the Parkland Art Gallery and Community Education may have just what you need.

Once a semester, this collaboration organizes what they call an Art Gallery Exhibition “as an outreach to the community and as a fundraiser for the Parkland Art Gallery,” said Lisa Costello, director of the Parkland Art Gallery. These expeditions utilize Champaign’s central location to Chicago, St. Louis and Indianapolis to organize trips to various art venues. Costing, on average, about 75 dollars, the daylong expeditions are “a way to go out of town for a day, relax and visit another arts venue,” said Costello.

Last month, a trip to the Roger Brown Study Collection and Intuit Gallery in Chicago led students and non-students off campus by bus for a day of learning and fun. Costello said the exhibits were chosen “because they are off the beaten track and are linked through visionary artists.” The first stop was Brown’s former home at the Roger Brown Study Collection, “an intimate collection with an astonishing range of objects, including works by Chicago Imagists and other contemporary artists, self-taught artists, folk and tribal art from many cultures,” according to the event’s press release. Brown was an artist known internationally for his contribution to the history of Chicago “through his distinctive, original artistic vision, and his works in many mediums,” according to the School of the Art Institute of Chicago’s website.

Serving as the second stop of the expedition was the Intuit Gallery, which houses the Ulysses Davis exhibition. Davis’s claim to fame, according to Costello, was carving all of the U.S. presidents from George Washington through George Bush Sr. According to the press release, the exhibit features an impressive 109 pieces.

Another daylong trip to the Museum of Contemporary Art in Chicago to view Luc Tuymans’ Painting Exhibition is planned for the fall. With an interest in the effects of World War II, Tuymans “explores issues of history and memory, as well as the relationship between photography and painting, using a muted palette to create canvases that are simultaneously withholding and disarmingly stark,” according the upcoming event’s press release. There will be a 75 dollar fee for this Oct. 29 expedition beginning at 7:30 a.m. and lasting until 6 p.m. If interested in purchasing tickets, call Community Education at 217-252-2055.