Traveling art exhibit coming to Legacy Plaza in October

The Iowa Artists’ traveling art exhibit will be arriving to Newton in October and will showcase for free several pieces of 2D and 3D artwork at Legacy Plaza.

In July, Iowa Artists announced the launch of its 50th Anniversary Reboot 2.021 Traveling Art Exhibit, which would be showcased at five galleries and museums in the state. The traveling exhibit has been on display since Aug. 3 and will be available for viewing through Feb. 26, 2022.

Upon its arrival to Building 20 of Legacy Plaza (located across from Gezellig Brewing Co.), the exhibit will have already been viewable at the Witter Gallery in Storm Lake and the Sanford Museum & Planetarium in Cherokee. The exhibit will stay in Newton from Oct. 1 to Oct. 29.

Among the featured artwork are three paintings which took the top awards at Iowa Artists’ 2021 State Online Show in May.

The artists include: Barry Ross, winning Best of Show with his watercolor “Lilienthal Glider;” Beppie Weiss, winning the Richard Heggen Award for her oil painting, “White on White;” and Robert Richardson winning the Doris Frandsen Award for “Old World Sparrows.”

Select exhibit pieces will be available for purchase during the tour.

Because of the COVID-19 pandemic, Iowa Artists was forced to cancel several of its regional shows, workshops and other events in 2020. The 50th Anniversary Reboot 2.021 will be the organization’s first in-person exhibit open to the public since the start of the pandemic, Iowa Artists stated in a press release.

During the pandemic, Iowa Artists turned to virtual events such as online art shows to connect with its members. Since March 2020 Iowa Artists steadily gained new members who turned to at-home hobbies to fill their time when many non-essential businesses temporarily closed.

The traveling art exhibit is the “culmination of (the organization’s) efforts to keep Iowa artists creating during the pandemic and connecting with newly reopened art galleries” all across the state. To learn more about Iowa Artists, visit its website at www.iowaartists.us.