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It Will Take a Village to "Make Our (Paper) Garden Grow" at the Illinois State Museum Lockport Gallery

LOCKPORT—The Illinois State Museum Lockport Gallery welcomes spring with a special collage project open to the community’s senior citizens.  This free event, entitled “Make Our (Paper) Garden Grow,” will be held Tuesday, March 20^th, from 1:30 to 3:00pm.  Individuals and groups are welcome. Advanced registration is required by March 15; space is limited. This is the final program offered in conjunction with the current exhibition Luminous Ground: Artists with Histories, which runs through April 13, 2012. 

In the spirit of the community garden and as a special event to welcome spring, the Illinois State Museum Lockport Gallery invites the “budding” senior citizen artists to come together and construct a community garden of paper utilizing the art technique of collage.  The blooms of the “gardeners’” labors will be on view at the ISM Lockport Gallery until Thursday, March 29, 2012.   The program is free, but advanced registration is required by March 15, 2012, as space is limited.  Participants should plan to bring their favorite scissors; other supplies will be provided. For additional information and to reserve a space for you or your group, call 815.838.7400.

The eleven Illinois artists in the exhibition Luminous Ground were chosen as exemplars of older individuals—these artists range from 78 to over 90 years old—who have remained vital and productive into advanced age, suggesting that creativity is a way of partaking of a “fountain of youth.”  The artists share three important similarities:  1) the creation of life-long bodies of work of the highest caliber; 2) the influencing of multiple artists across generations, not only by their art but through teaching and community involvement; 3) commitments of fifty to sixty years or more to the exploration of personal creativity.  Their art arises from luminous ground, a reservoir of creativity that has sustained and nurtured their art through the decades.  Exhibition runs through Friday, April 13, 2012.

All programs are free.  Additional information on exhibitions, programs, and membership is available by calling the ISM Lockport Gallery at 815.838.7400 or by visiting our website (www.museum.state.il.us/ismsites/lockport)  

The Illinois State Museum Lockport Gallery is located on the first floor of the historic Norton Building at 201 West 10^th Street in Lockport, Illinois, and is fully accessible to all physically challenged individuals.  Museum hours are noon until 5:00 pm on Sunday and 9:00 am until 5:00 pm, Monday through Friday.  The Museum is closed Saturdays and State Holidays.  Admission is free.  For information on exhibitions and related programs, becoming a member of the Friends of the Lockport Gallery, directions to the museum, or to schedule a group tour of ten or more, please contact museum staff at (815) 838-7400 or visit the museum online at https://www.museum.state.il.us/ismsites/lockport/.  The Illinois State Museum Lockport Gallery is part of the Illinois State Museum system, including sites in Springfield, Rend Lake, Chicago, and Lewistown.