"Nature/Nurture: A Family of Artists" opens Friday, April 10th in the Kortman Gallery

Are artists born or made? Is there an art gene? If your mom and dad are artists will you become one because you grew up surrouneded by their creative energy or is it something in your blood? “Nature/Nurture: A Family of Artists” an exhibition opening Friday, April 10th in the Kortman Gallery featuring works by Rebecca Downing Pelley, Paul Pinzarrone and their daughter Ellie Pinzarrone lets you ponder these questions while seeing this visually exciting show by these three accomplished artists.
“Nature/Nurture” highlights the colorful, intricate, creative unrelated art in different media, but connected by the mother, father, daughter family relationship.
Paul Pinzarrone has exhibited his work extensively since 1976 creating contemporary images in airbrush which evolved into his dramatic, sensuous, and complex digital images that he presents in this exhibit.
Becky Downing Pelley, a recent winner of the prestigious “Golden Apple Award” is not only an artist, but has been teaching art in the Rockford Public Schools and Boylan High School for more than a generation. She creates intricate, colorful, and captivating watercolors.
Ellie Pinzarrone, artist and art historian, “paints” amazing images with embroidary and beads on fabric. Her work references classical paintings along with contemporay images she creates with a needle, thread, fabric, and beads and a great deal of imagination. Ellie was featured in a solo exhibiton in the Kortman Galllery in 2014.
“Art fans of each of these talented artists are in for a visual treat to be able to see this family of artists show together in one exhibit,” says Kortman Gallery director Doc Slafkosky. “Will there be a family resemblance? Is there a common visual element in their work? This is what makes this show so fascinating!” 
 The “Nature/Nurture: A Family of Artists” exhibition will be will be on display through May 30th. The Friday and Saturday, April 10th and 11th opening receptions are in conjunction with the Spring Rockford ArtScene. The Friday opening reception will be from 5 to 10pm and Saturday 3 to 9pm. The Kortman Gallery is located upstairs at J. R. Kortman Center for Design, 107 North Main Street. For further information call 815/968-0123 or visit www.jrkortman.com

Fill your Easter Basket with things extraordinary form J. R. Kortman Center for Design

Surprise that special someone this Easter with an extraordinary gift from J.R. Kortman. From a sculpted zinc rabbit to double opera length pearls, from an "Anna" corkscrew to glass and stainless steel spice jars or dazzling art glass by Robert Burch or a beaded "eye" pendant by Betsy Youngquist...you will find something wonderful that will be treasured for a lifetime. Visit us Monday through Saturday, 10am to 6pm and explore our store and gallery.

Time change? Change your clocks...find a new clock for Spring @ J. R. Kortman Center for Design

Spring ahead with this cool clock with a unique adhesive backing that allows you to "stick" it where you might ordinarily not be able to hang one such as on a mirror, fridge, or even a window. The clock with smooth movement (battery operated) keeps accurate time and comes in several color combinations. See this and other contemporary wall clocks and watches @ J.R.Kortman Center for Design.


dj DAS Creates Mixes a Cool Vibe this First Friday in the Kortman Gallery featuring the Art of Diane Rose Dailing, Dennis Horton @ the Bar

If you haven't experienced the Kortman Gallery - DAS music combination, you won't want to miss this first Friday.  Surrounded by Diane Rose Dailing's "Captured" exhibition, enjoy signature cocktails from bartender Dennis Horton and manually mixed beats by dj DAS...all together, leads to a great Friday night at J. R. Kortman Center for Design and the Kortman Gallery. Shop til 9 and relax upstairs in the galley late into the evening. Experience a refreshing First Friday in Downtown Rockford this Friday, March 6th.


Explore Love Tokens for Valentines Day From J. R. Kortman Center for Design

Saturday is Valentine's Day...a day of Love and Romance. Make it last all year with a Love Token from J. R. Kortman Center for Design. Find a small keepsake that will be treasured forever along with a elegant necklace or jewelry for her or a cool watch or original work of art for him, or something wonderful for your home that you can both enjoy.  Celebrate Love with a great dinner, champagne, chocolate and a great gift from J. R. Kortman! Cuddle up and stay warm.

Diane Rose Dailing’s "Captured" Exhibit showcases sculpture and drawings opening Feb. 6th in the Kortman Gallery

Seeing Rockford artist Diane Rose Dailing’s art is like discovering newly uncovered drawings and sculpture from some uncertain ancient time, yet it also is like discovering fresh contemporary works that capture the classic beauty and alluring characteristics of the human figure. Dailing’s expressive, figurative drawings and sculpture can be seen starting Friday, February 6th in an exhibition titled, “Captured” at the Kortman Gallery in Downtown Rockford.
    Dailing, who has been creating drawings all her life, became intrigued with Pre-Columbian clay heads when she received a clay “trophy head” as a gift.
    “Clay heads were created to represent the number of the enemy killed in battle,” explains Dailing. “They look alike, anonymous and impersonal, and not all of those conquered were killed. Some were enslaved. This ancient idea of capturing a person in a work of art intrigued me since this is what inspires me with my drawings and my sculpture.”
    Dailing’s exhibition features both drawings of the human figure and sculpted clay heads that are more abstract than realistic. The small clay faces she presents in her show are people whose essence she strove to capture.
    “Some are actual acquaintances, some are people observed from afar, some are imaginary,” says Dailing. “I envisioned them looking stunned and defeated as I stole their likeness. My pieces in the exhibit represent people in the abstract, like the Pre-Hispanic clay figure that inspired me, but they are also captured objects, hung on the wall as hunters do their trophies”
    “Diane’s art is at once classic and contemporary,” says Doc Slafkosky, gallerist for the Kortman Gallery. “She’s a very talented artist who brings a mature style and sophistication to the Kortman Gallery.”
    Dailing received BA, MA and MFA degrees in Studio Art from the University of Iowa, with Figure Drawing as her area of emphasis. She has taught art in private and public schools, the Davenport Art Museum, Rockford Art Museum, and drawing classes at Black Hawk College and Rock Valley College.
     The Dailing exhibition, “Captured” will be will be on display through March 31st.The First Friday, February 6th opening reception will be from 5:30 to 9pm. The Kortman Gallery is located upstairs at J. R. Kortman Center for Design, 107 North Main Street. For further information call 815/968-0123 or visit www.jrkortman.com.

What: “Captured,” an exhibition of works by Diane Rose Dailing opening reception, First Friday, February 6th, 5:30 to 9:00pm.
When:  The exhibition runs through March 31st. Gallery & Store open Monday to Saturday, 10am – 6pm.
Where: Kortman Gallery, upstairs at J. R. Kortman Center for Design,
             107 North Main Street, Downtown Rockford
Admission: Free and open to the public