Jodean became involved with the Art Under Glass Window Walk, helping to install vacant windows along Second Street. She then handled all of the Call for Entries procedures. She ran the MidCoast gallery at the LeClaire Welcome Center and the iWireless kiosks until those were discontinued. She also has overseen the casements at the Davenport RiverCenter and Moline Centre Station, and the MidCoast Gallery at Bucktown.

"There were great discussions about supporting local art" she recently recalled. She continued her association with MidCoast while completing a master's degree in Contemporary Art History, Theory and Criticism at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago (2001). As part of her degree thesis, she determined that of the Quad Cities, Dubuque and Iowa City areas, the lowest support for local artists was Iowa City, probably due to the turnover in student population. She also brought some of her MidCoast experience to Chicago, and set up a window walk event there.

	The Hazmat Last Supper

Jodean was hired in 2006 as Curator of Education for the Rock Island Arsenal Museum. Currently, she's the Visual Information Specialist at the U.S. Army Garrison, Rock Island Arsenal.  Her duties include photography, communications and video teleconferences.

I have known Jodean since she was an Augustana summer student assistant who helped me to write and assemble an art collection catalogue. I recall her verve and humor that still shine. She recounts one of the memorable events associated with MidCoast. During an early stage of Gallery HOP!, Dean Schroeder revealed he had some hazmat suits. Someone had painted a rendition of Da Vinci's Last Supper on a wall and it was decided a MidCoast group would don the suits and pose in front of the mural. She laughingly notes, "It was such a bizarre concept but we had a blast".

"I've always maintained my interest in MidCoast because of the grassroots component" she explains. Jodean is organizing artists for another stellar Riverssance, to take place Sept. 17-18, again in Lindsay Park, Davenport. Mark your calendars!

~ Sherry

~ Amy Orr, MidCoast President, and Sherry Maurer

MidCoast thanks Randi Freeborn, a senior art student at Pleasant Valley High School, who has been volunteering assistance with exhibitions and database development at Bucktown Center for the Arts.

There will be Gallery HOP! BINGO game cards at each "HOP Stop." To play Gallery HOP! BINGO, just visit at least five locations, have the artist or owner sign off, and make a straight line on your card. Cards can be picked up and turned in at MidCoast Fine Arts/The ARTery or Quad City Arts. The winner gets a prize basket full of fun gifts, and art!

Gallery HOP! is presented by The District, MidCoast Fine Arts, Quad City Arts and sponsored by the Dispatch-Argus, WHBF, and River Cities Reader.

The Gallery HOP! featured ARTery ARTist is the painter Amanada Sabel.

by Jeanne O'Melia

by Amanada Sabel

	Wave Dancer by Colleen Curry

Fiber Jam is a wide-ranging exhibition of regional fiber works co-curated by Colleen Curry and MidCoast staff. Incredible pleats! Eye-defying needle felting! Daredevil fiber structures! Don't miss it.

Participating artists are: Rosalie Baker (Mt. Vernon), Mary Bent (Bettendorf), Rita Bowen (Orion), Chris Clark (Muscatine),  Colleen Curry (Donahue), Kimberly Darling (Davenport), Diana Engelbrecht (Eldridge), Jeanne Elliott (Bettendorf), Julie Ferring (Dubuque), Laura Hopkins (Davenport), Abi Hutchison (Letts), Sue Kirk (Davenport), Donna Kitchell (Davenport),Terre Klipsch (Davenport), Linda Klyman (East Moline), Jeanne Knape (Davenport), Georgeann Kreiter (Moline), Rosanne Krubsack (Davenport), Barbara McIntyre (Rock Island), Penny Pearcy (Maquoketa), Mary Pement (Moline), Diana Strait (Maquoketa), Cher Testroet (Bettendorf), Dorothy Towler (Rock Island), Deb Veber (Moline), Mary Wells (Davenport) and Cheri Wujek (Galesburg).

Enjoy the artwork of three young women entering the world of art in a new direction. Award winning senior high school artists Emily Hummel, Paige Jackson and Amy Van Fossen are students of the Beréskin Gallery and Mrs. B.'s Art. The public is invited to the closing reception May 21, 4-6 p.m.

Summer class schedule at Beréskin Fine Art Gallery and Studio is available.

All entries are on exhibit during June at Bucktown Center for the Arts. This project is supported with Quad City Arts Dollar$ funds, provided by Hubbell-Waterman Foundation, Illinois Arts Council Agency, and John Deere. Further support has been provided by Seiffert Lumber.

The Creative Collective, downtown Davenport's first coworking space, continues to grow and become a hub for creative entrepreneurs, remote employees, and freelancers. Community members enjoy the benefits of office and conference space, collaboration, professional development, and a beautiful, cutting-edge work environment located within Bucktown Center for the Arts.

 We are a non-profit community arts agency founded and run by artists. Our mission to stimulate our community's cultural and economic vitality through the support of regional visual arts and artists is accomplished by having amazing art-focused programming and events like Final Fridays, ArtWorks Expo and Riverssance Festival of Fine Art.