CURRENT EXHIBITIONS

AWAY I MUST
Matt Pulford

Opening Reception: July 31st from 5:00-7:00PM
Artist Talk at 4:00PM prior to the opening

Away I Must features paintings, drawings, and mixed-media works by Iowa artist Matt Pulford, inspired by periods of solitude spent during an artist residency in rural Nebraska. Immersed in the vast prairie landscape, Pulford explores the fleeting beauty of light, movement, sound, and distance through contemplative studies of land, sky, water, and wildlife. Ranging from whimsical to melancholic, the works reflect on longing, connection, beauty, loss, and the profound experience of being alone within the natural world.

The exhibition will be on view in the Newell Gallery from July 31 through September 12. Visitors are invited to join Pulford for an Artist Talk at 4:00PM on Friday, July 31st to learn more about his creative process and the inspirations behind the work.

TRANSCENDING REALITY
Momentum Art Guild

Opening Reception: July 31st from 5:00-7:00PM

The Freeport Art Museum is excited to welcome back Momentum Art Guild with its newest exhibition, Transcending Reality, on view in the Ferguson Gallery from July 31 through September 12.

This thought-provoking exhibition challenged MAG artists to create works that went beyond what could be seen - producing work that keeps a recognizable subject, but bends color, edge, form, or texture toward abstraction.

Momentum Art Guild is a regional artist organization dedicated to enhancing interest in the visual arts and supporting the development of individual artists. Our members provide mutual support and work for the general promotion of art and the advancement of those who create it.

UPCOMING EXHIBITIONS

September 25th 2026 - December 31st 2026

We are very excited to present a solo exhibition with Shirley Guay at the Freeport Art Museum. The third space refers to a method Shirley uses that gives the positive and negative space equal importance. It is between the two positive images that the area is known as the third space. You will see that in her earlier work and continued to this day in her recent work. Shirley is now in her 80’s and on most days, you can find her in the studio exploring yet another medium in which she can use to express herself.

Past Exhibitions

Today Was Tomorrow, a solo exhibition by Rockford-based printmaker Kari McDonald—also known by her artistic moniker Lemuette—will kick off FAM’s 2026 exhibition season. Known for her meditative, nature-inspired woodblock prints featuring prairie plants, whimsical blooms, and charming little critters, Kari invites viewers to slow down and find a moment of calm. This new body of work blends hand-carved woodblock, letterpress, and screen printing to explore presence, prairie landscapes, and the beauty that can emerge even through challenging seasons.

ARTIST INTERVIEW

The Freeport Art Museum is thrilled to announce the opening of two solo exhibitions, set to debut on October 24th at 5 p.m. These exhibitions will feature impressive works by Chelsea Bighorn from Chicago Illinois and Hattie Lee Mendoza from Peoria Illinois.

Chelsea Bighorn was born and raised in Tempe, Arizona, and is Lakota, Dakota and Shoshone -Paiute. Bighorn’s work is the result of her combining traditional Native American design with elements from her Irish American heritage. Using this process, she tells her personal history through her art. Bighorn has shown her work at the Museum of Contemporary Native Art, SITE Santa Fe, Catharine Clark Gallery in San Francisco, and The Center for Native Futures in Chicago, IL. She graduated from The Institute of American Indian Arts in 2021 with a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Studio Arts. Bighorn received her Master of Fine Arts in Fiber and Material Studies from School of The Art Institute of Chicago in 2024. She currently resides in Chicago, IL where she is an artist in residence with Chicago Artist Coalition.

Hattie Lee Mendoza is a multi-disciplinary artist who grew up in Fowler, Kansas, and now lives in Peoria, Illinois. She has an MFA from Bradley University in Peoria, Illinois, and a BA in graphic design from Tabor College, Hillsboro, KS. She is influenced by her Great Grandmother and namesake’s Cherokee heritage and stories, desiring to revive and continue that legacy within her family after generational loss of cultural connection. She spent three years living in Thailand, as well as traveling to various countries, while working with a non-profit organization on their fine art and media team. The experience gave her opportunities to interact and learn from many people groups and tribes in Asia and the Middle East. Afterward, she returned to the States and was motivated to connect to her own ancestral heritages. Her maternal grandmother’s frugal values, stemming from a depression era childhood, are also reflected in Mendoza’s practice by including repurposed and recycled personal, family and community items, as well as thrifted and found objects.

Opening Reception: Friday
October 24th, 5:00-7:00PM

Artist Panel Discussion - October 30th at 5:30 pm

“High Strangeness" is an exhibition that explores the intersection of the uncanny and the unknown, where the boundaries between reality and the surreal blur. Featuring a diverse array of photography, painting, and sculpture, this show invites viewers into realms of altered perception, mysterious phenomena, and the strange undercurrents of contemporary life. Each work in the exhibition engages with the concept of "high strangeness"—a term often used to describe encounters with the unexplained, the bizarre, and the otherworldly.

This exhibition brings together works that evoke both intrigue and unease. Through photography, fragmented landscapes and ambiguous figures emerge—captured moments that invite questions rather than resolution. Through the use of color and abstraction, the paintings included evoke an emotional landscape of otherworldliness. Each sculpture blurs the line between the familiar and the unknown, challenging perceptions of space and form. Together, these works encourage us to look beyond the surface of the everyday and consider the unseen forces that shape our world. "High Strangeness" is a celebration of the unknown, a journey into the heart of mystery, where a hidden reality may be revealed.