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

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.

Upcoming Exhibition

Opening Reception: Friday
February 13th, 5:00-7:00PM


Past Exhibitions

  • Join us in celebrating the artistry of quilting through a vibrant mix of traditional and contemporary works. From time-honored techniques to modern expressions, each piece tells a unique story, inviting viewers to explore the limitless creativity stitched into every thread. This exhibition features quilts by Stephenson County quilters, including members of the Stagecoach Quilt Guild.

  • This year's 21st Regional Juried Art Exhibition brings together 40 artists, selected from over 230 submissions across the Midwest. This year’s guest juror, Rodrick Whetstone—Assistant Professor of Graphic Design at Southern Illinois University Edwardsville—selected art for inclusion and awards. His choices are a testament to his thoughtful approach and the powerful submissions received. He says “This show is eclectic and robust. I refer to a phrase that I use when I was looking over the work before I started making selections: “There are a lot of good hands here.”

    Guest curator, Amy Fairweather, has identified Current as a unifying message that connects the art and guides the focus for this year’s show. “Current speaks through these works in different rhythms, such as the tension and pattern found in Katie Schutte’s, Memory XX. It can also be seen as movement and stillness in the blurs of motion seen in Charese Smiley’s, Waiting for the Train. Finally, I see story and labor as a current that can hold memory such as in Dan Brinkmeier’s, Farm Sale in Northwestern Illinois 2024. From urgency to stillness, from memory to resistance, each selected piece reflects what it means to be making art in this moment. The result is a vibrant cross-section of Midwestern creativity, alive with depth and variation.”

  • Freeport Art Museum proudly presents a showcase of bold new work by student artists from Rock Valley College. Running alongside the 21st Regional Juried Exhibition, this upstairs installation captures fresh perspectives and rising creative voices in the Midwest. Join us for the opening reception on May 10, and witness the next wave of regional talent. The show will run from May 10 - July 19, 2025.

    PARTICIPATING ARTISTS:

    Brianna Ocelotl Ocotl, Alyssa Loch, Dylan Steiner, Al Ortega, Kimberly Isibue, Jessica Hernandez, Elizabeth Yoon, Steve Cleland, Abigail Whiteacker, Milani Olson, Kay Watson, Emma Leon, Zainab Almashadi, Jeremiah Pearson, Dylan Steiner, Kit Marro, Genevieve Foley-Trepanier, Briar Sigler, Alyssa Loch, Jonathan Lane

  • The Freeport Art Museum is pleased to announce the return of the Aspiring Artists show. This exhibition features over 400 works of art showcasing the talent and creativity of students in regional elementary, middle, high schools, and home-schooled students. We also will be showcasing work by our local art teachers in the Contemporary Gallery on the second floor.

  • The Freeport Art Museum is proud to present the stirring paintings of Judith Meyer. Her works are inspired by nature, social issues, global events, myths, and personal beliefs. Her striking manner of integrating traditional landscape formats with diverse and unexpected elements create poetic and surreal visions.

  • GREÑAPUNK BY EDDAVIEL is a collection of work exploring the African heritage as Afro-Caribbean in the past-present-future, a space where myths, politics and the future merge to create a new universe. Greñapunk is a show where every art form converges to talk about being Afro (Greña) in the future. The artist, Eddaviel, is from the Dominican Republic and has worked with films, advertising, publishers, galleries, museums, universities and cultural centers around the world.

    PERSEVERANCE BY DICE WHITE Dice is a 20-year-old artist from Rockford, Illinois, whose current success is a testament to the human spirit surmounting the impact of a mother addicted to drugs, his own psychological distress, and the challenge of homelessness. Dice has found a life in creating art that is boldly expressive, colorful, and complex.