Maeve Rogers, a first grade student from Savoy, and Robert Gao, a tenth grader from Champaign, were named among the recipients of this year’s Gwendolyn Brooks Youth Poetry Award. The annual competition is open to …
Posts by Serenity Stanton Orengo:
Signed Kiaya reflects on Black experience in America
I often think of consuming poetry as being a lot like listening to a new album: most people will read a single poem or listen to a song or two, but reading an entire poetry …
The Penguin Project’s Finding Nemo Jr. is this weekend
This weekend is the Champaign Urbana Theatre Company’s sixth annual Penguin Project production. The Penguin Project is a national program originally founded in Peoria, IL. Each year, an adapted version of a Broadway musical is …
The Vault Art Gallery is celebrating its tenth anniversary
The Vault Art Gallery in downtown Tuscola is celebrating its tenth anniversary this weekend. Originally founded as the Vault Arts Collective in 2013, the gallery is one of the largest privately owned art galleries in Downstate Illinois. …
Go behind the scenes with Scenic Artist Christina Rainwater
When I attend a theatre performance, I try to appreciate the amount of work that goes into putting on a show. While I can appreciate the actors, the set design, and the costumes, unless you …
A decade-long love of Bread Company’s goat cheese
I first came to Champaign-Urbana a decade ago for a campus visit after I had been accepted to graduate school here. As is customary, my future department hosted me throughout the day, and the visit …
Check out this amazing collaborative artwork at Spurlock
This past April, Spurlock welcomed Armenian-Syrian artist Kevork Mourad for a visit. In collaboration with University of Illinois students across campus, Kevork created Paintings of Hope. It’s a companion piece for Mourad’s Untitled 2023, which, …
Celebrate 25 years of the Wandell Sculpture Garden
The Wandell Sculpture Garden at Meadowbrook Park is celebrating its 25th anniversary. In honor of the occasion, the parks department has hosted a number of events this past year, and new sculptures were also added …
An inside look at the planning of a season at the Station Theatre
Out of all the art forms we cover in this section, theatre is probably the area that I know the least about. I’ve gone to theatre productions, of course, but when the Station Theatre announced …
Melissa Pokorny’s sculptures are an exercise in experimentation
If you were at Delight Flower Farm this July, you probably noticed an addition to their regular lineup of flowers: a gorgeous series of ghost lily sculptures created by their artist-in-residence, Melissa Pokorny. Pokorny is …