If you’re passionate about the arts, you and your family will discover that we offer a full roster of exciting events all year long. No matter where you’re from—Council Bluffs, Omaha or surrounding areas—you’ll find the Hoff Family Arts and Culture Center and other venues will keep you happily entertained with live concerts, plays, art exhibits, ballet, museums and more. There’s no end to the entertainment possibilities.
Stay tuned for details on events and show times.
FACES OF IOWA STATE TOURING EXHIBITION
Harvester Artspace Lofts | November 4th - December 31st
Beginning in the 1930s, at the height of the Great Depression, Iowa State University (ISU) made it a priority to commission and paint portraits. The commemoration of presidents, deans, accomplished faculty and heralded alumni strove to honor the college’s heritage and legacies. This tradition continues today with the active commissioning of portraits by departments and colleges all across ISU and is celebrated through this statewide touring exhibition Faces of Iowa State.
“Portraits are more than simply a record; they illuminate intelligence, importance, virtue, beauty, taste and other qualities of the portrayed person as seen through the eye of an artist,” said Lynette Pohlman, Director and Chief Curator for University Museums.
“By celebrating these people, this exhibition focuses on the diverse qualities that define the people of a great university. Faces of Iowa State portraits are in the University Museums’ Art on Campus Collection and continue the portrait tradition.”
Painted on site Faces of Iowa State features the 39 portraits painted by Maquoketa artist Rose Frantzen. Frantzen’s art has been featured nationally, including an exhibit of her Portrait of Maquoketa project at the Smithsonian’s National Portrait Gallery. The exhibition subjects were chosen by Iowa State University’s colleges and select units. Portrait sitters included students, faculty, staff, alumni and individuals with close ties to the university.
About the Artist
Rose Frantzen was born, raised, and returned to Maquoketa, Iowa, and the rural lifestyle and landscape continue to provide inspiration for her paintings. She attended the American Academy of Art in Chicago, the Palette & Chisel Academy in Chicago, and the Lyme Academy College of Fine Arts in Old Lyme, Connecticut. After extensive traveling, she returned to Maquoketa, Iowa and purchased the old city hall with her parents, renovating the building and creating a large gallery with extensive studio space.
Within her newly developed studio, Frantzen’s Portrait of Maquoketa began as a project to document the people of her hometown and developed into 180 portraits which were then exhibited at the Smithsonian’s National Portrait Gallery.
She has continued to paint Iowans as she has gained more success, including the remarkable dual portrait of George Washington Carver and Henry Wallace (Do you Know What’s Inside This Flower? George Washington Carver Mentors a Young Henry A. Wallace)commissioned by the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences at Iowa State University. This painting depicts the young Henry Wallace in a moment of absolute concentration as he is in the midst of a lesson about plants from George Washington Carver.
Rose Frantzen’s lifelike and radiant examination of humans and our world bring together a long tradition of oil painting and portraiture with the skill and forward thinking of a 21st century artist.
PACE Groundbreaking
June 1, 2018 | 1001 South 6th Street
PACE broke ground for the Hoff Family Arts & Culture Center on Friday, June 1st at a colorful celebration on the dock of the historic Harvester II building at 1001 South 6th Street.