Geneva Center for the Arts hosts artist reception Jan. 20
On Friday, Jan. 20, the Geneva Center for the Arts is hosting an opening reception for "Prairie Passage," a solo exhibition by artist Joanne Aono.
The opening reception from 6 to 9 p.m. includes light fare, and a cash bar will be open throughout the evening. The event is free and open to the public. The arts center is located at 321 Stevens St., Suite Q.
"Prairie Passage" features of drawings and an installation referencing the wild and cultivated plants that have grown on the prairie, providing food for the area's inhabitants throughout history. The installation will create a passageway alluding to time, food sources, and nature along the Fox River and former Potawatomi trail.
Aono will be featured in two artist talks, at 7 p.m. Wednesday, Jan. 18, in the Geneva Public Library meeting room, and 2 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 4, at the Geneva Center for the Arts. Both talks are free and open to the public.
Aono is a visual artist, curator, and holistic farmer. Her research-based drawings, paintings, and installations address identity, immigration, and the environment. Her solo exhibitions have been featured at the Chicago galleries Boundary, Mosnart and Images Gallery, as well as Lee Dulgar Gallery in South Holland. She has been included in two-person and group exhibitions at Firecat Projects (Chicago), the Illinois State Museum (Chicago, Springfield, and Lockport), Terrain Biennial, Rockford Art Museum, and South Shore Arts (Munster, Indiana). Aono has received several Chicago DCASE grants, an Illinois Arts Council, and Artist Run Chicago HPAC grant. Her art has been reviewed in publications such as Hyperallergic, Visual Art Source, Chicago Magazine, and the Huffington Post. Aono directs the alternative art project, Cultivator - Chicago Art Exhibitions & Farm Art Projects and serves as gallery director for the Riverside Arts Center. She maintains a studio at Bray Grove Farm in north central Illinois. Learn more at
"Prairie Passage" is on display through Feb. 9. Visit genevaartscenter.org for up-to-date gallery hours.
The Jan. 20 reception will also celebrate the opening of "This Place, This Time," an open call show for area artists with art connected to the land and landscapes.
The show was curated by the Geneva Center for the Arts along with a guest juror, landscape artist Pamela Hamilton. It features the following artists: Amy Bernard, Elisa Boughner, John Nicholas, Jeanne Dyer, Maggie Capettini, Bobby Rowland, Mia Di Santo, Helen Read, Thomas Celewicz, Melanie Minnix, Alicia Daubner, Jill Kramer, Mike Barret Kolasinski.
"This Place, This Time" also will run through Feb. 9 in the Hunter W. Shodeen Enrichment Gallery at the Geneva Center for the Arts.
The Geneva Center for the Arts, which opened in August 2021, aims to enhance and enrich the quality of lives of those in Geneva, while promoting civic and cultural development through the arts.
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