MOUNT MORRIS – The US National Straw Sculpting Competition opens Friday, Aug. 11 at 6 p.m. on the historic Mount Morris campus.
This is an exciting presentation of fine art in straw. Giant sculptures will be on display and the competition winner is determined by visitor’s vote. The campus event will continue on display daily Aug. 12-27, 10 a.m.-8 p.m. You can see straw sculptures from the 2016 competition around the area at The White Pines State Park, The Ogle County Fair, Ukulele Station America in Oregon, and various locations in Mount Morris. Additional information is available at StrawUSA.com.
Poultry breed portraits
WATT Global Media and Encore! Mt. Morris present a very special display of poultry breed portraits in Old Sandstone Gallery, opening Friday, Aug. 11 at 6:30 p.m. The show features the largest single collection of rare poultry breed portraits worldwide (1926 – 1950). The complete collection, which has never before been publicly displayed in its entirety, is comprised of 58 framed oil paintings of the most important poultry breeds. The paintings were created by three American artists, A.O. Schilling, L. Stahmer and F.L. Sewell, and were commissioned in the mid-1920s by J.W. Watt and Adon Yoder, founders of Watt Publishing Company (now WATT Global Media). Old Sandstone, the former location of WATT office headquarters, is located on the Mt. Morris campus. Following the opening, gallery hours for the show will be Fridays, Aug. 18 & 25, 6-9:30 p.m., Saturday, Aug. 12, noon-8:30 p.m., Saturdays, Aug. 19 & 26, noon-6 p.m.
