For immediate release

Edwardsville Arts Center to open its doors September 21

Inaugural exhibition will showcase the artwork of Caroline Bottom Anderson, Louie Badalamenti and Phillip Hampton

Edwardsville, IL (September 2007) – The inaugural exhibition of the new Edwardsville Arts Center (EAC) showcasing the artwork of three area artists – Caroline Bottom Anderson (glass and metal sculptures), Louie Badalamenti (paintings) and Phillip Hampton (paintings) – will begin this week. The doors of the new EAC facility will open with a gala reception on Friday, September 21 at 5:00 p.m. for EAC members. At 7:00 p.m. the general public is invited to enjoy the inaugural exhibition and reception. 

The EAC’s rehabbed facility at 310 Hillsboro in downtown Edwardsville features 3,500 square feet of display space. New walls, track lighting, a refurbished floor and fresh coats of paint have literally transformed the former restaurant facility into a multipurpose art center able to host both two-dimensional and three-dimensional local, regional, national and international visual art exhibitions. The new facility will feature an art education classroom where classes for children and adults will be taught during the day, in the evenings and on weekends. In addition, public art lectures are currently being planned for the main gallery.

“Our opening exhibition – featuring the artwork of three talented area artists – is not to be missed,” said Dan Anderson, president of the EAC. “We are thrilled to have a space of our own to bring the visual arts to our community and we have many exciting exhibitions planned through 2008 for the new center,” he added.

Previously, the EAC had been mounting two-dimensional art exhibits by local and regional artists at Sacred Grounds Café on North Main Street in Edwardsville. The EAC will continue to hang monthly art exhibits at the Sacred Grounds Café because of the strong demand for art exhibition venues, as well as the large number of talented visual artists in the Edwardsville-Glen Carbon community.

About the artists

Caroline Bottom Anderson was born in St. Louis and grew up in Alton, Illinois. She received her bachelor’s of fine arts degree from the University of Tulsa and her master of fine arts degree in studio art from Southern Illinois University Edwardsville. Initially a ceramic artist, she shifted mediums to glass and has been more or less self-taught in the art of glass blowing since 1980. Caroline is the co-owner of Old Poag Road Clay and Glass, a mile west of Edwardsville. Caroline's  
blown glass shapes are etched by sandblasting them. She feels this surface treatment adds a visual weight to her pieces and creates a "floating" quality to the core colors trapped inside.  A fabricated metal base provides the environment as well as stability for her glass. Her Raceme (pronounced ray seam) series deal with a simple, elongated inflorescence of stalked flowers. She strives to create the visual equivalence of her experiences and feelings through natural forms that become more evocative than literal with the transparency of the glass “hyper-naturalizing” the image. Her series, Stones, plays along the theme of found forest objects to be collected and admired. The glass stones have also been etched, leaving some with small windows for the admirer to explore the world inside. A metal base has been forged and fabricated, some with the inclusion of found objects, to create an environment for the stones. More recently, Caroline has constructed and landscaped a pond with plantings which has inspired many of her most recent creations. Caroline's colorful glass and metal artworks require multiple viewings to capture all that she has created.

Louie Badalamenti was also born in St. Louis and moved to Edwardsville as a child. He attended Southern Illinois University Carbondale and graduated with a degree in social science and a minor in art. From 1953 to1993, he was the owner of the now famous Rusty's Restaurant, where he still can be found carving entrees over the noon hour. Louie paints in several mediums. At the present time he is concentrating primarily on watercolors, but he still finds time to pull out a canvas and paint with oils or acrylics. He cuts, mats and frames all his own artwork so his hand can be found in each step of the creative process. Although each painting is unique, a number of his artworks have similar motifs. Some of the motifs, which appear in Louie’s Impressionistic paintings, are landscapes, nudes and still lifes. His striking use of color is just one of his successful signature hallmarks. When Louie was in the thick of running Rusty’s Restaurant his painting output was sporadic, however, since his solo show in August of 2003 on the EAC sponsored art wall at Sacred Grounds Café on North Main Street in downtown Edwardsville, it appears Louie’s “battery” has been recharged and his productivity has increased exponentially. It is truly amazing to witness an individual who is so passionate and so very successful regarding his artwork in the eighth decade of his lifetime. Louie's artwork is highly prized by regional private collectors, many of who have lent Louie’s paintings for this exhibition. 

Phillip Hampton was born in Kansas City, Missouri, and attended six different public schools in three separate states. He began college at Citrus Junior College in Glendora, California. After serving three years in the Army during Word War II, he graduated from the Kansas City Art Institute with a master of fine arts degree. Prior to and concurrent to receiving his MFA he attended Kansas State University, Drake University and the University of Missouri-Kansas City. He is currently an Emeritus Professor at Southern Illinois University Edwardsville (SIUE) where he instructed painting, drawing and design from 1969 to1993. Prior to teaching at SIUE, he taught at the Savannah College of Art. As a contemporary abstract painter, Phillip has approached his artwork with both a logical and experimental methodology. As a student and early in his teaching years, his artwork was figurative. However, through his quest to discover his own "voice" through his paintings and drawings, he became an abstractionist. Throughout his half-century artistic career Phillip's attention to composition, color and movement have resulted in unbelievably successful and reliable paintings. Hidden within our community in the historic Leclaire neighborhood of Edwardsville, we are able to observe the art of a truly gifted African American artistic pioneer. His inspirational artwork and guiding spirit have uplifted the hearts and minds of many a former student. Phillip continues to challenge viewers with his artwork in this exhibition.

310 Hillsboro St., Edwardsville IL 62025 • 618.655.0337 • edwartscenter@att.net