Join the Keokuk Art Center’s celebration of several local artists for the exhibit “Celebrate Keokuk” during the month of June. This exhibit is a showcase of art, representing the amazing scenic beauty and rich history of Keokuk and the surrounding area. The public is invited to attend a reception to celebrate the artists on Friday, June 6 from 5-7 p.m. at the Keokuk Art Center’s Round Room Galleries located at 210 N. 5th Street. Light refreshments will be served.
The following artists will be showcasing their work:
Diane Berner is a Keokuk native. She is proud to help showcase the history and beauty of her hometown. She is retiring from teaching in June and will have more time for photography and to enjoy the view.
The mother/daughter duo of Carla Celania and Lisa Celania enjoy expressing their creativity with color, shape and found objects to create one-of-a-kind assemblage art and mixed media pieces.
Doug Ewing is the owner of Doug Ewing Photo, a photography company based in Keokuk and Montrose. He graduated from Keokuk High School in 2001 and subsequently moved to Denver, Colorado, Phoenix, Arizona, and Los Angeles, California, where he honed his photographic skills. In 2013, Doug returned to Keokuk to be closer to family and friends. He offers a wide range of photographic services, including weddings, senior class portraits, commercial photography and drone photography.
Katie Geltz is a Keokuk native with the class of 2002. She teaches high schoolers how to weld, make movies, and be dramatic. She spends her free time reading, traveling and finding new ways to spoil her siblings and godchildren.
Olivia Jones is a longtime photographer who developed her love for the arts in Keokuk, her hometown. Though she is native to the city of Keokuk, she currently resides in Iowa City, and teaches art education at a local elementary school. While this exhibition primarily showcases her photography work, Jones also enjoys painting, printmaking, ceramics and other creative mediums.
Tom McKay is a lifelong resident of Keokuk. Although he had an early interest in art, he did not actively practice until later in life. His art education came from informal workshops with notable watercolor artists Wendell Mohr, Tom Lynch and Alvaro Castagnet, among others. His interests are local landscapes, historical subjects and botanical art.
Joe Morgan, local resident, is a retired professional photographer whose studio, Mississippi Valley Photography, is in Keokuk at 415 Main St.
Margo Swena’s inspiration is borne out of the history, saga and breathtaking beauty of the Southwest, her deep love and respect for Native American traditions and cultures, and her seventh generation ancestry through the Mohawk Tribe; her seventh great grandfather being-Chief Teoniahigarawe (1680-1755).
“I have long admired Native Americans’ respect and care for Mother Earth, their honor and gratitude to FatherSky, their bravery, wisdom and sheer determination for survival amidst great injustice. I am humbled by their reverence for, and belief, that all things are living.”
Margo paints her canvases in wonderful desert hues and rich turquoise, with the portraits and subject matter in willow and grapevine charcoal, highlighting them with White Oak charcoal, working and blending it with natural tanned chamois and feathers. She tastefully infuses heirloom tribal embellishments in some of her works of art, such as Wampum Shells, ancient turquoise beads, buffalo bone jewelry, and arrowheads.
“I feel it completes the circle from the organic charcoal, to the Native subject matter to the authentic tribal embellishments,” she said.
The mixed media original works are forever preserved using matte-fixative. Swena has had solo and duo art exhibitions, received many awards throughout the Midwest and Southwest, and has been commissioned for private collections.
DeAirra Stewart is an abstract acrylic painter based in Keokuk. Her work is a vivid exploration of emotion, memory and healing – capturing the delicate balance between chaos and calm that exists in everyday life. Guided by intuition and rhythm, Stewart uses color and texture as emotional tools, creating immersive abstract pieces that invite viewers to slow down and feel. Music and memory play a central role in her process, often serving as catalysts for expression and reflection. Each canvas becomes a space where unspoken feelings are processed and transformed into something both raw and beautiful. Through her revolving practice, she offers a visual language for those navigating their own journeys – reminding us that within life’s noise, there is still harmony to be found.