Drawn from the largest collection of materials relating to The Wizard of Oz stories and characters, the exhibition will feature 110 objects, from the finest known copy of the first edition/first state “green imprint” of Baum and Denslow’s 1900 book, to original sketches, costumes and props from MGM’s beloved 1939 movie starring Judy Garland, to Oz spinoffs such as puppets, toys and posters from numerous other productions like “Wicked” and “The Wiz.”

The exhibition features six artists living in the Midwest Region including photographers Terry Evans, Jin Lee, Randy Richmond and Radim Schreiber, botanical artist George Olson, and fiber sculptor Mary Merkel-Hess. Their work explores the biodiversity and unique beauty of the endangered tallgrass prairie that stretched from Texas to Canada 150 years ago, covering millions of acres of land. Today less than four percent of tallgrass prairie survives in isolated patches.

Art Museum Day celebrates the value of the visual arts and the important role art museums play in their communities. Visitors are encouraged to share their experiences on Art Museum Day via social media, with the hashtag #ArtMuseumDay.

What originally began as a Sunday morning sketch group in the 1950s has turned into a small but mighty organization dedicated to promoting the arts in the Quad Cities. Since its inception in 1953, the Beaux Arts Fund Committee (BAFC) has contributed $600,000 to the Figge and its predecessors, with the majority of the funds coming from two outdoor fairs each year.

The Figge Art Museum will be offering free admission all day for Free Family Day on Saturday, sponsored by the Quad-City Times.

Beginning Tuesday the Mississippi Valley Quilters Guild (MVQG) will return to the Figge Art Museum for the Quilters’ Favorites exhibition.

Featured schools include North Scott, Geneseo, Moline, Muscatine, Davenport, Bettendorf and Pleasant Valley. Each school district has their own selection process to choose the top works of art to represent their district in this museum-school partnership.

Chargrilled spicy-citrus alligator ribs, squealer pies, Cajun fish tacos, shrimp gumbo arancini, beignets with salted mocha Chantilly cream, fried oysters with brie and jalapeno-braised pork belly on cheddar grits are just a few of the dishes you can sample at this year’s Rajun Cajun Food Fest at the Figge Art Museum on Fat Tuesday, February 9!

This juried guild exhibition was open to artists within a 150-mile radius of the Quad Cities and each artist was encouraged to enter up to two original works of art that must have been created in the last five years. A total of 44 artists were selected by juror Julie Rodrigues Widholm, the director of DePaul Art Museum in Chicago. The selected works will be on view in the fourth floor gallery through May 15, 2016.

Donated in 1929 by Dr. Clarence T. Lindley, the cameo and intaglio gems reflect the changing ideas and prominent beliefs of society and became a popular fashion accessory in the Victorian Era.

Opening Saturday in the third floor gallery, the Mississippi River Views exhibition includes a collection of 60 paintings, drawings, maps and other river-related works from the collection of the Muscatine Art Center, whose Musser Mansion is undergoing mechanical upgrades.

Kick off the New Year with free admission all day and a variety of free planned activities from 10 a.m.-1 p.m. Make chalk drawings, create-your-own multi-media collage and frame, have a photo taken with props, visit with the Native American Coalition of the Quad Cities at 10:30 a.m. and view objects from the Big Picture Outreach Collection.

Celebrate the start of the holiday season with an assortment of holiday-themed crafts in the lobby as well as complimentary cookies and cocoa. Stroll through the galleries to experience the current exhibitions on view, or stop in the museum store to do some holiday shopping.

The exhibition, sponsored by the Hunt and Diane Harris Family Foundation, will include 42 Josephson photographs from the Figge’s permanent collection, the Stephen Daiter Gallery in Chicago, Illinois and one from Terry Etherton Gallery in Tucson, Arizona.

Red Star creates multimedia works that explore Native American identity and the distance between romantic images of the Native American—such as those by Edward S. Curtis—and the world of Indians today.