CHARLESTON - When photographer Brian Poulter traveled the length of the Mississippi River by motorcycle this summer with writer Jim Standerfer, he followed a couple of rules:

Rule No. 1: Travel only back roads.

Rule No. 2: Use only a point-and-shoot camera.

The result of the journey is on view at Eastern Illinois University's Tarble Arts Center.

"In October and November 2007, I challenged myself to shoot only with a point-and-shoot camera, the kind your grandma might buy at WalMart. I planned to publish the photographs daily on my Web site, one a day, for a month," said Poulter, a professor of journalism at EIU.

Then, this spring, "I got it in my head, I don't know how, that I wanted to see the Mississippi River - the entire river."

In the exhibit, titled "Forced Photography," photos from Poulter and Standerfer's journey, as well as other photos Poulter shot with his bare-bones camera, are on display in the eGallery of the arts center until Sept. 28. The exhibit includes 135 photographs, all five by seven inches, with some also projected to wall size.

"For me, photography is not about cameras, camera equipment or photo software," Poulter said in an artist's statement. "Photography is about noticing things, capturing what you see and how you see, and sharing that."

He said the photographers he admires used simple cameras with short lenses. "The talent lay in their vision, not their equipment."

Gallery hours are 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tuesday through Friday, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday and 1 to 4 p.m. Sunday. Admission is free.

For more information, visit www.eiu.edu/~tarble or call 581-2787.

Poulter and Standerfer maintained a daily blog and photos of their trip along the Mississippi River on the Herald & Review Web site, www.herald-review.com.

AIRPORT/LIBRARY: Oil paintings by Barbara Dove will be on exhibit through the month of September in the main passenger terminal of Decatur Airport.

Diana Manning from Argenta will have her artwork on display through the month of September on the second floor of the Decatur Public Library. Her work will include graphite, colored pencil and airbrush drawings of wildlife and rural Americana.

Both exhibits are open for viewing during regular business hours.

ANNE LLOYD GALLERY: "Major Artists From the Midwest" will be display through Sept. 29 in the Anne Lloyd Gallery, 125 N. Water St. The Decatur Area Arts Council and Millikin University Art Department collaborated on the exhibit, which features works from the 1890s through the 1970s by artists who have a connection to Decatur or an association with the Midwest region.

An opening reception will be held from 5 to 7:30 p.m. today at the gallery and will include a talk by Ed Walker, chairman of the Millikin Art Department.

The exhibit features 22 artists, including Robert Root, Herbert Ryman, Francis Lee Jacques, Frank Charles Peyraud and Jean Mannheim.

Gallery hours are 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday, 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. Thursday and 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday.

For more information, visit www.decaturarts.org or call 423-3189.

ARTS IN CENTRAL PARK: The 46th annual Arts in Central Park will be held Sept. 20 and 21. Hours are 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday and 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Sunday.

The event will feature more than 80 artists from seven states exhibiting and selling their work. Entertainment will include sidewalk chalk artist Lori Escalera from California on Saturday and Sunday and a raku and hand-painting demonstration by local artists.

Art Shop for Kids will be available for children 12 and under to purchase specialty items. Art activities for children will also be available from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday and 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Sunday.

EASTERN ILLINOIS UNIVERSITY: Exhibits in the Main Galleries at Tarble Arts Center through Oct. 12 are James Oliver's "Rural Happenings" and Beverly Fishman's "Optical Unconscious."

Gallery hours are 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tuesday through Friday, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday and 1 to 4 p.m. Sunday. Tarble Arts Center is at Ninth Street and Cleveland Avenue.

For more information, visit www.eiu.edu/~tarble or call 581-2787.

GALLERY 510: Artist Shirley Buescher of Pana is the featured artist of Gallery 510's First Friday. An opening reception is from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. today at the gallery, 160 E. Main St. Buescher will present an artist talk at 6:30 p.m. Light refreshments will be served.

Buescher's watercolors will be on display throughout September.

Gallery 510 hours are 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday, 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. Thursday and 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday.

For more information, call 422-1509.

MCLEAN COUNTY MUSEUM OF HISTORY: The McLean County Museum of History in Bloomington features an exhibit of photographs of the Kickapoo tribe taken in 1906.

"The Unconquerable: History and Photos of the Kickapoo Indians" is an exhibit of rare photographs taken by Ernest L. Hoppe on the Kickapoo reservation in Horton, Kan. The exhibit chronicles the McLean County natives' movements across the prairie, their lifestyles, their interactions with settlers and their forced removal to reservations west of the Mississippi.

The exhibit is on display until June 6 in the museum's Merwin Gallery, 200 N. Main St.

Hours are 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Saturday, 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. Tuesday and 1 to 5 p.m. Sunday.

For more information, visit www.mchistory.org or call (309) 827-0428.

MILLIKIN UNIVERSITY: Sculptures by Phil Vanderweg will be on display through Oct. 17 in the Perkinson Gallery of Kirkland Fine Arts Center.

Gallery hours are noon to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday. The exhibit is open free to the public.

For more information, call 424-6227.

PARKLAND COLLEGE: The Parkland Art and Design Faculty Exhibition is on display until Sept. 18 in the Parkland Art Gallery, 2400 W. Bradley Ave., Champaign.

Following the exhibit will be a showing of drawings made using Tabula Rasa software. A reception will be from 6 to 8 p.m. Oct. 2, with a talk at 7 p.m. The exhibit will be on display until Oct. 25.

Gallery hours are 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. and 6 to 8 p.m. Monday through Thursday, 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Friday and noon to 2 p.m. Saturday.

For more information, visit www.parkland.edu/gallery or call 351-2485.

YOUNG ARTISTS' SHOWCASE: Macon County students in fifth through eighth grades are invited to participate in the 2009 Young Artists' Showcase in January. Students may enter one piece, in any medium, that they've created in the past year.

Artwork may be submitted by classroom teachers or by the students. Matting and framing is not required.

Two duplicate registration forms including the student's name, title of work, art medium, address/zip code, telephone number, teacher's name and grade must be submitted with the art piece.

About 75 pieces will be accepted into the show. Notifications will be mailed in December.

Submission deadline is 7 p.m. Nov. 20, and can be dropped off at Gallery 510 at 160 E. Main St. during regular business hours: 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday, 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. Thursday and 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday.

For more information, call Gallery 510 at 422-1509.

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