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Welcome to the
WATERLOO CENTER FOR THE ARTS

Gallery Hours

Tuesday – Saturday | 10:00AM – 5:00PM & Sunday | 1:00 – 4:00PM

Exception of Holidays

Admission for all WCA galleries is free 

CURRENT EXHIBITS
 

The Center collects Midwest Art, American Decorative Arts and International Folk Art, including
a significant collection of Mexican Folk Art and the worlds’ largest public collection of Haitian Art. Selections from our collection are always on display in one or several of our galleries at any given time. We also feature changing exhibits in five separate galleries throughout the building.

 

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Dot Day Exhibition

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Echoes of Kathmandu Valley

By Riva Nayaju

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Nepalese Masks & Figures 

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Turtle Wisdom: Personal, Political, Playful

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Milton Wolsky: A Mid-Century Nebraska Artist

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Cielo Y Tierra: Mexican Painting Traditions

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Haitian Art | Forged from a Vibrant Land & a Powerful People

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Fe Koupe:

Haitian Iron Works

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Viendo La Vida

VIEW UPCOMING EXHIBITIONS

WHAT'S HAPPENING?
 

  • Vertigo Performance Art Series
    Vertigo Performance Art Series
    Multiple Dates
    Fri, Oct 03
    Waterloo Center for the Arts
    Oct 03, 2025, 7:00 PM – 8:30 PM
    Waterloo Center for the Arts, 225 Commercial St, Waterloo, IA 50701, USA
    This performance art series features the work of artists expanding the traditional definition of art using sound, video and the human body.
  • Artist Reception | Milton Wolsky: A Mid-Century Nebraska Artist
    Artist Reception | Milton Wolsky: A Mid-Century Nebraska Artist
    Oct 16, 2025, 5:30 PM – 7:30 PM
    Waterloo Center for the Arts, 225 Commercial St, Waterloo, IA 50701, USA
    GALLERY TALK WITH GALLERY 1516 FOUNDER PATRICK DRICKEY
  • Trick or Treat! Fright Night at the Phelps Youth Pavilion
    Trick or Treat! Fright Night at the Phelps Youth Pavilion
    Oct 29, 2025, 5:30 PM – 8:00 PM
    Waterloo Center for the Arts, 225 Commercial St, Waterloo, IA 50701, USA
    Experience Fright Night! Wear your costumes as you play your way to the answer of our riddle, make Halloween crafts, and win prizes.
  • Artist Reception | Turtle Wisdom: Personal, Political, Playful
    Artist Reception | Turtle Wisdom: Personal, Political, Playful
    Oct 30, 2025, 5:30 PM – 7:00 PM
    Waterloo Center for the Arts, 225 Commercial St, Waterloo, IA 50701, USA
    The works of Betty LaDuke.
  • Holiday Arts Festival
    Holiday Arts Festival
    Multiple Dates
    Sat, Nov 08
    Waterloo Center for the Arts
    Nov 08, 2025, 9:00 AM – 4:00 PM
    Waterloo Center for the Arts, 225 Commercial St, Waterloo, IA 50701, USA
    THE MOST UNIQUE HOLIDAY SHOPPING EXPERIENCE!
  • Pet A Pig!
    Pet A Pig!
    Sat, Nov 15
    Waterloo Center for the Arts
    Nov 15, 2025, 10:00 AM – 11:30 AM
    Waterloo Center for the Arts, 225 Commercial St, Waterloo, IA 50701, USA
    This piggy didn’t stay home!
  • Santa and the Gingerbread Man!
    Santa and the Gingerbread Man!
    Sat, Dec 06
    Waterloo Center for the Arts
    Dec 06, 2025, 9:00 AM – 11:00 AM
    Waterloo Center for the Arts, 225 Commercial St, Waterloo, IA 50701, USA

ARTIST RECEPTIONS

THURS.


October 16
5:30-7:30pm
 

MILTON WOLSKY: A MID-CENTURY NEBRASKA ARTIST

GALLERY TALK WITH GALLERY 1516 FOUNDER PATRICK DRICKEY
Free Admission

Milton Wolsky (1916-1981) was a prolific artist from Omaha, NE who worked in areas ranging from illustration to abstract expressionist painting. Wolsky’s career blossomed in New York City in the 1940s where he worked as a modern artist and illustrator for national publications such as Good Housekeeping, Collier’s, McCall’s, TIME, Life, and Redbook. A career-spanning collection of his artwork is housed at Gallery 1516, a non-profit arts organization in Omaha, and is on loan to the Center as part of the gallery’s traveling exhibition outreach program.

THURS.


October 30
5:30-7:30pm
 

TURTLE WISDOM: PERSONAL POLITICAL, PLAYFUL

OPENING RECEPTION & TURTLE TALK
Free Admission

The works of Betty LaDuke have many times graced the walls of the Waterloo Center for the Arts. This new body of work is 21 shaped, carved, and painted wood panels that are based on artist sketches drawn decades ago during travels in African, Latin American, and Asian countries. The themes speak to dreams, dreamers, expectations, love, hope, nostalgia, and resilience. The exhibition is supplemented by major LaDuke paintings and prints from the WCA collection.

FRI. 


February 27

 

TIME AGAIN 

CLOSING RECEPTION & GALLERY TALK
Free Admission

Accomplished muralist, installation artist, and educator Brent Houzenga is a New Orleans-based artist originally from Fulton, IL. His work has been featured in publications such as Time Out Chicago, Art+Design New Orleans, and the Rizzoli book Stickers: From Punk Rock to Contemporary Art. He is also the subject of an independent documentary film titled Brent Houzenga: Hybrid Pioneer. Houzenga is known for his portraits of anonymous people painted with a Pop aesthetic. His influences include punk rock, street art, comic books, mysticism, and psychology. He states, “I’m interested in portraiture, but I’m equally interested in abstraction and the space between representation and the void.”

FRI. 


December 12
5:30-7:30pm
 

CHRIS WUBBENA:
RECENT WORKS

RECEPTION, FILM SCREENING, & GALLERY TALK
Free Admission

Featuring interdisciplinary artist Chris Wubbena’s most recent bodies of work titled Demos and in the midst of things. His mixed-media sculptural compositions, multi-media installations, and large-scale public sculptures have been presented nationwide for the past two-and-a-half decades. He has a B.F.A. from UNI and an M.F.A. from San Francisco State University and is currently Professor of Sculpture at Southeast Missouri State University.

VISIT THE PHELPS
YOUTH PAVILION 

Children's Museum Hours - View the Visit Page for Holiday Closures

Wednesday - Saturday | 10:00AM - 5:00PM & Sunday | 1:00 - 5:00PM

3rd Thursdays: The PYP will be open from 10:00AM - 8:00PM on the 3rd Thursday of each month during the fall and winter season. 

Admission

 

$5 per person or $2 with the presentation of a valid EBT card for up to 4 people

Members are free

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Waterloo Center for the Arts

225 Commercial Street | Waterloo, IA 50701-1313

(319) 291-4490

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The Waterloo Center for the Arts stimulates inquiry, provokes dialogue & connects people through the arts

©2025 by Waterloo Center for the Arts

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