​​As penned by Anaïs Nin, “And the day came when the risk to remain tight in a bud was more painful than the risk it took to blossom.”

​Yes, artCentral Artists, the season for blooming is here! Are you ready? Now is the time to harness your spring fever, go into your studio and put your best energy into creating your newest masterpiece! Our greatly anticipated juried 2021 ANNUAL MEMBERSHIP EXHIBITION will fill the walls of Hyde House June 4 through July 17, 2021. The Opening Picnic and Awards will take place June 4, Friday, 6:00-8:00 p.m.

Dear artCentral Artists, Put your hearts and hands to the joy of your art-making and let artCentral celebrate your talents! McCune Brooks Healthcare Foundation is the gracious underwriter for this exhibition. 2021 Recipients of Cash Awards for outstanding contributions will be selected by Juror Beth Simmons, Executive Director, McCune-Brooks Healthcare Foundation, and Juror Nancy Dunaway, MFA, Summa Cum Laude, from Savannah College of Art and Design and former Art Department Chairperson at Henderson State University in Arkadelphia, Arkansas.

Pre-registration is required and must include (1) your digital image of your entry and (2) a description of your entry (title, dimensions, medium, price, framed or unframed). The Registration Deadline is May 14, Friday, 6:00 p.m. Email your registration to artcentral@artcentralcarthage.org.

EXHIBITION TIMETABLE

May 16, Sunday, 3:00-5:00 pm: Delivery to artCentral of all artworks, entry fee paid and artCentral Membership Paid/Current with three completed ID labels for each entry. The ID labels may be downloaded from www.artcentralcarthage.org from the Membership Exhibition Events page.

June 4 -July 17, Exhibition: Weekend Gallery Hours: Fridays & Saturdays 12:00-5:00 p.m.
June 4, Friday, 6:00-8:00 pm: Exhibition Opening Picnic and Awards
July 18, Sunday, 3-5 pm: Artist pick up for artworks not rotating into Satellite Galleries.
July 20, Tuesday: All unpurchased works will be rotated into artCentral's two Satellite Galleries to afford artists maximum exposure and opportunities for sales.

REQUIREMENTS

Open to artCentral Members only. Paid Membership must be current. 
Only one entry per member with a digital image and three ID labels for each 2D or 3D work of any medium.
Entry Fee: $15.00 nonrefundable, paid before or at May 16, 3:00-5:00 p.m. delivery 

Theme: An open call to artCentral member artists to present their finest artworks

Entries must be original (no giclées) and created in the last three years. No works previously shown at artCentral will be accepted.

All exhibited 2D work must be professional-quality framed or gallery wrapped all sides painted, not gesso, with choice of 1) continuation of image, or 2) solid color; wired properly and ready for installation. No sawtooth hangers or clip hangers will be accepted.

All exhibited 3D work must be ready for installation and accompanied by any special display/hanging requirements. Pedestals will be provided.

artCentral provides Wall Labels for all works. No artist labels or explanations will be displayed.

Size Restrictions: Over-sized or heavy works, over 50 pounds, may require the artist's personal installation with Curator's supervision.
artCentral reserves the right to refuse a work because of unacceptable presentation.

All work must be family friendly: no explicit nudity or pornography.

All art must be for sale. No works sold prior to exhibition will be installed.

Artists will receive 75% of sale price. Artists are responsible for their own sales tax reporting. A 25% commission goes to artCentral for the fostering of regional fine arts and artists.

Liability: artCentral is not responsible for loss or damage to artwork while in transit to/from the exhibitions in artCentral and in artCentral's Satellite Galleries and while on display in any of these venues.

The artist agrees to allow artCentral, at artCentral's discretion, to utilize photographs or exhibited work.
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All aspiring artists, Adults and Youth 8 and up, register now for 3rd SATURDAYS artCAMP: April 17, May 22 and June 19. The fee for each 3rd Saturday class is $20.00. (Scholarships are available!) All supplies are provided. You can find registration forms on artCentral’s website www.artcentralcarthage.org. For more information contact artCamp Director, Alice Lynn, at (417) 358-4404.
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The Philip Ledbetter: PAINT in MOTION Exhibition continues at Hyde House through May 15!
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​Before the Reception concluded seven paintings were purchased—a record for opening night transactions!

At the Reception the painting titled “The End of a Perfect Day” was the first to be claimed by a delighted patron. While other works were quickly spoken for, this one was a particularly popular depiction--an olive-adorned martini glass painted with fluid white latex lines on a rich blue background. At least four other guests, besides the one who spoke up first, were hoping to hang this gem in their homes. Not to be daunted before taking their leave, alas they each chose other favorites they found equally appealing.
 
If you missed this memorable evening, do not despair. All twenty-three of Philip Ledbetter’s PAINT in MOTION creations are still on display and will remain in Hyde House through Saturday, May 15, 2021. Weekend Gallery Hours are Fridays and Saturdays, 12:00-5:00 p.m. Phil will be serving as the Gallery Docent for all Saturdays during the run of PAINT in MOTION. I will look forward to greeting you on Fridays.
 
Come see for yourself all these attention winning works. There are still sixteen waiting to find homes. Quite possibly one will suit you perfectly! Before your gallery visit you can preview all Phil’s PAINT in MOTION creations in photo albums on artCentral’s Facebook page at facebook.com/ArtcentralCarthage and artCentral’s website at artcentralcarthage.org under Events.
 
In addition to PAINT in MOTION other spring excitement is happening at artCentral. Sign up your young aspiring artists, ages 8-14, and/or your own grownup self for screen-free fun, exploring, learning and creating at 3rd SATURDAYS artCAMP at artCentral: April 17, May 22 and June 19. The fee for each 3rd Saturday class is $20.00. (Scholarships are available!) All supplies are provided. You can find registration forms in the red information box on the front steps of artCentral at Hyde House up the hill at 1110 East Thirteenth in Carthage and on artCentral’s website artcentralcarthage.org. For more information contact artCamp Director, Alice Lynn, at (417)358-4404.
 
Calling all artCentral artists! Now is the time to harness your spring fever, go into your studio and put your best energy into creating your newest masterpiece for artCentral’s juried ANNUAL MEMBERSHIP EXHIBITION: June 4 through July17, 2021. Delivery date is May 16 for your submission accompanied by a digital photo of your image and a $15.00 entrance fee. Don’t miss this opportunity to receive a cash award while you have your art seen and celebrated as spring rolls into summer!

Many are almost larger than life. They fill the galleries of artCentral downstairs and upstairs, too—with out-sized dimensions and pulsating energy and jazzy excitement and palpable joy. They just might cause you to want to dance or sing or maybe sway like an undulating wave. They will for sure make you smile with wonder and delight.
 
These are the artful pleasures waiting for you at Hyde House in PAINT in MOTION, Philip Ledbetter’s extraordinary collection of paintings on canvas. They will stimulate you. They will soothe you. They will satisfy you.  They are just what we need in this new spring as we step out of the long, dark months of the year just past and walk into a bright new season!
 
Now that the backstory has been told of exhibiting artist Philip Ledbetter, come meet the artist and see his amazing art. Phil’s Opening Reception is April 2, Friday, 6:00-8:00 p.m. at 1110 East Thirteenth Street where CDC protocols will be practiced to keep us all safe and healthy. Masks are required.
 
PAINT in MOTION is the perfect title for this collection. As Phil explains, “All the paintings in this portfolio were first brushed with a latex foundation color, then created by some method of dripping or throwing the paint onto the canvas. With my technique the paint leaves the brush, or whatever implement I am using, moves through the air and is actually in motion before landing on the canvas.
 
I really like that my work strays from the norm. I learn new techniques with each painting. I love to experiment with colors. I enjoy producing paintings that create a mood or give the observer a lot to consider.”
 
Reflecting on his artistic influences Phil explains, “The body of work that I have created for PAINT in MOTION was inspired by the sun and the sea, nature and artists that I love. My artistic inspirations include Jackson Pollock, Wassily Kandinsky and Andy Warhol.”
 
While influenced by well-known artists, Phil has developed a style uniquely his own. His definitive artistic voice belies the fact that some might consider him an emerging artist. Though a frequent participant in group exhibits, he is just now beginning to land regional solo exhibitions which to date include Joplin and Neosho, Missouri, as well as Columbus, Kansas, and now, Carthage.
 
Giving more insight into his approach to art-making, Phil tells us, “Some of the paintings for PAINT in MOTION were spontaneously created or inspired by the music that I was listening to while I was painting. My musical favorites are The Beatles, Mozart, Strauss, Bob Dylan, Earl Scruggs, The Dillards and Roy Clark.”
 
A musician himself, playing guitar, and five string banjo, Phil has given concerts in Oklahoma, Arkansas and Kansas and in many a watering hole in and around Carthage and Joplin.
 
Revealing his wishes for his current painterly outing at artCentral, Phil declares, “My greatest hope is that you are thoroughly entertained. Your coming out to see my exhibit means the world to me. Thank you so much.”
 
Mark your calendar for Phil’s Opening Reception on April 2, Friday, 6:00-8:00 p.m. Weather permitting libations and a light party fare will be on offer outdoors. Though this will not be a musical gig for Phil, music will definitely be a part of the festive evening.
 
PAINT in MOTION will continue through May 15 with Weekend Gallery Hours, Fridays and Saturdays, 12:00-5:00 p.m. If you miss the chance to meet and visit with Phil at his Opening you will have more opportunities! He will be serving as the Gallery Docent for all Saturdays during the run of PAINT in MOTION. I will look forward to greeting you on Fridays.
 
In the spirit of best practices to serve our community of artists and art lovers, artCentral has been officially certified as an ArtSafe Space by the Missouri Arts Council (www.missouriartsafe.org). CDC protocols are carefully followed including face masks, social distancing, contact tracing and sanitizing. To accommodate social distancing, access to the exhibition will be by limited numbers. You may have a brief wait before your turn to enter Hyde House, meet Phil and see PAINT in MOTION. Your little wait will be well-worth the many large pleasures waiting for you inside!

A self-appointed community volunteer who quietly paints over the graffiti each time pranksters make mischief on the picnic tables and benches in the park near his house. A lover of his wife and family and companion puppies. Definitely a dapper dresser. An unassuming, thoughtfully quiet spoken man who goes into his Joplin studios and makes big, bold, bright paintings that will likely knock your socks off! This is Philip Ledbetter—artCentral’s solo exhibition artist for PHILIP LEDBETTER: PAINT in MOTION on view in Hyde House, April 2 through May 15, 2021. 

Like many artists Phil has a backstory that strongly influences, inspires and informs his art-making. As a native of Southern California, having a devoted mother, but no father, in the year of nineteen sixty-six, at the age of sixteen, having spent a great amount of time on the sea, Phil  won the coveted Sea Explorer of the Year award. The honor was bestowed upon him with a great amount of pomp and tradition on the quarterdeck of the S.E.S. (Sea Explorer Ship) Neptune, with much saluting and the reading of his commendation to the gathered assembly, as the ocean breeze whipped and popped the ship’s flags and all the youngsters in “dress whites” stood stiffly at attention. Phil’s honor came with a lovely gold trophy that he was allowed to keep for one year.
 
While spending six years in the Sea Explorers, Phil graduated from high school during the “Summer of Love” and at age eighteen moved into the Sea Explorer officer ranks as he helped “show the ropes” to the new recruits. Phil tells us, “The Sea Explorers kept me out of trouble during my teens, taught me seamanship, and also taught me a deep respect, fear and abiding love of the ocean.”
 
By the age nineteen, having practiced for five years, Phil became a fairly accomplished Bluegrass musician and vocalist. Playing guitar and five-string banjo he was drawn to the Ozarks of Arkansas. After one year of learning to party, he dropped out of the University of the Ozarks. As though a ship without a rudder being blown about by the wind, he traveled north to seek his fortune in Missouri.
 
Turning twenty and having no skills for land-locked living, he worked as a hospital orderly, and began to study emergency medicine at Missouri Southern State University and at the University of Missouri-Columbia. Completing his studies, he worked as a Nationally Registered Paramedic in Carthage, Missouri, for ten years. Becoming fascinated by diagnostic ultrasound, Phil eventually left emergency medicine, becoming a registered Adult Cardiac Sonographer.
 
Simultaneously he spent 22 years in the Navy Reserves as a Corpsman. Mobilized to active duty twice, for two and a half years away from his home, he served the sick and injured. He learned to sail at Naval Station, Pensacola, and retired from the Navy in 2005, by the side of his wife Joy who is also a 22-year Navy Corpsman.
 
After retirement Phil attended Missouri Southern State University where he earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in Studio Art with a minor degree in Art History. Today at the estate of “Three Oaks” on the banks of Shoal Creek, Phil has home studios in his living room and garage.
 
In addition to being Artist-in-Residence, Phil is the Chief Groundskeeper, Butler and Maintenance Supervisor. When not behind his easel or fulfilling the duties of his several job descriptions, he loves native plant gardening, walking his two little guard dogs and playing guitar, banjo and didgeridoo.
 
Now that you know the backstory of exhibiting artist Philip Ledbetter, come meet the artist and see his amazing art. Phil’s Opening Reception is April 2, Friday, 6:00-8:00 p.m. at 1110 East Thirteenth Street where CDC protocols will be practiced to keep us all safe and healthy. Masks are required indoors.

Art and artCentral make a difference and you can make a difference, too!
 
Do you know that good feeling you get when you give just a little something that makes a difference—something that makes our world a little bit better and brighter?
 
Want to feel that good feeling? Support artCentral and GIVE4ART! on GIVE CARTHAGE DAY—March 24, Wednesday, 7:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m. Your online donation will make a real difference to help grow and expand artCentral’s mission to support, share and teach fine arts in greater Carthage.
 
Giving online is easy! Simply go to https://causemomentum.org/projects/give4artpas and make you contribution.
 
Every unique donation we make increases artCentral's chances to win an hourly drawing for $5,000 in cash to fund artCentral’s programming!
 
Do you have an extra five dollars, or maybe ten to share? You can donate more than once! Please consider making one small donation each hour.  This is my plan for making my own contributions.
 
If your employer has a matching gift program, request a match to your donation and increase the power of your giving.  What a wonderful surprise you deliver when artCentral receives that matching gift!
 
I promise…when you support artCentral you will get that good giving feeling—that feeling like when you are standing in the checkout line with a grocery cart piled full of your week’s shopping and you are really anxious to get home and an older woman walks up with two items and you gesture for her to go in front of you and she turns around and smiles and says “thank you”.
 
That’s the good feeling I am thinking of. The feeling you get when you  give because giving is a good choice—an easy way to make someone else’s day a little happier.
 
Giving—even the smallest gesture of generosity—can feel really good! Giving just a small gift can make a big difference. When you give to GIVE4ART! and artCentral on GIVE CARTHAGE DAY your generosity will make a real difference.
 
You will make a difference in the life a child learning the joy of self-expression. You make a difference in the life of a studio artist making art to share with all of us. You make a difference in our community where we treasure our cultural history and strive to bring great art to our special small town.
 
Every art journey begins with an art supporter! When you give $10.00 you can launch an art  journey!
 
Brushes and paint and paper, oh my! Your $20.00 gift provides for artCamp supplies.
 
Your $50.00 gift helps with snacks for our always hungry artCampers!
          
Your gift of $200 provides for artCamp teacher compensation.
 
Do you want that good feeling you get when you give just a little something that makes a difference—something that makes our world a little better and brighter?
 
That wonderful good giving feeling can be yours! Support artCentral and GIVE4ART! on GIVE CARTHAGE DAY--March 24, Wednesday, 7:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m.
 
Personally and on behalf of artCentral’s board of directors I offer our deep gratitude for your support and your giving to keep artCentral strong, thriving and giving back to our sweet small town.
 
We at artCentral are truly grateful to Carthage Community Foundation and Community Foundation of the Ozarks for supporting artCentral and all the non-profit organizations of greater Carthage on GIVE CARTHAGE DAY.

​We are blessed. Hour by hour, day by day, spring is unfolding beneath us, above us and all around us. Having come through February’s freezing blizzard, the clusters of crocuses seen on artCentral’s lawn and spread out in popup fields across Central Park are emerging more abundant and beautifully celebratory than ever! Each morning’s early birds carrying on with their courtship antics and songs above our puppy yard, keep our Aussie, Lasyrenn, cavorting and rubber necking after them, instead of concentrating on running her agility course.
 
Spring at last is stirring! Spring and I am feeling the luck of the Irish surrounding us for all the world is beginning to grow green just in time to celebrate Saint Paddy’s Day on March 17th.
 
“The luck of the Irish” is a saying perhaps derived from fairytale folklore, namely the legends of leprechauns, believed to have successfully stored their gold in places impossible to reach, making them very lucky, as well as rich! The phrase has actually been traced back to 1800's California during the gold rush, when it became apparent to the thousands of less successful prospectors that many of those lucky ones who struck it rich were of Irish descent and Irish-American birth.
 
Of course this explains my good fortune to land at artCentral, for I come from hardy Irish stock! With a fair amount of wandering around I have had the good luck of the Irish to find and settle with my husband David in this treasure of a small town.
 
These greening days in Carthage have me thinking of my Irish ancestors.  They came from the Green Isle making their way through Missouri going south across the Arkansas border to settle and successfully set up farming in the rich black soils in the fork of the Osage and Kings Rivers.

painting doors and display pedestals, cutting up and hauling away a storm-downed tree, mopping away the sticky popsicle drips left by artCampers on the front porch.

As time went on I learned more and more about Dan the Man—a Great Man, Coach Armstrong—who dedicated his career to teaching and serving the students of Carthage. I enjoyed the luck of the Irish hearing the stories told about this giant. My Irish ears loved the tales told by him, for Dan, a Scotsman who knew his way around a kilt, was a true and passionate raconteur. For today and evermore Dan Armstrong will live on in the oral anthology of artCentral.
 
With great love and deep caring the community of artCentral extends deepest condolences to Sally and their three daughters Alice, Aggie and Lucy and to all their family. May they find true comfort in the rich legacy of stories Dan leaves for their sharing.
 
When you are next at artCentral remember this Great Man, Dan Armstrong, and all he gave to all of us. We are so very thankful for his life well-lived among us.

__________
 
March 13, 2021, Saturday, is the closing day for KALEIDOSCOPE at Hyde House showcasing 44 artworks by 40 members of the Joplin Regional Artists Coalition. Gallery Hours are Fridays and Saturdays, 12:00-5:00 p.m. at 1110 East Thirteenth Street in Carthage.
 
March 24, 7:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m., Wednesday: Support artCentral on this one day fundraiser. Go to www.causemomentum.org, select artCentral or https://causemomentum.org/projects/give4artpas and make your secure donation. Every contribution makes a difference! Please GIVE4ART! on GIVE CARTHAGE DAY sponsored by Carthage Community Foundation and Community Foundation of the Ozarks. Thank you!

gaming with friends or just messing around on screens for hours and hours. Sometimes you get bored with the same old, same old. Sometimes you just want to get out and go somewhere and do something different and fun!

Do you have kids or teens, ages 8 to 14, in your house or on your block who have been spending a lot of their time living virtually online? Are they ready to do something different and fun? Do you want them to safely make off-line discoveries and practice their creativity? Are they ready to Rally for Art?

Sign up your young techno-peeps for screen-free fun, exploring, learning and creating at SCREEN-FREE 3rd SATURDAYS artCAMP at artCentral! The fee for each 3rd Saturday class is $20.00. All supplies are provided.

Three of artCentral’s favorite artCamp teachers will be offering four classes for the 3rd Saturdays in April, May and June. Mark the dates on your calendars and sign up your aspiring artists pronto. Since the classes will be small, they will fill up quickly. One scholarship will be available for each class. These will be awarded on first-to-request basis to artCampers who make written applications accompanied by a teacher’s recommendation.

You can find registration forms in the red information box on the front steps of artCentral at Hyde House up the hill at 1110 East Thirteenth in Carthage and on artCentral’s website https://www.artcentralcarthage.org/artcamp-2021-middot-screen-free-3rd-saturdays.html. For more information call artCamp Director, Alice Lynn, at (417)358-4404.

Three 3rd Saturdays and four class choices! 

APRIL 17 – FRIENDLY GLASS BUGS – JANE McCAULLEY - Ages 10-14 – Learn to use special tools to cut glass then assemble friendly, fun and funny bugs. Safety goggles are supplied. All glass class artCampers wear closed toe shoes.

MAY 22 – PILLOW PETS – ALEXANDRA BURNSIDE – Draw, Stuff & Sew your special fabric animal or imaginary creature.

JUNE 19 – ZENTANGLE BUTTERFLY WINGS – TERI Y. DIGGS - Learn Zentangle to create and draw lacey and beautiful butterfly wing designs.

JUNE 19 – COLORFUL GLASS  POSIES – JANE McCAULLEY - Ages 10-14 – Learn to use special tools to cut glass, then assemble pretty glass flowers. Safety goggles are supplied. All glass class artCampers wear closed toe shoes.

Choose one or more classes, register today and while you have your calendar handy mark these important dates and events:

Through March 13, 2021: This year’s opening exhibition, KALEIDOSCOPE, continues at Hyde House showcasing members of the Joplin Regional Artists Coalition. Gallery Hours are Fridays and Saturdays, 12:00-5:00 p.m. at 1110 East Thirteenth Street in Carthage. 

March 24, 7:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m., Wednesday: Support artCentral on this one day fundraiser. Go to www.causemomentum.org, select artCentral and make your secure donation. Every contribution makes a difference! Please GIVE4ART! on GIVE CARTHAGE DAY sponsored by Carthage Community Foundation and Community Foundation of the Ozarks. Thank you!

​Art turns us toward the light and wonder and renewal. Art tells the story of our human experience. Art speaks where words are unable to explain.
 
Art has been with us every day, every week, every month of this last year. Art connects us to our past and brings truth and beauty to our present. Art prepares us and leads us toward our future.
 
Art comes from our spirits and whispers to our souls.
 
Art rallies us when we are low. Art carries us toward recovery.
 
Art leads us out of our troubles and shows us our way forward.
 
Art is love. Art is powerful. Art is like the very best kind of hug, the most tender kiss.
 
Art is that comforting, gentle hand upon a trembling shoulder. Art soothes us when we ache and gives solace when we grieve. Art gives us strength when we are fearful. Art gives us hope when we are discouraged.
 
Art lifts us. Art sustains us. Art is a bouquet that causes our hearts to sing.
 
Art is love. Love is at the center of artCentral—the love of art and artists and the community where we create and live and work and play and raise our families and celebrate our friends.
 
Art is about coming to the end of a hard road and knowing that by grace and determination we have endured and are ready to go forward with renewed commitment to cherish the miracle and beauty of the lives we are given to live and to celebrate the art we are compelled to create and share.
 
In the year before us artCentral has great love and great art to share. Please join with us at Hyde House for artCentral’s joy-filled celebrations of the gifts of living, loving and creating. CDC protocols are observed to keep us all safe and healthy.
 
Through March 13, 2021: This year’s opening exhibition, KALEIDOSCOPE, continues at Hyde House showcasing members of the Joplin Regional Artists Coalition. Gallery Hours are Fridays and Saturdays, 12:00-5:00 p.m. at 1110 East Thirteenth Street in Carthage.

​April 2 – May 15: Philip Ledbetter: PAINT in MOTION: Paintings Exhibition underwritten by Carthage Hardware, Quinn’s Custom Framing and SMB|Southwest Missouri Bank
 
June 4 – July 17: Annual Juried Membership Exhibition: underwritten by McCune-Brooks Healthcare Foundation
 
July 5-9 and 12-16: Virtual Summer Arts Camp for Youth in partnership with the Neosho Arts Council
 
August 6 – September 18: Richard and Debbie Reed: METAMORPHOSIS: Mixed Media Exhibition underwritten by Schmidt CPAs and Advisors.
 
October 1 – December 4: Lori Marble and Jo Mueller: PIECED TOGETHER: Mixed Media Exhibition underwritten by Old Missouri Bank.
 
October 1 – December 4: Silent Auction Fundraiser: SMALL WORKS | GREAT WONDERS: 5x7 Canvases created and donated by artCentral Artists underwritten by Old Missouri Bank.
 
October 1 – December 4: Fundraiser: artCentral’s signature limited edition SCARLET AMARYLISS underwritten by Old Missouri Bank.
 
For 2021, all year through, artCentral will bring grand art to our small town!
                                                       
Art at artCentral is preparing us and leading us toward our future. Mark your calendars now and come join us for our new and exciting year before us!
 
Art is an essential component in any healthy, vibrant community, especially greater Carthage. You can't spell Carthage without "art"! Art turns us toward the light and wonder and renewal.

​at my alma mater Hendrix College in Conway, Arkansas. My intimate mixed media “Give Happiness” was selected to be included in the inaugural exhibit.

art@hendrix!, described as “a love letter to Hendrix’s history with visual arts,”  celebrates the artistic life of Hendrix College prior to the WMA’s opening. The exhibition includes 94 artworks created or collected by alumni and faculty and staff, as well as significant works from the Hendrix permanent collection and courtesy of the Historic Arkansas Museum.
 
Originally planned as the WMA’s inaugural exhibition, art@hendrix! shifted to an online-only format due to the pandemic and is viewable at the museum’s website: www.windgatemuseum.org.
 
Recently I served on an alumni panel in celebration of the Windgate’s online opening. The event started me thinking about my magical years as a student at Hendrix.
 
After spending my first undergraduate months at the University of Arkansas in Fayetteville, by good fortune I found my way south to Hendrix. Though the student body was fewer than my graduating class at Hall High in Little Rock, I knew I was somewhere special.

​Kathy, my roommate and I learned our goldfish did not fare well in their bowl placed on top of our radiator. Indeed, more than once we returned from class to find yet another wee one flopping about and drying out on the floor having leapt from their too hot basin of water. We were slow to realize the problem. I suppose we had our minds elsewhere.
 
Our classes were small and our professors caring. The academics were rigorous enough to demand our concentrated attention in keeping with Hendrix’s sometime bantered about identity as the liberal arts Little Harvard of the South. Plus, I had assistantships in the art and theater departments. Campus life kept me twirling! I spent my junior year organizing and implementing the campus social calendar. In my senior year I served as chairwoman of the Women’s Judiciary Board. Always, all the way through, art was then, as now, the center of my world. 

The museum will give all students an opportunity to live with art as part of their daily lives, as well as offering a deeper art experience through classes, Odyssey projects, and internships.

​WMA will enrich all Hendrix disciplines, from the humanities through the sciences, while engaging the artistic community throughout the South with traveling exhibitions, residencies, commissions and partnerships with other museums and arts organizations in the state and beyond.
 
In the words of past President William M. Tsutsui "Just imagine walking across campus on a Friday afternoon, and in the distance you hear strings or jazz or voices raised in song. As you venture into the Creative Quad, you will be surrounded by activity and caught up in the energy: there is the art museum, with an exhibition hung and a gallery talk underway; across the quadrangle, an ensemble plays in open air; in the new auditorium, a film is being screened in state-of-the-art facilities; beyond the archway are actors bringing a scene to life."
 
Yes, I can just imagine the new cultural dimensions the Windgate is bringing to the Hendrix experience! I love knowing that the Windgate will be a significant place of learning for art-loving students who will prepare to one day serve art and artists and communities as I am privileged to do at artCentral. 
​The museum will give all students an opportunity to live with art as part of their daily lives, as well as offering a deeper art experience through classes, Odyssey projects, and internships.

​Thank You! to all the artists who have filled artCentral’s Hyde House galleries with a splendid array of thematic riffs on KALEIDOSCOPE. In this season-opening exhibition many artists have contributed their best in their familiar, go-to medium, others have explored in entirely new directions. The diversity in this collective treasure chest is astonishing.
 
Through March 13, 2021, treat yourself to a spirit-lifting afternoon art outing in artCentral’s beautifully elegant Hyde House at 1110 East Thirteenth Street in Carthage. Weekend Gallery Hours are Fridays and Saturdays, 12:00-5:00 p.m.
 
The Missouri Arts Council has certified artCentral as an ArtSafe Space. For all who enter Hyde House, CDC protocols are followed: masking, contact tracing, social distancing and hand sanitizing. Thank you for helping our artCentral community keep our staff and volunteers and artists and guests safe and healthy.

​Thank You! to all who joined in the KALEIDOSCOPE evening Opening Celebration on Facebook. Thank you for supporting artCentral, artCentral artists and members of the Joplin Regional Artists Coalition (JRAC).
 
A very special Thank You! to artCentral’s awesomely talented board member/techno guru/digital choreographer Wendi Murdock who created and directed the exciting online Celebration magic. Thank You!, too, to my art-savvy co-hosts and exhibiting artists: David Greenwood-Mathé, artCentral’s Prepitor extraordinaire, and Andrew Batcheller, JRAC board member, for sharing in our celebratory repartee featuring each exhibiting artist.

VIEW the OPENING CELEBRATION EVENING here!
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1FhccsiByIj3QGhnbqQMGnC5RSWzwwjp8/view?usp=sharing
 
Thank You! to KALEIDOSCOPE’s gracious underwriters: The Palms Massage and Day Spa and Cherry’s Custom Framing and Art Gallery. Your support for artCentral and the arts in our community is a tremendous gift!

​Thank You! to the Joplin Regional Artists Coalition for our valuable alliance that continues to enhance the cultural life of southwest Missouri and far beyond. JRAC is a not-for-profit group founded in 2010. JRAC’s mission is to promote, strengthen and advocate for the visual arts and artists, art enthusiasts and patrons of the visual arts and to network visual artists to more effectively engage in cultural, economic and educational artistic activity within the Joplin region. Many Carthage artists are active members of JRAC.
 
Thank you! JRAC for inviting Juror John Smittle who traveled from Columbus, Kansas, to select the exhibition’s Award Winners. Arriving eager and early on a sunny winter afternoon, John first made a walk-through initial viewing of all the artworks in the downstairs and upstairs galleries. Next he composed a list of the art that most caught his attention as he considered Impact of Presentation, Composition of Elements, Technical Achievement and Reflection of Exhibition Theme. After much contemplation and written comments for each, John gave me his choices to receive ribbons and cash awards for first, second, third and honorable mention places plus two artworks he chose for special recognition.

FIRST PLACE: Melody Knowles, "Protecting My Personal Space” for “a very thought provoking narrative work with a plethora of story-telling symbolism told with pleasing color choices.”

SECOND PLACE: Eric Beezley, “You Are Here” for" a pleasingly diverse surface with strikingly bold contrasts of color that cause the viewer to feel instantly drawn into the canvas.”

THIRD PLACE: Jane McCaulley, “Tulips and Lace” for “a clean and precise fused glass composition moving out from the center with pieces that extend beyond the circular edge.”  

HONORABLE MENTION: Andrew Batcheller, “The Vestigial Fires in Love’s Vault” for “incredible technical skills and bold colors surrounding the somber central subject set against a nice use of perspective.”

​SPECIAL RECOGNITION: David Greenwood-Mathé, “Crowleidoscope” for “a dark yet exciting painting with great contrast of color and lots of motion tied together with circular motifs.”

​SPECIAL RECOGNITION: Jim Bray, “Aliens” for “an abundance of motion and chaos surrounded by dark somber hues that pull the viewer in to be explosively hurled outward.”

​To all the award winners artCentral offers hearty “Congratulations!” and to all exhibiting JRAC artists artCentral offers heartfelt gratitude for your contributions that make this exhibition a superlative season opener!
 
All artCentral’s members, patrons and first time guests are enthusiastically urged to come see the entire KALEIDOSCOPE collection. Experience the wealth of imagination, the joie de vivre and the color up-close and personal. View the artworks selected as outstanding, choose favorites of your own and make arrangements to purchase one or more to take home. For more information contact artCentral by phone (417) 358-4404 or email: artcentral@artcentralcarthage.org.