​Like spring emerging all around us, artCentral’s calendar is bursting with exciting times just ahead—RHYTHMS & THREADS, the ANNUAL MEMBERSHIP EXHIBITION, a plethora of Paint Parties and Classes, artCamp’s MAGICAL MYSTERY TOUR and artCentral artists at Food Truck Fridays!

You will find all the colorful details on artCentral’s website and Facebook page: www.artcentralcarthage.org and www.facebook.com/ArtcentralCarthage/.

​RHYTHMS & THREADS will continue through May 13, 2023, with weekend Gallery Hours on Fridays and Saturday, 12:00-5:00 p.m.
 
The ANNUAL MEMBERSHIP EXHIBITION and the opening Awards Picnic will take place on Friday, June 2, 2023, preceded by the delivery of artCentral artists’ submissions and selections of award recipients by two guest jurors.
 
Artists’ Timetable for the ANNUAL MEMBERSHIP EXHIBITION (AME):
May 11, Thursday, 5:00 p.m.: Registration Deadline
May 14, Sunday, 2:00-4:00 p.m.: DELIVERY to artCentral of all artworks with Three (3) completed and attached     ID labels for each entry and entry fee paid (entry fee, $15, is not refundable) and artCentral Membership paid/current. 
June 2-July 22, Annual Membership Exhibition: Weekend Gallery Hours: Fridays & Saturdays 12:00-5:00 p.m.
June 2, Friday, 6:00-8:00 p.m.: Exhibition Opening Picnic and Awards
July 23, Sunday, 2:00-4:00 p.m.: Artist pick up for artworks not rotating into Satellite Galleries. All unpurchased AME works will be rotated into artCentral's two Satellite Galleries to afford artists maximum exposure and opportunities for sales.  Artists may opt out of this opportunity and pick up exhibition art or submit another art work of similar size for display in a Satellite Gallery.     
July 24, Monday: All unpurchased works remaining at artCentral will be rotated into artCentral's two Satellite Galleries.
 
Plan to have fun learning and making with artCentral artists and board members Alexandra Burnside and Cheryl Church. Mark your calendars for these Paint Parties and Classes (information 417-529-5272):
 
SPRINGTIME TULIPS: Saturday, April 8, 2023, 2:00-5:00 p.m.
MOTHER’S MAGNOLIA: Saturday, May 6, 2023, 2:00-5:00 p.m.              
ME AND MY GROWN UP: MAY FLOWERS: Saturday, May 13, 2023, 2:00-5:00 p.m.     
MID-CENTURY MOD CAT: Saturday, June 3, 2023, 2:00-5:00 p.m.         
DIY PAINTED TUMBLER (24oz Stainless Steel Double Wall): Saturday, July 8, 2023, 2:00-5:00 p.m.
FALL DOOR DECORATION: Saturday, September 9, 2023: 2:00-5:00 p.m.         
SERIES OF 3: WEAVING for ADULTS: Mondays, September 11, 18 and 25: 6:00-8:00 p.m.
WITCHY JACK-O-LANTERN: Saturday, October 7, 2023, 2:00-5:00 p.m.             
ME AND MY GROWN UP: HALLOWEEN PAINTING: Saturday, October 14, 2023, 2:00-5:00 p.m.
HOLIDAY GNOMES: Saturday, November 4, 2023, 2:00-5:00 p.m.
WHITE CHRISTMAS PAINTING:  Saturday, December 2, 2023, 2:00-5:00 p.m.
ME AND MY GROWN UP: CHRISTMAS PAINTING: Saturday, December 16, 2023, 2:00-5:00 p.m.
 
Exciting times are sure to be enjoyed by kids at artCamp’s MAGICAL MYSTERY TOUR, July 10-21, and by all ages with artCentral artists sharing their creations at Food Truck Fridays (FTF) on April 14 and August 11. For additional FTF information, contact Cheryl Church at 417-388-0476.
 

The term “Impressionism" is a philosophical and aesthetic description borrowed from the French painting after Claude Monet's Impression, Sunrise. Impressionism was a movement embraced by many artists and composers in Western classical music, mainly during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Their compositions focus on creating moods and emotions. Composers were labeled Impressionists by analogy to the Impressionist painters whose techniques included starkly contrasting colors (timbre) and the effect of light on an object, blurry foreground and background and the flattening of perspective to urge the observer to focus his attention on the overall impression.

​He began painting the water lilies in 1899, a series of large-scale paintings that was to occupy him continuously through all seasons for the next twenty years of his life.

​Perhaps in this new season of your own life you will feel compelled to celebrate the artistry of our beautiful Carthage spring in the company of composers and painters like Debussy and Monet. The magic of our modern technology makes meeting up with them so easy. Turn on a sound system. Pop in a disc or choose a stream. Listen to your favorites. Open a book from your coffee table collection or check out a volume from artCentral’s Lending Library. Curl up in a comfy chair beside a favorite window. Journey through the delights the Impressionists have to offer.
 
Or…put in your earbuds, plug them into your phone, tune to an Impressionist composer and step outside. Take a walk through the wonder of Mother Nature’s creation and know we are being remarkably blessed by the artistry of Mother’s Nature’s spring in the making.
 
When next with your calendar, be sure to highlight Friday, April 7, 6:00-8:00 p.m., and plan to attend the Opening Reception for artCentral’s impressive springtime exhibition, RHYTHMS & THREADS, showcasing the vibrant new collection brought to Hyde House by artists Clint & Mary Thornton!

The Opening Reception takes place Friday, April 7, 6:00 to 8:00 p.m., at Hyde House, 1110 East Thirteenth in ​Carthage. The public is invited. Admission is free. Donations are welcome.
 
The Thorntons bring years of dedication to exhibiting their original compositions made with paints and fibers. The vibrant creations in this collection reflect their artistic call and response conversations inspired by music—music that dances through the strokes of Clint's brushes and the stitches of Mary's needles.

The artists tell us, “Being intrigued and fascinated by the talent of musical artists and life around us, we have devoted most of our artistic efforts relating to those gifted individuals that have made such an impression on us. Even though we work in different media, we share our thoughts and motivations, critiques and agreements on our projects. After fifty-five years of marriage, our work has much in common.”

With a BA in Art Education, Clint Thornton taught public school art before serving two tours in Viet Nam on the U.S. Navy Underwater Demolition team. Honorably discharged as a Lieutenant, he received his MFA with an emphasis on Ceramic Art which he then taught at the University of New Hampshire. Purchasing a home and studio in Jay, Oklahoma, he taught 3-D Arts at the Johnson County Community College in Kansas City, Kansas, and at Friends University, Wichita, Kansas, and produced handmade pottery at the Oakstone Pottery, Jay, Oklahoma. With his hands damaged by many years of throwing pottery, Clint returned to painting in 2016 and has since received awards in Joplin, Carthage and Neosho, Missouri. Today his works are in both private and permanent collections.

Honored with awards in weaving, art jewelry and art quilts, Mary Thornton manipulates fibers into unique forms whenever possible—whether by weaving, needle work or using cloth which she hand dyes or purchases. With a BA in Art, a BS in Art Education and Elementary Middle School Education and a MA in Counseling and Psychometry. She is a certified Psychometrist qualified to give IQ and other types of tests. Mary has been an Art and Gifted Education teacher, served as a school counselor and taught weaving in the University of New Hampshire extension courses. Always and still, woven into Mary’s soul is the intertwining of fiber and thread with an occasional inspiring ephemeral thought or sensation incorporated into the theme of her creation.

Make this spring a memorable one! Visit RHYTHMS & THREADS in artCentral’s Hyde House galleries and experience the energy and joy and inspiring beauty you are sure to find in the remarkable art of Clint and Mary Thornton.

​My story told here began when I left my artist life in Manhattan driving south back to Arkansas intending to stay to see my aging parents through their end times. I did.
 
After the passing of both my parents, I found myself too depleted in body, mind and spirit to make my re-entry into the fast-paced east coast urban life I had exited. Seeking solitude and restoration, I went to the way-back wilderness of the Ozark highland mountains to live with two cats, two dogs and four chickens beside the Little Buffalo River.
 
My plan was to stay in seclusion for twelve months before reentering community. Instead, before I moved on, four years passed recuperating and reading, dreaming and journaling and deep spiritual diving; four years painting and writing through my grief to find my mending.  

​Wordsmiths like Dr. Clarissa Pinkola Estés helped me. I reread her “Women Who Run with Wolves,” again captivated with her recounting of the tale of “The Handless Maiden”. (The original German fairy tale, “The Armless Maiden” was collected by the Brothers Grimm and first published in 1812.)
 
In Dr. Estés’s telling, the Devil, promising wealth and a privileged life, bargains with a father for what stands behind his barn. The father thinking there's nothing but an old apple tree behind his barn, agrees to the bargain, not knowing his daughter stood there, too; hence, we are reminded that a “fruiting tree has represented the talent, sexuality, life-giving force of women: the maiden, the mother and the old woman, all in one.” Alas, the father has traded his fertile daughter when she is ready to bear the fruits of her talents.
 
When the Devil returns to claim his prize, as Dr. Estés writes, “The girl's purity of heart continually repels him so he cannot take her as though a force field surrounds her. The devil tells the father that he has to cut off his daughter's arms so that the devil can take her. The father is horrified, but he follows through, for the devil threatens to take the father's life if he will not sacrifice his daughter.
 
And thus, in one of the most horrendous episodes in ancient tales, the father hoists his sharp axe and severs his daughter's arms. The girl is disparaged and offered up for the father’s ease of life and material gain. She and the apple tree behind the father's barn are not protected even though fully filled with gifts. They are instead judged as nothings: her gifts, not appreciated or seen, are thereby forfeited. She is not allowed to grasp or live her own deep and pure reality as a force of the feminine.”
 
With my own retelling of the tale, the maiden regains her limbs. Nourished by the running waters beneath the star spangled mysteries of darkness, my Handed Maiden with her arms restored is made verdant once again—fertile, flowering and yielding fruit, rooted in the wisdom-rich soil of the ancestors gone before. Her hands bearing eyes are those universally known, like the Hamsa Hand, for uniting the good, dispelling the bad, thwarting negativity and bringing about positive energies.
 
Come bask in the positive energies of storytelling inside Hyde House! FOILED AGAIN! remains on exhibit through March 18.

with towering, budding branches. Stripped down from the mount, the lawn’s security lamp dangled from the post. A live electrical wire snaked across the ground.

​Beginning with gratitude, walking around the massive pin oak—75 or 100 years old or more—stretched out beside but away from the Pottery House, my gratitude list grew ever greater. There was no structural damage to this building, or to any other. The historic well was not crushed yet still in peril with the mammoth trunk hovering eight inches above. Though portions of the vintage sidewalks, hand-mortared and made of Carthage marble, rose up in disarray like peaked waves on an ocean, they could be reset. The carving-adorned cement bench favored by artCampers was untouched. So, too, the towering rough-hewn obelisk brought in by Bob Tommey for his sculpture-making class.

A three day marathon took off with the weather window rapidly closing before the next round of spring showers.

Day One: Calls were made. CWEP was on site within the hour. Power was cut: the downed line made safe. KC gave permission to reach out for work estimates. The electrician came quickly and restored the power contact point torn from the Pottery House. CWEP returned and installed a new security light. The power was turned back on. The tree service bid was received.

Day Two: Greg Wilkerson, owner of Affordable Tree Service in Joplin, brought his crew plus a bobcat, trucks for hauling and lifting a bucket, as well as chain saws and rakes. Before 5:00 p.m. their work was done, but still removal of the enormous trunk, stump and root ball had to be accomplished. Thankfully, Greg went the extra distance before leaving: he contacted Neal Asbell of Asbell Excavating and Trucking Inc. in Carl Junction and facilitated an onsite assessment and strategized using heavy equipment for final work to be done the next day.

​Day Three: From 7:00 a.m. until 4:00 p.m., Asbell workers brought in, off-loaded and reloaded equipment (including a giant excavator) and delivered top soil, grass seed and straw to repair the lawn. Two men worked the excavator for the trunk and stump removal. They filled the huge crater left by the stump. The same two did the entire lawn repair then reset and mortared the broken portions of the walkways.

​Lori shared April’s selection thoughts telling us, “Alice Lynn’s artistic aesthetic is uniquely her own: colorful—with a style and design I have always admired. You are drawn into Alice Lynn’s art—becoming a part of her experience, sharing in a conversation with her.
 
Alice Lynn’s selfless commitment to artCentral—her support for both seasoned and budding artists at our Carthage non-profit arts center—is a generous and loving example for our area. She is always smiling, always encouraging. Her optimism and ability to infuse each encounter with deep meaning and connection has infused artCentral with a magnetic vitality. Having kids at artCamp—an activity that Alice Lynn spends countless hours organizing, hosting and promoting—is one of her favorite experiences. As an artist, I think it's so important for our children to experience art firsthand.’”
 
Presenting me with the 2022 award—an original painting by April created to honor me on this special occasion—Lori concluded, “Congratulations Alice Lynn, the 2022 Carthage Chamber of Commerce Artist of the Year.”

​I was blessed to have two parents who encouraged my creativity. If I built a playhouse out of sticks and stones, or if I wrote a little story and drew and painted pictures to go with my words, they said, “Oh, you are so artistic!” And those times I acted a little different or weird, they said, “Well, she is just being an artist.”
 
With all my heart, I believe each of you is an artist, too—whether you make paintings or have a gift for numbers—whether you do your part to save our environment or know how to play a tune or sing a song—whether you give good hugs or share you smiles generously—whether you can build a portfolio or a treehouse—whether you raise a child or a puppy—whether you can identify a bird call or cultivate a garden—whether you serve in a soup kitchen or know how to sew a seam…
 
Be the artist that you are! Your individual creativity makes a difference to all of us. Honor the artist in yourself. And especially honor the artists in our children. Honor their unique inclinations to create! They are the future makers of our world.
 
Truly, I am thankful to be honored as the 2022 Carthage Artist of the Year.
 
The artist in me honors the artist in you! Namaste.

​At Hyde House this was another sunny almost-spring morning. Beautiful bright light was sweeping across the front porch and spilling through the tall gallery windows. As though magically animated, foils and metallics were sparkling and gleaming in the 48 artworks now on exhibit through March 18, 2023.
 
Right on time the morning’s guests, Cheryl Church’s advanced class of art students, made their déjà vu seasonal appearance. Arriving in an assortment of vehicles, including again a black-‘n’-white retired police car that appeared last year, they stood in the parking lot smiling their hellos.

Gathered inside we made introductions and had a photo op in the foyer. Cheryl (Ms. Church to her students) introduced the exhibition’s FOILED AGAIN! theme. I directed attention to the award ribbons identifying those artists and their art selected for special recognition by the exhibit’s juror, Nellie Mitchell, who tapped six recipients including: FIRST PLACE AWARD “Welcome to the Campsite, 1980s” by Diana Bray; SECOND PLACE AWARD “Be Mine” by Helen Kunze; THIRD PLACE AWARD “Passage to India” by Debbie Reed; BEST REFLECTION of EXHIBITION THEME AWARD “The Moon Danced while the Stars Sang” by Brenda Sageng; HONORABLE MENTION AWARD “Their Ethereal Peace” by Chadan Tomlin; and HONORABLE MENTION AWARD “Careening through the Universe” by their teacher Cheryl Church.

and resin. Admiration was expressed for the ​beauty of Janice Kinman’s “Evening Serenity”, the design work in Linda Passeri’s “Make Lunalove” and the intricate detailing found in Debbie Reed’s “Passage to India” and in Sandra Parrill’s “Wings of the Soul.”

​Possibilities for a student bestowed award included the works of Andrew Batcheller, Roxenne Kendall, Jacque McDonald and my own Foiled Again Man.
 
Do come enjoy your own viewing of FOILED AGAIN! Weekend Gallery Hours are Fridays and Saturdays, 12:00 to 5:00 p.m.

As an artist there is a part of me persistently looking ahead—ahead to my next painting or shrine or exhibition installation or to a leap to a new home in my next artful destination? This is why I painted my Bridge to Clarity.
 
On the left is a fertile green mountain sprinkled with scarlet blossoms.  Another mountain rises to the right. In between is an expanse of water that must be crossed to travel from left to right. How will I to do this? The answer seems obvious. Build a bridge to span the gap!
 
Maybe you have had this experience of being in a pleasing high place and wanting to journey on to the next. Maybe as recently as New Year’s Day you made a resolve to move ahead…to build a bridge and achieve a longed for destination. How are you coming along with building and crossing your bridge?
 
I have found that my bridge to my next place often takes me on up and down loops and twists and turns that spell “befuddlement”.  When I was actually poised to leap the pond and set up camp in Paris, fate moved me from New York City to the wayback Ozark wilderness of northwest Arkansas and I ended up in Carthage. Alas, twelve years later I am still here building my bridge day by day—upping and downing and circling around—believing I will eventually get where I am going. As they say, “C’est la vie!”
 
My bridge of befuddlement sometimes leaves me confused, lacking clarity and questioning.  Am I headed in the right direction? What is my next step? Am I making my best choices to carry me forward?
 
In my painting all the winged hearts are like love notes coming to me from the beyond. Flying before a sequin-spangled blue sky, in perfect timing they deliver messages of guiding clarity. Discerning their messages requires my pausing and getting very still. Clarity comes when, in this physical dimension, I get still enough to hear the birds singing all around me. Clarity is a super power.
 
Inspiring is the journey of French graphic artist Malika Favre who has lived in Paris, London and now Barcelona. Her dramatic [New Yorker] depiction of two figures walking over a bridge—Manhattan’s Brooklyn Bridge—reminds me of my own first passing over that bridge.
 
In a January 30, 2023, interview with Françoise Mouly, Favre tells us, “There is something fascinating about the architecture of the Brooklyn Bridge and its imposing gates; it almost feels like a portal into another world. I still vividly remember crossing it in a taxi, minutes after landing in New York for the first time. It was a magical moment.” I felt the same way as I first crossed that bridge.
 
Asked by Mouly if her moves to new home towns were turning points, the artist responds “Moves between cities and countries have always been turning points for me. Each time, I felt excitement and anticipation for the new life that was awaiting me. I have always loved…embracing change.” Me too! Change, like clarity, is a real super power.
 
Treat yourself to a weekend portal into another world. Explore the artCentral galleries of Hyde House at 1110 East Thirteenth Street in Carthage. The FOILED AGAIN! exhibition is showing through March 18, 2023, generously underwritten by THE PALMS Massage and Day Spa and CHERRY’s Custom Framing and Art Gallery. Gallery Hours are Fridays and Saturdays, 12:00-5:00 p.m.

​Graciously serving as the exhibition’s Juror, artist and educator Nellie Mitchell, has selected six award recipients for FOILED AGAIN!  Awards will be given for Gold, Silver, Bronze and two Honorable Mentions and one for Best Reflection of the Exhibition Theme. The Juror’s selection guidelines included 1) impact of presentation, 2) composition of elements and 3) technical achievement.
 
An art teacher in southwest Missouri for the last seventeen years, Nellie Mitchell currently teaches high school art at Carl Junction and is an adjunct professor for Crowder College. She has taught elementary art and middle school art. Nellie was the 2012 Missouri Art Educator of the Year. She has served on the education committee at Spiva Center for the Arts in Joplin, helping develop the Art Lounge program for teens.
 
Nellie completed a summer painting residency at Kansas City Art Institute in 2019. She has a post-baccalaureate certification in painting from MSSU and a Master’s Degree in Educational Administration from William Woods. Nellie has exhibited her work at Spiva, MSSU and Crowder College. She loves to travel and visit art museums all over the world.
 
FOILED AGAIN! at artCentral offers the perfect venue to view regional art and purchase originals to grow your personal or business collection while engaging with local art makers and their creative interpretations of this exhibition’s theme!
 
artCentral, established in 1985, continues to grow as a community of artists, art lovers and supporters with a mission of service for the greater good of art and artists. The Joplin Regional Artists Coalition, founded in 2010, offers a network of visual artists seeking to effectively engage in cultural, economic and educational artistic activity.
 
The memberships of both artCentral and JRAC include professional and amateur artists, art enthusiasts and patrons of the visual arts. Both artCentral and JRAC seek to encourage businesses and individuals to choose to “buy local” and enrich our communities with unique opportunities to support regional artists.
 
All FOILED AGAIN! art works on display at Hyde House may be viewed online at www.artcentralcarthage.org or at www.facebook.com/ArtcentralCarthage/photos_albums. For more information or to make purchases phone (417) 358-4404.

​Most recently Deborah was one of four Featured Artists at artCentral’s annual Holiday Boutique where her collection of sophisticated mandalas filled the galleries with exquisite designs and brilliant colors.

Until recently Deborah Barnett shared a home with her musician husband. Their house was his family home where he was raised. Like most American homes constructed before 1940, their house was built in the balloon frame style with the vertical studs extending the full height of the building from foundation plate to rafter plate.

Two days before last Christmas, while temperatures hovered around four degrees with negative wind chills, the call came from a mutual artist friend, “Have you heard? Their house burned down. Down to the ground. The family got out. The dog was rescued.” ​A fire starting at the bottom had spread within walls to the second floor then all the way to the top of the roof. 

After the passing of her elderly mother, Deborah was moved to make a mandala on a wooden disc as a memorial tribute to her mother. There followed an uninterrupted mandala succession over the course of her year of mourning.  All were celebrations.

Many of Deborah’s mandalas traveled home with Holiday Boutique patrons. Those that went back to her studio are now forever gone as are the creative space of their conception and all the materials Deborah had planned to use for future works.
​
Though Deborah has lost everything she tells me she plans to make a new body of work as a Feature Artist for artCentral’s 2023 Holiday Boutique. I believe her. I believe her passion will prevail. Deborah is a woman of grit. When many artists would be winding down she is determined to make a new beginning.
 Artist Deborah Barnett is an artist in need of support. Will you please help? Will you help Deborah and her art and her family reemerge from the ashes all around them?
                      
Donations can be made and identified for the Barnetts on artCentral’s website (artcentralcarthage.org/give4art-fund.html) or Facebook page (facebook.com/ArtcentralCarthage) or by mail (artCentral, POB 714, Carthage, Mo 64836) or by phone (417) 358-4404.
 
Donations may also be made at artCentral during the upcoming FOILED AGAIN! Exhibition—opening February 3, 2023, (weather alternative February 10), and showcasing the fabulously talented community of the Joplin Regional Artists Coalition through March 18!