Now that was a night! Storms and high temps had been predicted for weeks. Storms and high temps were still the prediction when the day arrived for the METAMORPHOSIS Artist Reception for Debbie and Richard Reed; and yet, as so often is the good fortune that smiles on Hyde House, the storms did not develop and the temps dropped. The evening that unfolded was sublimely perfect for the indoor/outdoor reception.
 
For the full year of weeks and months that preceded the opening of METAMORPHOSIS, while the artists Debbie and Richard Reed were making art in their studios, the village of artCentral was twirling, twirling, twirling with the making of preparations to support our exhibiting artists and their talents.
 
In my Hyde House office as well as my remote studio office, I was on the phone and at my keyboard, setting calendar dates and timelines, prepping the Gallery Agreement and documents for the artists and confirming support by the exhibition’s underwriter, SCHMIDT CPAs and ADVISORS. Having created the graphics for the exhibition posters and invitations, I purchased a supply of stamps while Joseph Perdomo, owner, at Carthage Printing did his excellent (as always) printing job. While artCentral volunteer-extraordinaire, Lora Waring, labeled and stamped the invitations for mailing, Maddie Capps, Kalee Hinspeter and Jason Shelfer, members of artCentral’s board of directors, stepped up to help me with the media distribution in Carthage and Joplin as our board media guru, Wendi Douglas, made sure the news of METAMORPHOSIS went out to media near and far.
 
When the date drew near for delivery of the art work, my husband David Greenwood-Mathé, artCentral’s prepitor/art handler, and I spent extra evening hours at Hyde House—he patching nail holes and removing marks and smudges from walls and woodwork that he thoroughly touched up with paint, while I did the dusting and sweeping and mopping and tidying up in general to have the galleries looking their very best. They were sparkling when we finally sighed and said, “Ready!”
 
Debbie and Richard delivered their 36 paintings and 40 pottery works (plus 10 more filled with Richard’s carefully cultivated miniature succulents), and the work we think of as fun really began for David and me. We truly love doing exhibition installations together! David, an artist himself with fifteen years of experience as a Kansas City gallery owner, and I, as an artist with a passion for seeing and arranging art holographically, are a well-paired team. We begin with a total review of the art on hand then look and listen for the conversations between the artworks—conversations of color and/or content—making sure the conversation flows easily from one wall or pedestal to the next and from the downstairs galleries to those upstairs.
 
METAMORPHOSIS opened elegantly for Weekend Gallery Hours, 12:00-5:00 p.m. on the first Friday in August. For all the Fridays and Saturdays for the exhibition’s run, artCentral members (many of them artists) served as Gallery Docents. On Fridays which are always my day to docent, I was blissfully assisted by artCentral’s newest intern Sierra Hicks. Saturday docents include Jordy Vulpine, Heather and Sierra Hicks, Beth Kang, Jason Shelfer and Aurelia Burr.
 
The Missouri Arts Council has certified artCentral as an ArtSafe Space with CDC protocols observed by all who visit Hyde House. Masks are to be worn and social distancing is to be practiced as we all do our best to keep one another safe and healthy.
 
For the mid-August Artist Reception following CDC protocols, artCentral board president Betsy Flanigan was the Reception impresario assisted by board members Alexandra Burnside and Kalee Hinspeter. Board member, Doug Osborn, made sure to replenish the house libations and have them well chilled to accompany the individually packaged table fare. Bren Flanigan hosted the beverage table while Kerry Sturgis and David welcomed guests on the front porch. My friend Lori Bigley was a marvelous help writing invoices for the evening’s brisk sales. (Shhhh! Don’t tell! For Lori’s September birthday, her husband David purchased Debbie’s painting of a chicken Lori had admired.) 
 
Now that was a night! The weather turned out just right. Lots of folks came to share in the celebration and  many bought favorite artworks while Debbie and Richard spent the evening visiting with guests and talking art.
 
The exquisite METAMORPHOSIS Exhibition will continue on view through September 18, 2021, at Hyde House, 1110 East Thirteenth Street in Carthage. Admission is free. The public is invited. For more information call (417) 358-4404 or visit ArtCentralCarthage on Facebook or online at artcentralcarthage.org.

​For four years my artist husband David and I have been conceiving and preparing for our collaborative, multimedia exhibition to fill the galleries of artCentral. Paradise, our big, old house, is chock-full with the creations we have been making and saving to share with you. The upstairs hallway is overflowing.  Our studio easels are full and the walls, too. The front and back stairways have artwork marching beside us every time we go up and down. There is art temporarily displayed in the kitchen. The foyer and the dining room are serving as staging galleries. In the front salon and the music salon art is even filling up corners. Art! Art! Art! Art everywhere and yet we keep making and dreaming of making still more!
 
SIGNS & WONDERS first came to life on our Sunday outings—our drives on the winding blacktops carrying us and our puppies to George Washington Carver Monument Park near Diamond, Missouri, and our weekly trips across Center Creek on the back road taking us to brunch and a meet up with friends at the Joplin puppy playground.
 
Since our courting days David and I have shared the inclination to “ooh and ah” at sights that catch our eyes and tweak our fancies. Even following the same paths again and again we always find wonders to delight us—a quartet of Scottish highlander, hearty hairy coos keeping company with a donkey named Charlie; a gaggle of wild turkeys strolling about in a farmer’s front yard; sunbeams gleefully summer dancing in an urban brook; lapis lazuli shadows stretching lean over a river’s snow-covered, tree-lined banks; story-telling clouds bouncing or floating or rushing or resting still and serene over us in a plethora of shapes and sizes; a vine-covered fence post that began life as a cedar tree.
 
Those times we make mini-detours again and again we are pleased to have our senses entertained by the newness of the unexpected—an enormous black and white swine with blunted nose peering through swaying emerald-tinted grass behind a hog wire fence; spring and summer wildflowers showing off their beauty; naked winter old growth standing staunchly sensuous and unapologetic in bareness; a nursery of young black vultures lined up on a white fence railing with a raucous murder of ebony crows circling overhead; a longhorn posing roadside and offering a repertoire of amusing expressions as though for a photo-op; a pasture of horses dressed in masks and spats looking ready for a neighbor’s costume party.
 
With our comings and goings we are frequently entertained by the directional signs we encounter placed on posts and poles to help and guide us in our travels. The very noire arrow, pointed up with a wiggly tail flowing down over a reflective yellow backdrop, was the first road sign I decided to paint and call “Wiggle Bottom”, a reminder of the squirming Aussie riding in my lap as we made our way up a curving, twisting tarmac trail.
 
All these signs and wonders seem to be love notes left by a grand heart filled with benevolence—reassuring us we live in a world of beauty and goodness, telling us to pause and slow down. We do. We slow down. We stop. As David gathers an appealing stick or stone or rusted scrap of bric-a-brac for his sculpture, I start snapping my camera’s shutter—collecting images, capturing moments, making sweet memories to put into my painted photo tableaux.
 
Mark your calendar for SIGNS & WONDERS in April and May 2022, but please do not wait until then to visit Hyde House. Though artCentral will be closed September 3 and 4, 2021, in observance of Labor Day, you still have time to visit Debbie and Richard Reeds’ exquisite METAMORPHOSIS Exhibition of paintings and pottery on view through September 18, 2021, at Hyde House, 1110 East Thirteenth Street in Carthage. Schmidt CPAs and Advisors are the gracious underwriters for the Exhibition. Admission is free. The public is invited.
 
The Missouri Arts Council has certified artCentral as an ArtSafe Space with CDC protocols observed by all who visit Hyde House. Masks are to be worn and social distancing is to be practiced as we all do our best to keep one another safe and healthy.
 
For more information call (417) 358-4404. Weekend Gallery Hour are Fridays and Saturdays, 12:00-5:00 p.m.

A very quiet chap, TooLoose, dressed in a roomy white blouson, sturdy black boots and artCentral-green short britches to match his extra tall, pointed chapeau, first appeared in early June at the Annual Membership Exhibition and Picnic.  On that festive evening, good fortune smiled as Awards were bestowed on those artists whose works were selected as noteworthy by Jurors Beth Simmons and Nancy Dunaway. Having received both the Underwriter and Gold awards for his larger than life painting, Andrew Batcheller was given the privilege of being the first artCentral artist to take TooLoose home for a studio sojourn.

TooLoose’s exciting visit at Andrew’s Blue Bunny studio began with a road trip to Springfield’s ArtsFest where as honorary foreman he supervised the installation of Andrew’s booth. Back in his temporary Joplin home, surrounded by a lush green lawn, TooLoose was given the gig of feeding Andrew’s lovely alabaster doves. He also oversaw the delivery of art works to be shown on the MSSU campus by members of the Joplin Regional Artists Coalition (JRAC). Dropping off my own entry, when I mentioned that TooLoose needed a traveling valise, Andrew magically, generously produced and gave to TooLoose a favorite vintage wooden chest large enough to accommodate TooLoose’s naptimes and to carry his very small belongings.
 
As the day came for TooLoose to move on to the Rose Cottage Studio of Emily Rose, alas, his leave-taking was not entirely graceful as documented by the photo I received. Emily is on the picture’s left, leaning back, pulling with all her might, her hands firmly glasped around TooLoose’s hat and head. Andrew on the right on Tooloose’s other end, is seen tugging away with biceps bulging as he does his best to delay the sweet gnome’s departure. Apparently Andrew was suffering extreme separation anxiety! In his words, “Though the hand off was difficult, I finally relented!”
 
Today TooLoose is finding life pleasing with Emily and her three fascinating felines. Outside her cottage door there are moonflowers to be admired every night before being tucked in with a red blankie; freshly brewed coffee to be sipped each morning; cat conversations to be enjoyed through the day; and brushstrokes to be made each time Emily approaches a new painting. Life is delightfully diverse! What can possibly be waiting just ahead?

While you wait for the next installment in the adventurous life of TooLoose de LeTrek, be sure to visit Debbie and Richard Reeds’ exquisite METAMORPHOSIS Exhibition of paintings and pottery on view through September 18, 2021, at Hyde House, 1110 East Thirteenth Street in Carthage. Schmidt CPAs and Advisors are the gracious underwriters for the Exhibition and Reception. Admission is free. The public is invited.
 
The Missouri Arts Council has certified artCentral as an ArtSafe Space with CDC protocols observed by all who visit Hyde House. Masks are to be worn and social distancing is to be practiced as we all do our best to keep one another safe and healthy.
 
For more information call (417) 358-4404. Weekend Gallery Hours are Fridays and Saturdays, 12:00-5:00 p.m.

​You are cordially invited to enjoy a perfect summer evening for the ARTIST RECEPTION celebrating the METAMORPHOSIS exhibition at Hyde House. On Friday, August 20, from 6:00 to 8:00 p.m. at 1110 East Thirteenth Street in Carthage, exhibiting artists Debbie and Richard Reed will be delighted to greet you and visit with you about their paintings and pottery now in all the galleries downstairs and upstairs, too.
 
Come early and linger after to enjoy libations and table fare to be served al fresco on the flagstone patio. There is sure to be a sweet breeze beneath the shade of the lovely green canopy provided by the towering old growth trees on Hyde House Hill. Dress casually to stay cool while sipping a chilled beverage.
 
The Missouri Arts Council has certified artCentral as an ArtSafe Space with CDC protocols observed by all who visit Hyde House. Masks are to be worn and social distancing is to be practiced as we all do our best to keep one another safe and healthy.
 
Schmidt CPAs and Advisors are the gracious underwriters for the Exhibition and Reception. Admission is free. Do bring your family and friends. The public is invited.
 
To preview the art in this elegant exhibition visit artCentral’s website at artcentralcarthage.org/events and artCentral’s facebook page at facebook.com/ArtcentralCarthage/photos/. You may visit  online, select your favorite works then email artcentral@artcentralcarthage.org or call (417) 358-4404 to make your purchases;  or,  make your purchases in person at the evening Artist Reception or during Weekend Gallery Hours—Fridays and Saturdays, 12:00-5:00 p.m.
 
METAMORPHOSIS is an especially elegant and fascinating exhibition with thirty-six paintings and forty works of pottery. The artistic conversation among the works is exquisitely harmonious expressed in very different media by these two married artists. Debbie’s and Richard’s displayed Artist Statements offer insightful windows into their individual creative processes.
 
Together, with equal conviction, in a shared voice they declare, “The fun of metamorphosis in art is what keeps us creating in the studio!”
 
Debbie Reed, having been “artsy” since earliest childhood, trained to be a nurse before taking up her full time pursuit of her passion for painting. Exploring a variety of subjects, Debbie’s paintings often exhibit the Asian influence of her Japanese stepmother and her young girlhood years spent in Japan. Each of her creations is magically rendered with a palpable joie de vivre often begun with an abstract under-painting that evolves into mark-making, brush strokes and splatters dancing in multimedia delight across each picture plane. Some paintings are large. Others are quite intimate in size. All are enchanting.

 Though Richard Reed continues to follow his lifelong desire to practice dentistry, he is one of those well-organized, dedicated artists who somehow manages to work fulltime, raise a family and still create the art that gives him pleasure. A master craftsman in clay, over the years Richard has learned well the nature of his medium and continues to nurture his fascination—trying new approaches and techniques and keeping journals of his explorations along the way. The results are stunning—pots and jars, bowls and plates—each beautifully unique. Several are filled with lovely succulents skillfully cultivated by Richard and ready for you to choose for gift-giving or to take home or to your office as your own.

Both Debbie and Richard have given generously of their creative time and talents to make and donate two door prizes for their METAMORPHOSIS exhibition. Debbie’s “Lady in Blue” and Richard’s “Tall Blue Vase” can be yours to take home. Make one donation or more of five dollars, fill out and drop your tickets in one of their respective door prize jars and hope to be the lucky recipient when two tickets are drawn at the end of the METAMORPHOSIS exhibition. All proceeds go to benefit the work of artCentral’s Fund for Art and Artists.
 
Following the Artist Reception on Friday, August 20, METAMORPHOSIS, the inspiring showcase of paintings and pottery created by Debbie and Richard Reed will continue on view through September 18, 2021.
 
During METAMORPHOSIS Weekend Gallery Hours artCentral artist members will greet you and be happy to answer any questions you have while visiting Hyde House. For more information: call (417) 358-4404, email artcentral@artcentralcarthage.org or visit online artcentralcarthage.org.

When Debbie and Richard Reeds’ three children turned school age, Debbie chose to pursue her lifelong passion to be a practicing artist rather than follow the nursing path for which she had trained. Six years later, after attending art classes while caring for her family, she received her B.A. in Studio Art.

At that time, the art scene being rather quiet in Joplin, Debbie came to Carthage to take classes and workshops with Bob Tommey and Jerry Ellis and Andy Thomas. She still speaks with emotion today as she describes their generosity—their ready availability; their willingness to have students drop in and paint with them; and their valuable advice, guidance and encouragement for students they took under their wings. With great affection, Debbie speaks also of Sandy Higgins, the founding director of artCentral, whom all the artists cherished as their guardian angel watching over them and being shepherdess for the Midwest Gathering of the Artists (MGA).

Bob Tommey, seeing the quality and maturity of Debbie’s work, invited her to participate in the prestigious MGA. Accepting this coveted invitation, Debbie launched her first experience as an emerging artist entering her paintings in a major exhibition. Concurrently, Richard, while practicing dentistry full time, frequently came to Carthage and studied stone carving with Bill Snow and continued to develop his pottery making skills to express his personal aesthetic with works of precision and perfection and pristine elegance. When developing application of colors and glazing techniques he still tends to make many test tiles and to make notes on the outcome of each.

Today both artists have individual studios in their Joplin home. Richard is set up in the basement filled with wheels and kilns. The large room over their garage perfectly suits Debbie’s need for space to create and store her paintings.

Together they tell us: “The fun of metamorphosis in art is what keeps us creating in the studio!”

Debbie adds: “Metamorphosis means to transform, to have striking change. When creating art there is indeed a metamorphosis from the beginning of a painting to when I feel the work is complete. Often artists carefully preplan their work in order to avoid missteps along the way, and I do as well for commissioned pieces or competitive art. When painting every day in my studio, however, it’s a whole different process. I will start a painting with abstract under layers, often 6 or 7 layers deep. Then I ‘find or feel’ my theme from the abstractions and build from there, letting the art speak to me as I go. This is a very exciting way to create, and I enjoy the problems that can arise from this method. The painting becomes a puzzle or mystery for me to solve. This is a very joyful and challenging way to work.”

Speaking of his artistic process, Richard says, “Working with clay is also an exploration that leads to often surprising and welcome outcomes. Experimenting with form and glaze is never entirely predictable as you have ingredients and kiln firings that are always unique. Each piece undergoes extreme change under the duress of multiple firings and the outcomes are always exciting.”

​Do come see the excitement and elegant beauty each of these artists offer to us in their art. See the Asian influence of Debbie’s childhood years in Japan with her Japanese stepmother. See the thoughtful refinement in each one of Rich’s exquisitely glazed plate and pots and jars and bowls. See their cumulative years of study and experience and practice that come to us transmogrified by metamorphosis into galleries filled with their expressions of pure joy!

METAMORPHOSIS began as a restaurant romance! On view August 6 through September 18, 2021, at artCentral, this collaborative exhibition showcases seventy-six paintings and works of pottery created by Debbie and Richard Reed of Joplin.

To preview the art in this elegant exhibition visit artcentralcarthage.org/events and artCentral’s facebook page at www.facebook.com/ArtcentralCarthage/photos/.

​METAMORPHOSIS Weekend Gallery Hours are Fridays and Saturdays, 12:00-5:00 p.m. Sales begin as soon as the doors open on Friday, August 6! Visit early and select your favorite works to purchase and call your own.
 
The two accomplished exhibiting artists, Debbie and Richard Reed, look forward to greeting you at their ARTIST RECEPTION on Friday, August 20, from 6:00 to 8:00 p.m. at Hyde House, 1110 East Thirteenth Street in Carthage. The public is invited. Admission is free. Libations and hors d’œuvres will be served.

​What a fascinating (and romantic) story Debbie and Richard bring to METAMORPHOSIS. Yes, their romance truly did begin in a restaurant in Omaha, Nebraska. Both were students at the time, living lean and working their way to their degrees—Debbie as a hostess and Richard as a bow-tied waiter in the same upscale eatery. Since she did not have a car, Debbie walked everywhere including to her job. Richard, in possession of a car, began to offer rides to Debbie. She, of course, happily accepted for the young man with the car was very nice and nice looking, too! Many rides later with Debbie’s nursing degree achieved and Richard’s dental school training completed, in 1977, the two were married and looking for a place for Richard to set up his new practice.
 
Both Debbie and Richard were open and unafraid to choose to settle in a location where they had never lived. Debbie, the daughter of an Air Force pilot, had moved often. She spent seven years of her earliest childhood living in Japan. Her stepmother is Japanese. Richard and his three sisters were raised to look to broader horizons beyond their Colorado Springs hometown.
 
As the newlyweds considered beginning their new shared life in various cities and towns, they would look at populations and divide those by the number of practicing dentists. Too dentists-saturated already, Colorado Springs and Omaha were ruled out, as were several other possible destinations. Eventually one of Richard’s sisters living in Joplin said, “Come to Joplin! There are not too many dentists here, and I would love to have relatives in town.”
 
Debbie and Richard made their calculations. They found Joplin’s demographic ratio—dentists to per capita population—was just right. To Joplin they moved and took out a very large loan to buy office equipment for Richard’s new practice. Already on a very tight budget, they found there was no money available for hiring office staff. Debbie set aside beginning the nursing career for which she had trained and went to work as Richard’s office support of one. As money constraints eased and before Debbie could take up her nursing, the first of their three children was on the way.
 
Richard had never questioned the trajectory of his path set very early by his love for dentistry. He was one of those exceptional youths who actually looked forward to going in to have his braces tightened. Everything about caring for teeth fascinated him then—working with patients, the tools, the equipment, the opportunities to be of service. To this day his dental vocation is his passion. He loves helping people to have what they need. He loves the artistry of dentistry.
 
By the time Debbie’s and Richard’s third child was five, Debbie, having always been artsy, realized rather than putting her nursing degree to use, what she wanted most was to fulfill her lifelong dream and to become a practicing artist. When you visit METAMORPHOSIS and see her fine paintings you will witness her dream come true!
 
Debbie enrolled at Missouri Southern where she studied with Annie Wu and took every art class on offer, as well as evening continuing education courses in art. When she enrolled in an evening pottery class she convinced Richard to join her.
 
Richard turned out to be a natural with pottery, much more so than Debbie. Quickly he fell in love with clay making and his newly found medium which resonated perfectly with the creative form-making he practiced as a dentist.
 
Richard’s and Debbie’s backstory for METAMORPHOSIS will continue here next week. In the meantime give yourself a lovely gift. Come see the beautiful works of METAMORPHOSIS currently filling artCentral’s spacious galleries in Hyde House!

In addition to art some of her interests include piano, ukulele and guitar. Sierra has played Pollyanna, Fern of Charlotte’s Web, and the 5 of Spades on stage at Joplin’s Stained Glass Theatre. She participates in a local youth choir and shoots in a trap and skeet league with her dad.
 
Sierra grew up in a Carthage neighborhood. Her family now lives on a handful of acres a mile outside of town. There you might find her painting in her mom’s garden or finishing her schoolwork in a canoe on the pond. Her room houses twenty-seven plants, providing subject matter for artistic pursuits while also keeping the air healthy in their home. In addition to her two beloved cats, Sierra lives with her very supportive mom and dad and an energetic little sister.
 
In her Artist Statement Sierra tells us: “I see all of nature as an affirmation of the Creator's beauty, and I want my work to reflect some small measure of this. When I create an image and explore the intricacies of a plant's colors and structure, I find even more beauty than what first inspired me to paint a particular plant. If something captures my interest for a painting, I usually study the subject for a few days and consider every detail. I will look at a flower blossom asking, ‘Will this be easy or hard to paint, and will my end result be worth my efforts?’ When I feel confident and prepared to begin, I take my chosen plant to my mini studio—my desk in my room. If the plant is outside, I gather up a pencil, canvas, brushes and palette, a micron pen, a tombow eraser, a cup of water and a lawn chair…then I get to work. I love painting!”

​Eighteen artCentral artists, well-established in our regional art world, echo Sierra’s love for artmaking through the gracious underwriting of the McCune-Brooks Healthcare Foundation. Their eighteen delightful selections from artCentral’s Annual Membership Exhibition can be enjoyed at The Atrium Gallery in Sirloin Stockade. The diversity of imagery and media in these creations is exciting—from vibrant flowers to wildlife fowl to nostalgic landscape and domestic accoutrements—from photographs to oils and acrylics and watercolors, too. The styles of the artists represented are as unique as the artists themselves. Kudos to these hardworking and accomplished creators including Jane Ballard, Andrew Batcheller, Eric Beezley, Diana Bray, Jim Bray, Barbara Hicklin, Janice Kinman, Koral Martin, Connie Miller, Janice Myers, Ina Niday, Sandra Parrill, Jordy Vulpine, Lora Waring, Nancy Wildwood, Beth Yang, Marilyn York and Bonnie Young.

​Opening August 6, 2021, at artCentral in Hyde House, Debbie and Richard Reed will present their paintings and pottery in METAMORPHOSIS—a collaborative exhibition showcasing their seventy-six new and original artworks!

A MOST PASSIONATE PATRON                         

​In her message posted on the Carthage Council on the Arts (CCA) facebook page, current CCA President, Wendi Douglas, wrote: “Robert Denning lived an incredible life. He was a loyal veteran and semi-scandalous socialite with an amazing array of careers and associations. He was always someone that I wanted to sit next to at meetings and social gatherings; he knew the backstory to everything; he was a delightful storyteller with words of kindness to bestow upon everyone. As president of Carthage Council on the Arts, he served on the Carthage Art Walk committee for many years. Robert cultivated a culture of telling everyone he knew about all of the great things happening in Carthage and bringing more art opportunities to the community. Under his leadership, Carthage Council on the Arts developed funding to bring art and performances to more spaces in Carthage including area senior homes and community events. Robert recently developed a scholarship fund to offer learning programs to students in Carthage who pursue their musical talents. Carthage Council on the Arts will certainly miss our friend and ally for all artists and performers.”
 
Robert’s obituary tells us he was born October 4, 1933, in Hollywood, California, the son of Samuel Pruit Denning and Mabel Whitney Denning. He graduated from North Hollywood High School in 1949 and attended UCLA in the Class of 1952. During his high school and college years he was always seen at Schwabs, mingling with Elizabeth Taylor, Spencer Tracy, Jimmy Stewart and Judy Garland.
 
When he was 24, following the death of his birth mother, Robert dearly wished to be with his father Sam “Denny” Denning and stepmother Elona “Lee” Denning in Chicago. When they had a daughter, Diane, in 1944, he visited every year and spent the summer months at Crystal Lake, Minnesota, at the “Cottage” with Lee’s family.
 
While in the Navy Robert was known as “the singing pilot”—a brave and handsome carrier aviator. After his military service, Robert, the son of a Rockette, worked as an actor, singer, dancer, insurance manager, nightclub owner, nationally syndicated epicurean columnist, social cruise ship director and hotel and restaurant manager, among other engagements.
 
In Santa Cruz, 1958-61, Robert owned the Coffee Cabaret in Capitola By the Sea. He then met his lifelong partner William (Billy) Strayer. They were together for nearly 50 years. Between 1962 and 1977, Robert worked in the corporate world for Occidental Life Insurance in Los Angeles, while also participating in local and regional theater. From 1978 to 1992, he enjoyed culinary pursuits, writing and travel. He opened Robert Denning’s Epicurean Shop in Laguna Beach, California, and worked as the Social Director of the Royal Cruise Lines gathering friends from around the globe. From 1992 to 2007, Robert operated a number of hotels and restaurants in Palm Springs, California.
 
Following the death of his partner Billy, Robert briefly resided with Billy’s family, in Lake Elsinore, California, prior to moving to Carthage, Missouri, his favorite place of all. He was welcomed in Carthage and embraced by all his friends in the Grace Episcopal Church familywhere he was a member of the choir and the Vestry and performed in numerous original plays.
 
Robert was an especially gifted conversationalist, public speaker and storyteller, weaving tales of his exciting, memorable life and of his grandparents Samuel Pruit Denning and Sarah Henson Denning of Roswell, New Mexico, and of his colorful siblings.
 
Robert’s survivors include his sister, Diane Miller, of Wallkill, New York; and cousins, Robert Fredrick Bowes, of Grand Rapids, Minnesota, Brian Dean Bowes of Skokie, Illinois, and Hallie Walker and Hallie Elizabeth Baran of Sherman Oaks, California.
 
Comments made by a friend upon the announcement of Robert’s death offer a poignant tribute to this true original, a man so very many knew and loved: Robert “personified style, courtesy and civility. He was what is increasingly rare these days, a renaissance man in every way—well-spoken and always amusing—a humble and kind friend.”
 
To a much loved bon vivant and most passionate patron, Robert Pruit Denning, we bid “Fare thee well!”

​​Hay! No Hay! That is how we got in our present Chickie Babes predicament. We should have seen this coming. A couple of years ago I made a rather prescient photo painting on this very subject!

Until I met David I was totally inexperienced in the world of tending chickens. Oh, as a child, captivated by the promise of impending drama, I accompanied my aunt Gladys out to her farm flock to chase a hen around the yard. With apron flying she would catch her, prep her and serve her up for company as a fine fried chicken dinner. Being a young girl I never gave a moment’s thought to what went in to caring for the fowls that provided those memorable meals.
 
Now, though we do not keep our chickens to provide company dinners, I do think about the care invested to enjoy the beautiful brown eggs David gathers every evening. Daily, I observe David cleaning up and clearing out the abundant fertilizer created by our Chickie Babes.
                              
When visitors come up on our front porch and lean over the railing to watch our girls clucking and scratching around beneath the Tibetan prayer flags flying over their palace grounds, our guests are charmed by their chicken ways and their feathery good looks. Often someone will say, “Oh! I want to have chickens, too!” Rather than spoil their enchantment, I keep silent and do not bother to respond, “Well, you may want to consider all the hours you are going to be shoveling up after them.”
                     
Having tried various options, for easiest cleanup David has decided hay—fluffy, fragrant hay—is the best bedding nature can provide—better than grass clippings, field straw, pine needles or aromatic, mouse-attracting wood shavings.
 
Providing the best, most-favored accommodations for our girls seems especially important now. As David says, “If it had not been for the fireworks and CoCo passing, the Chickies might have adapted to the pine chips. They had just had a really stressful time and the introduction of something new and different—the change to pine chips—was just one change too many.”
           
Yes, the holiday fireworks were hard on all of us. Our usually serene, small town neighborhood really did sound like a war zone. For four days all of our nerves were frazzled. At dusk a flock of sparrows kept circling our big maple tree seemingly uncertain about where to light for the night. The puppies were cowering in the farthest corners of our bedroom closet, though somewhat calmed by the hemp/valerian/chamomile natural meds shared by friends Lori and David. The Chickie Babes hid and huddled together under the spreading cedar. That was where David found our brave and elegant CoCo. Apparently a heart attack sent her over the Rainbow after an especially bone-jarringly-loud rocket boom.

​Carthage community supporters are the best! Our non-profit hometown artCentral continues to thrive in historic Hyde House with the ongoing assistance of visionaries—visionaries like the Carthage Community Foundation and Leggett & Platt, Incorporated. These philanthropically minded organizations have understood and responded to artCentral’s critical needs—the need for assistance to navigate through the economic challenges of the long pandemic months and, upon emerging from those months, the need to re-establish programming to enhance the cultural life of Carthage and our neighbors.

Yes, the Carthage Community Foundation (CCF) in affiliation with the Community Foundation of the Ozarks and Leggett & Platt, Incorporated have heard and met artCentral’s requests for help. The proof is on artCentral’s walls! Visit artCentral’s galleries and check out the walls of artCentral’s Facebook and website pages and you will know exactly what I mean!

​During the months when the doors were closed, among the greatest challenges to keep artCentral thriving were maintaining daily operations, paying the bills and planning for reopening. With income reduced and many individuals and families feeling eager to help but financially challenged, the announcement of CCF’s spring grant round shone like a beacon of hope on the Hyde House horizon. Typically CCF grants are made for specific projects proposed by local non-profits. Thankfully, the spring grant round was opened to receive requests for stopgap funding to meet critical operational challenges brought on by the pandemic.

Preparing artCentral’s CCF grant application, submitting the application and waiting and wanting to hear good news to make our wishes come true was an act of faith. Often I like to think just such an act of faith is about believing “all is well and will be”, even before answers are given and help arrives. Thankfully, through CCF, our faith was answered. CCF awarded artCentral a spring grant for $2,500.00 specifically designated to assist with operations and urgent financial obligations.

During CCF’s awards picnic, as Betsy Flanigan, president of artCentral’s board of directors, and I went forward to accept the large facsimile of CCF’s $2,500.00 check for artCentral, I felt very grateful for this wish, this dream, this grant come true. In no way can I doubt artCentral’s good fortune. The proof is visible on the wall at the entrance to artCentral’s Membership Gallery where the replica of CCF’s $2,500.00 life-sustaining check is displayed for all of us to see and celebrate!  

With operation obligations met and artCentral’s vivid green doors reopening, the Pottery House was reset and repurposed to create a second teaching classroom, but alas, for a second summer artCentral’s annual summer artCamp for youth had to be postponed due to pandemic generated lingering uncertainties. What to do? How could we possibly serve the youth of our community while honoring the CDC protocols set forth in artCentral’s recognition as an ArtSafe Space certified by the Missouri Arts Council? 

Going on another act of faith, a calendar and curriculum were created for four Screen-Free 3rd Saturday mini artCamps. A budget was made; classes were designed; instructors were invited; and graphics and flyers were developed, printed and distributed. Board president Betsy Flanigan reached out to Leggett & Platt, Incorporated with a request for a grant to assist with classroom supplies and refreshments, teacher stipends, printing and postage, extra sanitation supplies and scholarships. As registrations began to come in, the response from Leggett & Platt also appeared in the mailbox as a check for a $1,000.00 grant—another dream come true!

​On 3rd Saturday mornings in April, May and June aspiring young artists arrived to learn and explore and create as they made new friends under the guidance of Jane McCaulley and Alexandra Burnside who taught Friendly Glass Bugs, Pillow Pets, Zentangle Butterfly Wings and Colorful Glass Posies. The proof of the power of the grant given by Leggett & Platt can be seen in the smiles on the faces and creations in the hands of the artCampers to be found in the photos posted on artCentral’s online walls.

Still on the walls throughout the Hyde House galleries are the inspiring artworks of 42 artCentral member artists displaying their creations in the ANNUAL MEMBERSHIP EXHIBITION. This is a not-to-be-missed collection! Weekend Gallery Hours through Saturday, July 17, are Fridays and Saturdays, 12:00-5:00 p.m.