Preparations are nearing completion for the opening of artCentral’s 2022 premiere exhibition—VERDANT—featuring the creations of the accomplished art makers of the Joplin Regional Artists Coalition (JRAC). Throughout the Hyde House galleries VERDANT will be on view February 4 through March 12, 2022.
 
You will definitely be happy when you treat yourself to this inspiring collection of original mixed media artworks! Mark your calendar today and plan to come see and celebrate the art and artists at the VERDANT Opening Reception on Friday, February 4, 6:00 to 8:00 pm. (Weather alternative for the Opening is February 11.) In Carthage, follow Thirteenth Street east across River Street then come up the hill to Hyde House at 1110 East Thirteenth Street. Followin the Opening weekend the Weekend Gallery Hours will be Fridays and Saturdays, 12:00-5:00 p.m., with members of artCentral and JRAC serving as gallery docents to greet you.
 
What joy to once again showcase works by the talented members of JRAC and to co-create another stunning JRAC installation with artCentral’s prepitor, David Greenwood-Mathé! Our collaborative pleasure of working to honor artists and their inspirations never grows old.
 
JRAC has made a lovely choice of themes to create the group’s annual collection that is now filling the walls and pedestals of Hyde House. As we navigate winter and anticipate another beautifully vibrant Carthage spring, for VERDANT the show motif is “green”—like artCentral’s green front door of hospitality—like our Missouri lawns and surrounding countryside soon to grow green with lush grass and rich vegetation.
 
As we await the announcement of award winners by VERDANT’s juror, beyond artCentral’s galleries, everywhere I turn outdoors I am seeing verdant harbingers of spring. They are making tentative appearances as green mosses and native ground covers etching lines in our brick and limestone sidewalks. They are starting to show as hints of lilies-to-come peeking up through the quilts of leaves left behind last autumn. Oh, how I do love and welcome these first signs of new green lives in the making.
 
Verdant originally comes to us from the 12th century’s Old French “verdure” meaning "greenness, greenery, green fields, herbs," and from “verd”, a variant of “vert” for "green", followed in the 1580s by the French “virdeant” which translates as "becoming green;  green in color; green with vegetation; fresh green color."
 
From the origins of “green” to our modern usage, for me “green” always suggests “growing” and growing is the non-profit business of artCentral, established in 1985, to grow our community of artists and art lovers and supporters as we grow in our mission of service for the greater good of art and artists. Likewise, the Joplin Regional Artists Coalition, founded in 2010, continues to grow as 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 seek to encourage businesses and individuals to choose to “buy local” and enrich our communities with unique opportunities to support regional artists.
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VERDANT 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, green-themed harbingers of spring!

Looking for a positive input for creating community in 2022, I was happy to find Rich’s interview, aired October 28, 2021, with his wife, Julie Piatt—New York Times bestselling author, spiritual teacher, accomplished yogi, musician, chef and mother of their four children—sharing her wisdom on celebrating humanity, and cultivating and sustaining relationships in all their forms.                                                                                           
What follows are thoughts considered and ideas floated between Rich and Julie in the Rich Roll Podcast 637.
 
Julie Piatt: “Humans are amazing! There is so much beauty in humanity.”
 
Rich Roll: “Wealth is the company you keep.”
 
My husband David and I talk about these ideas and often reference a quote that resonates with them. “Your vibe attracts your tribe”, meaning the energy you put out in the world is directly reflected by the energies you attract and those you are open to receiving.
 
David and I live to put out a beautiful, positive vibe as we serve our world through the making of our art and through our work at artCentral. We live to attract artCentral’s community of members, our tribe with shared interests and energies that provide positive, encouraging support for each other. Our wealth is the company we keep!
 
Among our treasured gems of an artist friend is Andrew Batcheller. Serving as the president of the Joplin Regional Artists Coalition, Andrew, along with JRAC’s vice president Emily Rose, is working closely with us to stage artCentral’s debut 2022 exhibition, VERDANT, opening February 4. For the exhibition’s door prize—to raise funds for the work of artCentral and JRAC—Andrew is donating a giclée of his beautiful oil painting. (“Tolerance”, valued at $250.00, can be yours to take home for a donation of just $5.00!). Andrew’s “Tolerance” is an exquisite demonstration of his generosity and his consistent belief in finding and celebrating beauty in the midst of our greatest challenges. Andrew is amazing!
 
“Humans are amazing!” we hear Julie Piatt echo to Rich Roll’s “Wealth is the company you keep.” She declares, “They are all so individual and unique and resilient and creative and empathic and loving and feeling. We often hear narratives that are highlighting all the horrible things that are going on in our world. As we know, we are powerful creators and where we put our attention is what expands. And so I feel that through this (pandemic) timeout that we’ve all [experienced] in these last couple of years, we’ve come to appreciate…[that]….there is wisdom and power and intelligence in highlighting the beauty of humanity, because there is a lot more beauty than what is considered.”
 
Amen!
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photography skills and spending an afternoon doing a photo shoot with us and our creations in the galleries. The graphics for the posters and invitations are in development. 

​Nearing a wrap on this major endeavor, I told David, “I need to hike up and down among trees with vistas overlooking water.” That evening he read me a passage from Rich Roll's "Voicing Change" about the importance of breathing in diverse biospheres. The next day we discovered artful wonders in the woods as we breathed our way over an up-and-down path with many a vista above the winding creek below us.   

2021 was a transformative year. Continuing to follow CDC protocols supporting artCentral’s certification by the Missouri Arts Council as an ArtSafe Space, we welcomed the gradual unfolding of activities earlier curtailed by pandemic limitations. A full roster of exhibitions opened with tremendous anticipation and great success, conjured by the participating artists and artCentral’s faithful community of supporters. In lieu of July’s Summer artCamp for Youth, Screen-Free 3rd Saturday mini artCamps were offered.

​​Spring and autumn welcomed the arrival of grants given by the Carthage Community Foundation and the Community Foundation of the Ozarks. Winter brought a grant from the Carthage Area United Way for artCamp 2022. Closing out 2021, the Holiday Boutique filled the galleries with a splendid array of art and artful giftables while raising funds to support artCentral’s future programs and community outreach.
 
Looking out from today, we see art and art and more art filling the vista of artCentral’s new year. VERDANT, this year’s mixed media collection presented by the Joplin Regional Artists Coalition, will open February 4, followed by April’s SIGNS & WONDERS and a full year filled with extraordinary art by artCentral artists. The Art of our Vista is before us!

A Public Relations Society of America (PRSA) College of Fellows member, Lori is involved with Mercy’s Women Leader’s Mentoring and Sponsorship committee, Pro Musica Joplin, the Neosho Arts Council, Joplin Regional Artists Coalition and Friends of St. Avips.

While always having appreciated abstract paintings, Lori began painting watercolor florals in 2014. Her work has been shown at Bookhouse Cinema, Neosho Area Chamber of Commerce, Urban Art Gallery, Spiva Center for the Arts (Membership shows) and various Joplin Regional Artists Coalition exhibits.

In 2019, Lori had a deep brain stimulation (DBS) device surgically implanted to treat her hemi-dystonia. After surgery, Lori began to explore her brain and creativity connection. Though her dominant side is her right side, she began painting abstract art with her left hand, the side affected by her hemidystonia. At first she had to hold a rock in her right hand to train that side to be still. Now her right side is content to stay at rest as she moves her brushes across picture planes.
 
Left-handed painting has become Lori’s choice of therapy. Her initial plan to paint 20 left-handed abstracts grew into an almost daily practice which evolved into ninety paintings exhibited along with retrospective works of Jo Mueller in their “p-i-e-c-e-d TOGETHER” exhibition in the galleries of Hyde House in 2021.
 
With open arms and minds and hearts we welcome this new year that brings Lori Marble and her moxie into the boardroom of artCentral. May this 2022 bless us all with health and wealth and happiness in body, in mind and in spirit as we go about the business of caring for the art and artists we love.