​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.