​SPIRITUAL SPACES, a year in the making, will happen August 5 through September 17, 2022. Together Al Gritten and Sandra Parrill will fill the galleries downstairs and upstairs, with seventy-four original paintings rendered with oil, acrylic, pastel, watercolor and whiskey, too. The buoyant spirituality of their two portfolios is ideal for a combined presentation.

Graciously underwritten by SCHMIDT CPS & ADVISORS, the Opening Artists Reception will take place, Friday, August 5, 6:00-8:00 p.m. at Hyde House, 1110 East Thirteenth Street in Carthage. Libations and hors d’œuvres will be served. Admission is free.

Weekend gallery hours will be Fridays and Saturdays, 12:00-5:00 p.m. through September 17. Plan to come and enjoy a cool reprieve from our end-of-summer heat as you nurture your soul with this elegant collection. Soon you will be able to preview Al’s and Sandra’s exhibition art on artCentral’s Facebook page at www.facebook.com/ArtcentralCarthage/photos/ and at www.artcentralcarthage.org/events.

Knowing an artist’s story can be a window into an artist’s renderings. For Al and Sandra this is certainly true.

Al Gritten is a painter who works under the banner of Big Spring Studio. He is a retired pastor, a writer and currently is an adjunct college instructor, as well. He studied for a Bachelor of Fine Art at the University of Illinois where his focus was on painting. He also has a BA from Middle Tennessee State University where he majored in Philosophy and minored in History. His M.Div. is from Memphis Theological Seminary with Masters Degrees in theology and church history. As part of his undergrad and graduate work he lived on several Native American reservations to study their spirituality. This time has impacted much of his art.

Al has worked as an illustrator, a cartoonist, and an advertising artist, as well as, in sales and in ministry. He is married with two grown children and one grandchild who also loves to draw and paint. Besides painting he enjoys camping, gardening, golf, reading and music. He plays guitar and mandolin. His work can be found at www.agritten.com on Facebook at Big Spring Studio and on Instagram @algritten. He has received awards for his work from Crowder College, the Annual Thomas Hart Benton show, and is currently an active member of artCentral, the Neosho Arts Council, the Joplin Regional Artists Coalition and Mid-America Pastel Society.

Sandra Parrill, a native of Michigan, has made Joplin, Missouri, her home for the last fifty years. She spent several years in the retail horticultural trade in Joplin, and she owned a bead store, creating award-winning hand-crafted jewelry while teaching classes. As a passionate and prolific artist, today Sandra is a contributing member in group exhibits for artCentral and the Joplin Regional Artists Coalition.

Art has been Sandra’s passion since she was old enough to hold a crayon and color her world. She has made many forays into many mediums on her artistic journey through life, but drawing and painting have always been her first loves. Sandra seeks to draw out the souls of her subjects, revealing hidden secrets and dreams through the pens and brushes she holds in her fingers. Many of her paintings reflect her love of the natural world and endangered native species. The house and land she shares with her husband are lovingly known as Chaos. At facebook.com/sandra.parrill you can see a plethora of images of Sandra’s amazing gardens. As a writer, Sandra pens a weekly garden column for the Joplin Globe. She was awarded first place as Best Newspaper Column of 2018 by the Missouri Writer’s Guild.

Come see Al’s and Sandra’s inspiringly soulful works in SPIRITUAL SPACES and finish out your summer perfectly!

While at Hyde House you will find throughout all the galleries downstairs and upstairs the vibrant works of forty-five artCentral artists are waiting for your viewing pleasure in the Annual Membership Exhibition. You can preview the entire exhibit in the photo album on artCentral’s Facebook page, ArtcentralCarthage, and at artcentralcarthage.org. Take a look online then come delight and marvel at the wealth of talent shining in this exceptionally strong collection that has surrounded and inspired our young artCamp artists.
 
Also look for the signage that reminds us there are magic-makers in our community who believe in our young artists and the importance of their having an opportunity to explore their creativity at artCamp. These magic-makers generously contribute the financial support that makes artCamp’s wonder a reality. To all of these magic-makers we send our gratitude and appreciation: the Helen S. Boylan Foundation, the Carthage Area United Way, the Carthage Community Foundation, the Carthage Council on the Arts, Leggett & Platt, Inc., the Rotary Club of Carthage and S&S Computers. Whenever you have an opportunity to encounter any of these good folks, please extend your personal “thank you” for their part in artCamp 2022.

Appreciation also goes out the the community venues who have helped spread the news of artCamp: the Carthage Deli, the Carthage Public Library, ​Cherry's Art Emporium, Guaranty Bank, Mother Road Coffee, Old Missouri Bank and Spiva Center for the Arts.
 
Our 2022 artCamp teachers have been awesome! They make artCamp happen. All teachers are either recognized working artists, experts in their media, or public and private school teachers with professional credentials. Many are both practicing artists and school teachers, too. I am very happy to have the privilege of working with these talented art makers who for two weeks have been mentors for our artCampers:

​Cheryl Church –This year she was awarded MAEA’s High School Art Teacher of the Year, for the state of Missouri.                   
​       
All six 2022 artCamp teachers will quickly tell you, “artCamp interns are terrific!” Yes, for two weeks they have come early and stayed late to make artCamp go round! Though many interns have summer day jobs, they worked with their employers to manage their schedules so they could come help out and give support throughout each camp day. Thank you! Thank you! to our 2022 artCamp interns Aurelia Burr, Lola Chapman, Brady Cloud, Piper Feurt, Willow Graber, Sydney Hartless, Sierra Hicks, Olivia Manning, Olivia Pierce and Oliver Schrader.
 
Wrapping artCamp 2022 is bittersweet. Our teaching classrooms will be very quiet after being filled with all the laughter and chatting and music and singing that went along with the art-making. Though I will miss our 2022 artCampers and their teachers and their interns, I am staying happy. Planning for artCamp 2023 is already underway!   

Having moved over the Missouri state line from a lush, green mountaintop in the northwest Arkansas Ozarks, I came north expecting cooler temps and more moisture. Alas, I was mistaken. Ordinarily I don’t worry about the weather, since the weather will do what the weather will do no matter how much we speculate or fret or worry or complain. However, after so, so many arid days in my first Missouri summer, I felt crisp and wilted just like my first summer gardens were looking.

On a compute home from Joplin, with my car windows rolled up tight and the ac cranked up high, I tried to focus on listening to the music on my radio. I tried to redirect my thoughts away from my weather-water-worries. Then as though by an act of divine timing, Bobby McFerrin came on blissfully singing “Don’t worry. Be happy.” Really? Really!
 
Oh how I love that 1988 video with Bobby McFerrin and Bill Irwin and Robin Williams singing and clowning and dancing their troubles away in their outlandish get ups and silly faces.
 
McFerrin cheerfully carries on in his heavy island accent,
 
“Here’s a little song I wrote.
You might want to sing it note for note.
Don’t worry, be happy.
In every life we have some trouble,
But when you worry you make it double.
Don’t worry, be happy.”
 
“Don’t worry. Be happy!” I was singing right along as I tapped out the beat on my steering wheel and bounced up and down in my bucket seat. “Don’t worry. Be happy!” Looking out the windshield I noticed clusters of charming little, fluffy white clouds, buoyant apparitions newly appearing like celestial angels blithely frolicking. Their undersides looked heavy and gray-laden. Surely they were carrying rain. “Don’t worry. Be happy!”
 
Could that possibly be a gigantic crimsoned smile I saw stretching left to right all the way across the horizon before the puffy cherub clouds? Or was I hallucinating with the joyous prospect of rain falling from those gray bellies? Perhaps I was picturing a heat mirage as a heavenly promise.
 
By the time I got home, I was inspired and pumped to paint that glorious promise I had just seen in the sky. I grabbed a rectangular canvas. I sketched in the clouds and the big, big smiling lips. The summer sky was painted cerulean. Textile scraps in dark green became the good earth below. Sequins were sprinkled and stitched among the wee clouds, just like the stars that burn all day even though we cannot see them. The text came last—tattooed in cursive over the lips as one simple word—“smile”. I title my heat wave painting, “Don’t Worry. Be Happy.”
 
Today again I am singing…“Don’t Worry. Be Happy.” This heat wave will break as they always do and here is still time for your young artist to register for artCamp and participate in the end-of-artCamp Reception and Exhibition that will be held in the Main Gallery at Hyde House on Friday, July 22, 2022, from 6:00-8:00 p.m. Everyone is invited to enjoy lemonade and cookies while viewing lots and lots of fun, colorful artCamper creations. Register your young artist today and come celebrate all our artCampers and their art!

When you do arrive, pause in the foyer to take in the playful artCamp class samples made by artCamp’s instructors. They are fun! They are colorful! They are creative inspirations for all the aspiring young artists, ages 8-14, who will become artCampers during artCamp’s two weeks, July 11-22, 10:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m.

You can register your artCamper at Hyde House. Curriculum and registration forms may also be picked up in Carthage at the Carthage Deli, the Carthage Public Library, ​Cherry's Art Emporium, Guaranty Bank, Mother Road Coffee and the Old Missouri Bank and in Joplin at Spiva Center for the Arts. Forms are also available online at www.artcentralcarthage.org.

​Here is a look at the choices for all Week Two Classes:
 
MONDAY, July 18:
 
DECORATING GOURDS with DOT PAINTING with Alexandra Burnside – artCampers are introduced to dot-painting and use vibrant colors to paint the bottom-half of their gourd, then fill the gourd with a small succulent to enjoy. 
GOURD-EOUS HOLIDAYS in JULY with Teri Y. Diggs – Transform your gourd into your favorite holiday character – a witch or Santa or a snowman or…
ROCKET into OUTER SPACE (Ages 10-14, campers wear closed toe shoes) with Jane McCaulley – Make a  glass rocket, galaxy and star.
 
TUESDAY, July 19:
GOURD HOUSES and THEIR CLAY TENANTS with Alexandra Burnside –artCampers use a gourd to paint and decorate a whimsical gourd house, then use air dry clay or wood to make the folks that live in their house.
PAINT YOUR FAVORITE BABY ANIMAL or BIRD with April Davis-Brunner - Draw and use acrylics to paint your favorite baby animal or bird on an 8x10 canvas panel. Bring a picture if you want to.
FIERCELY FRIENDLY BEASTS with Teri Y. Diggs – Out of ordinary gourds of different shapes, create your own imaginative beasts with paints and embellishments.
 
WEDNESDAY, July 20:
COLORFUL GOURD BIRDS GALORE with Alexandra Burnside – artCampers use a gourd and a variety of materials and embellishments to create a free-standing bird sculpture.
PRETTY FLOWER POTS with April Davis-Brunner – Decorate your own flower pot with paint and glitter and sparkling stones and lots of other imaginative touches.
GONE FISHIN’ (Ages 10-14, campers wear closed toe shoes) with Jane McCaulley – Make a glass fish bowl and hanging fish.
 
FRIDAY, July 22:
GOURDS with ARTFUL WEAVING with Cheryl Church - artCampers can paint a design or patterns on their gourd and  learn different  weaving techniques, then finish their creation with embellishments.
MAKE BEADS and CREATE JEWELRY with April Davis-Brunner - Learn to use colorful clay to create your own beads to make necklaces and bracelets.
HARRY POTTER ART PARTY with Teri Y. Diggs – Have magical fun creating potions, house banners, wands, and more!
​
​An end-of-artCamp Reception and Exhibition will be held in the Main Gallery at Hyde House on Friday, July 22, 2022, from 6:00-8:00 p.m. Everyone is invited. Come celebrate our artCampers and their art.