​​I was very disappointed to receive a recent phone call informing me that my weekly Art Notes column will no longer appear in the Joplin Globe's printed Sunday weekend section which is being cut in content to make room for more advertising.

I deeply regret losing this opportunity to publicly share the inspiring life of artCentral.

In coming weeks, I will continue to write Art Notes with artful news and reflections and publish these here on artCentral's facebook page, on artCentral's website blog and in The Carthage Press online editions.

Your positive responses and comments are always a source of great encouragement to me to keep writing "for the love of art"!

​Thank you for being such a supportive readership as together we celebrate the vibrant life of art Central!

Every day creatures inhabit my stream of consciousness. You know how this goes. A sound or an image leads to a thought then to a word which leads to the next and another and then another.

​This happens to me from time to time when my husband and I are sitting for our morning meditation, and I am putting my thinking at rest. Just as my body and mind are moving into a state of surrendered stillness, a river of streaming, associated thoughts begins. While David breathes quietly beside me I reach for my bedside paper and pen to note the delivery. My meditation evolves into a reverie.​

The call of this morning’s nighthawk was accompanied by the summer’s-end chirping of quietly chorusing crickets and the low, mournful whistle of a train approaching from a distance. I thought, “Ah, autumn is coming upon us.” There is a new stillness settling in. Change is in the air. The sun’s rays have less intensity as first leaves begin to yellow and come twirling down. Am I ready? The feeling of a familiar melancholia is present—that feeling that always comes when one season shifts into the next.

​​“Nighthawks” is Hopper's most famous work and is one of the most recognizable paintings in American art. Within months of completion the painting was sold for the then impressive sum of $3,000.00 to the Art Institute of Chicago where “Nighthawks” still resides.

Starting soon after they married in 1924, Edward Hopper and his wife, Josephine (Jo) kept a journal in which he would make a pencil sketch-drawing of each of his paintings along with a detailed description of certain technical specifics. Jo Hopper would add other information illuminating themes of a painting.

Hopper’s “Nighthawks” portrays people seated late at night in a downtown New York diner on Greenwich Avenue where two streets meet, a corner I know well from my years in Manhattan. The red-haired woman was modeled by the artist’s wife whose notes include the provocative possibility that the title may make reference to the “Man night hawk (beak) in dark suit” at the bar. The anonymous uncommunicative customers and the man behind the counter appear lost in their thoughts and remote from each other and the viewer.

Though Hopper insisted he did not infuse this or any other of his paintings with symbols of human isolation and urban emptiness, he did concede that in “Nighthawks” he was probably unconsciously painting the loneliness of living in a big city. I certainly had lonely times while living in New York among eight million people, but lonely times can happen to us anywhere, any time—living in a city or in the country or in a small town like Carthage.

How do we assuage our human loneliness? My stream of consciousness, begun with the cry of a morning nighthawk, suggests perhaps I am not the only one who finds the presence of animals so wondrously comforting, whether they companion us as pets in our homes or as fishes in the seas or as nighthawks circling and crying in an end-of-summer sky.
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You’ll be comforted, uplifted and inspired by the sixty-six marvelous images found in All Creatures Great and Small, artCentral’s awesome exhibition. Generously underwritten by Central Pet Care, this collection features the works of sixteen members of the Four State Photography Enthusiasts (FSPE) on view through September 22, during weekend gallery hours. The public is invited. Admission is free. Detailed information can be found at www.artcentralcarthage.org.

  Juror Kerry Sturgis, artCentral board member and dedicated outdoorsman, has been an avid photographer and student of photography for more than four decades. He is a graduate of the U.S. Department of Defense Information School where he was trained as a military journalist and photojournalist. His work has appeared in a variety of military and non-military newspapers and magazines over the years. His most recent body of work includes macro, travel, and street photography as well as industrial photography involving large machinery and structures.

For many years Kerry made a serious study of fine art black and white photography and printing and maintained a black and white darkroom. All that ended with the development of digital photography. He was an early adopter of digital cameras and photo processing software. Kerry has made a life-long effort to track down and view the work of the master photographers in galleries and museums everywhere. We are honored to have Kerry make his carefully chosen award selections for All Creatures Great and Small, now on display at artCentral. He used four criteria in making his choices:

• Impact of Presentation (including uniqueness of subject matter and artistic rendering)
• Composition of Elements
• Technical Achievement (use of basic photography parameters including subject, composition, selective      focus, exposure control, color and background to express a fresh creative viewpoint), and
• Reflection of the Exhibit Theme (All Creatures Great and Small)

Kerry has offered his thoughtful, insightful responses to each image named as outstanding.
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First Place: Russell Kinerson’s “Borneo Eared Tree Frog” (above), features a unique and interesting subject and just the right lighting. The diagonal composition implies action that immediately calls for the viewer’s attention. The green leaf background accentuates the color of the plant and the animal without distracting the viewer. The body posture and facial expression of this Borneo eared tree frog engagingly captures a unique moment in time. From a distance this high impact image appears somewhat like a painting.

Honorable Mention: “Sharing the Pad” by Koral Martin shows a butterfly and a bee landing on a coneflower together. This image ranks high in technical prowess. The focus is sharp, even with live insects in constant motion as subjects. Photography of this sort requires persistence and the patience to keep observing and photographing the subject until the decisive moment appears. The colors are intense and reflect the beauty of the flowers and insects in the micro-environments we often take for granted.

Honorable Mention: Bob Essner’s, “Bambi” monochrome image of a fawn captures the animal in an interesting and animated posture in a natural habitat. The focus is sharp and the animal’s eyes face the camera, allowing the viewer an insight into the nature of this beautiful creature. The choice of black and white toning rather than color and the slight vignetting around the photo’s edges draw the viewer into the image.
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All Creatures Great and Small, generously underwritten by Central Pet Care, will be on display throughout the artCentral galleries at 1110 East Thirteenth Street in Carthage, Missouri, during weekend gallery hours from August 23 to September 22. The public is invited. Admission is free. For additional visit www.artcentralcarthage.org.

They’re coming! They’re coming! Adorable dogs and precious kittens will be here at artCentral on two Sunday afternoons during our All Creatures Great and Small exhibition showcasing more than fifty animal-centric images by members of the Four State Photography Enthusiasts.

Yes, dedicated Carthage Humane Society volunteer Braden Horst is bringing these treasures for a “Meet and Greet”. From 1:00 to 5:00 p.m. on Sunday, August 25, and Sunday, September 8, on the Hyde House lawn in the cool shade beneath the beautiful, spreading canopy of old growth trees, you’ll find an assortment of furry delights waiting for your visit.

If you have experienced the love of an animal—seen the energetic wag of a dog’s tail or heard the soft purr of a contented cat—you know the affection of a pet that is dedicated to you. The unconditional love and companionship that animals give us are what make these creatures such exceptional gifts in our lives.

Should you fall in love and have your heart set on taking home a special new companion that you meet at artCentral, Braden will happily facilitate adoption. The shelter’s usual adoption fee will be reduced for these two special days.

Checking in with the Humane Society’s website at www.carthagehumanesociety.org, I learned:

The Carthage Humane Society (CHS) is a non-profit animal shelter in Jasper County, Missouri. Home to many homeless companion animals entrusted to the Society’s care, CHS puts the animals first. Working with dedication to promote responsible pet ownership, CHS plays an ever-evolving role as mediator in the changing relationship between people and animals.

The Humane Society’s mission is to provide a safe, caring and temporary haven for animals entrusted to their care. Since 1948, the Humane Society has reached out to those people who enjoy and employ animals, as well as those who love and share their lives with them. As an animal welfare organization, the Society is also very much a people business. Supporting and promoting the human-animal bond, the CHS strives to place adoptable animals in responsible homes. The Society also strives to reduce pet over-population by offering education on the advantages of spaying and neutering.

Caring for the large number of animals seen during the year at CHS is very expensive. The majority of shelter funds come from donations in the form of memberships, bequests, adoptions and gifts from individuals like you, businesses and foundations. Get involved and help animals in Jasper County and beyond. Your tax-deductible donation to CHS helps make vaccinations, medical treatment and daily care available for animals at the shelter. On the Society’s website you can make a financial gift safely and securely through PayPal to help the animals staying at the shelter.

Your gifts and contributions can be in many forms including purchases made from the shelter’s Amazon Wish List and shipped directly to the CHS doorstep. The gift of your volunteering is one of the best donations you can make. You can sign up to volunteer your time to help at your availability. Tasks vary from dog walking, kennel cleaning and yard work to office work.

The Humane Society also provides lost and found services and advocates prevention first. Pet owners are encouraged to keep a collar and identification tags with the owner’s name, local phone number and home address on their dog or cat at all times. If your pet is lost, visit the shelter during business hours as soon as possible and return frequently to view intake pets. No phone calls, please. Only onsite viewing can positively identify your pet.

The Carthage Humane Society is located at 13860 Dog Kennel Lane in Carthage, Missouri. Hours are Tuesday through Saturday 12:00 to 4:00 p.m. The shelter is closed on Sunday and Monday. You can call the Society at (417)358-6402.

​The best way to prevent permanent loss is by securing your pet safely using microchip technology. Microchips can be implanted just under the skin of dogs and cats. Veterinary, animal control, animal shelters and local humane society professionals can then use handheld scanners—just like those used in market checkout lines—to “read” the chips implanted in animals found wandering unsupervised. The microchip provides a unique code for the pet that can then be matched against an identification database. Microchips are made to work through the lifetime of a pet—a chip typically lasts at least twenty-five years. They don’t ever need replacing and can’t be lost. For more information on microchipping and many other ways to protect your pet visit www.petsforlife.org.

When you come to artCentral’s Humane Society “Meet and Greet” beneath the trees, be sure to step inside elegant Hyde House and visit All Creatures Great and Small, artCentral’s awesome August and September exhibition. Generously underwritten by Central Pet Care, All Creatures Great and Small will be on display throughout the galleries at 1110 East Thirteenth Street in Carthage, Missouri, during weekend gallery hours from August 23 to September 22. The public is invited. Admission is free.

After months of anticipation and planning, my husband David’s and my morning coffee conversations have shifted. They began with “How will the Exhibit Prospectus be written?” Now they focus on last preparations like fine-tuning the reception table installation and our declaring, “Let’s use our collection of wooden animals!” All of this started with a puppy picture of our brand new Aussie, Lasyrenn—sister to Chiquita, our nine year old Wheaten Terrier Poodle, and Ding, our rather ancient long-haired white cat.

,Our time for acquiring our own offspring had long passed with David’s and my having married quite late. Even so, we followed our natural urgings to expand our blended family. First we added our four laying hens. Then we saw a compelling notice on the door of Midwest AG Supply—our much loved, close-to-home feed store on the corner of Grant and Central in Carthage.

​I felt my heart leap as we read, “Registered Australian Shepherd Puppies”. David said, “Go and look.” I did. Love-at-first-sight made me yearn for the sweet, wee merle, the only blond one, the littlest of nine. I brought her home. David insisted, “Her name will be Lasyrenn (la-se-wren),” Creole for The Siren, the patron spirit of artists and musicians in Haiti.
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Full of playfulness and antics, though she was always chew-chew-chewing up everything, we thought Lasyrenn was an adorable fluff ball. Chiquita behaved as though she thought Lasyrenn was nothing but an aggravation. When Lasyrenn romped around her, Chickie just growled and turned away. She was having nothing of our puppy’s charming cuteness and bothersome nonsense.

As the last two years sped by and Chiquita’s grumpiness continued, the tension in our household rose and rose. Chiquita was no longer the “bigger big sister”. Lasyrenn had grown taller than she and was not willing to accept being growled into submission. When the discord in our household kept escalating, we reached out for help. Dog trainer Morgan Dutton appeared, walked into an out-of-control bark fest in progress and diagnosed our family as a dysfunctional pack. “I can help train the puppies,” she encouraged, “But you’ll have to be trained, too.”

​For weeks we’ve been working and training every day to realign our pact order. Like all of life’s lessons worth learning, occasionally some are mastered quickly, others can be rather slow. Sometimes they even take a frustrating step back, but we continue on with our commitment to restore peace and quiet to our home. The positive behavioral changes are really happening, and we are resolved in our hope to one day have Lasyrenn ready to work as an Emotional Support Dog (ESD).

To offer our girls more opportunities for learning and socialization outside our home, in addition to working with Morgan, we’ve added weekly obedience classes taught by Jessicca Bailey at Central Pet Care’s Canine Academy. Central Pet Care, offering an always calm atmosphere and super care, is where we take our girls to see Dr. Melanie Grundy. (Throughout her new puppy checkup and inoculations, Lasyrenn actually slept soundly in the arms of Dr. Grundy!) We also see Dr. Richard Brus and our all-time favorite groomer, Lisa Lipscomb.

I send out special “thank yous” to those at Central Pet Care who are assuring the success of artCentral’s All Creatures Great and Small. They include Manager, Eddy Grundy, and Managing Assistant, Desiree Breidenstein, who said “yes” and facilitated my request for underwriting for this exciting exhibit.

The board members of artCentral are playing their parts, as well. Wendi Douglas is serving as reception impresario. Jane Ballard, a many-gifted and multi-talented photographer, wrote the exhibit prospectus, reached out to the members of the Four State Photography Enthusiasts and arranged cash awards for outstanding images. Award winning images will be selected by board member and skilled photographer, Kerry Sturgis, who first began his photography work while serving in the Navy. He’s studied photography in exhibitions the world over and developed a keen eye for photographic creativity and technique. Come see Kerry Sturgis’s choices and all the other enchanting images.
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In All Creatures Great and Small you’ll find every size of wonder sure to please you!

Terri Heckmaster, president of Precious Moments Supporting Foundation reached out to inquire about my helping with art for the walls of an exciting new venue she was working to bring to Carthage. For those of you who already know Terri, you know she’s an amazing visionary. Like her husband Lonnie Heckmaster who serves as treasurer on artCentral’s board of directors, she dreams big dreams and lives those dreams until they really do come true. Though my artCentral commitments kept me from jumping into the delicious art-making opportunity Terri was proposing, David and I put her dream project on our go-to wish list.
 
You see, somehow we’d let my February birthday and our May wedding anniversary pass without finding just the right dates and places for celebratory dinners. Eventually we decided to celebrate the two events as one. Though we made trips to Kansas City and Joplin and New York City and other restaurant rich locales, still we had not found that truly “special” time and meal for our birthday-anniversary celebration.
 
In the meantime, we made food-centric, close-to-home outings. We kept enjoying after-work visits for “amuse bouche” (French for “a little bit of food”) at The Deli and Mother Road Coffee on our hometown square. Making our way to run our puppies at the Parr Hill Dog Park in Joplin, we indulged in cappuccinos and weekend brunch at the outdoor bistro seating at Starbucks.
 
By way of our eating out here in the Carthage-Joplin crossroads of America we have connected with interesting people from many, many places. We have met numerous Route 66 travelers from across the USA and several continents beyond. David has swapped Navy stories with lots of folks who have been to far shores in uniforms for our country.
 
Not too long ago a nice man in a uniform—the working attire of a chef—held the door for me at Mother Road Coffee. Not bumping into too many people dressed as he was, I asked him where he cooked. “I’ve opened my own restaurant outside of town,” he told me with a decidedly European accent. “I just came in for a good espresso, and I have to get to work.” Off he went leaving me with questions I really wanted to ask him. “What restaurant? Where outside of town?”