This is a terrific time for celebration of artCentral! We are so blessed and fortunate to have our very own hometown arts center! Please lend your support to keep artCentral vital. Make your online donation on GIVE CARTHAGE DAY, 7:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m., on Tuesday, September 1, 2020, or anytime at https://www.artcentralcarthage.org/give-4art-fund.html. Every gift makes a difference! No gift is too small.

On a summery day the silvery burst on the lawn’s green grass grabs your attention before you ever turn up the drive toward Hyde House. Like a magnificent firework of sparkling lines exuberantly exploding outward, Jason Shelfer’s newest installation for his outdoor SCULPTURAL SPECTACULAR exhibition is a celebration supreme! The arrival of this and two more of his recent creations is perfect serendipity, for this is indeed a time for celebration!

The 2020 Annual Membership Exhibition is open in Hyde House and waiting to awe you from the moment you walk through artCentral’s green door of hospitality. Oh, do come soon! Throughout this elegant, foursquare American farmhouse, walls and pedestals and shelves are filled with fifty wondrous artworks by some of our region’s most gifted artists. They will lift you up and make you laugh; confound you and inspire you; cause you to speculate and to hunger for answers; soothe you and make you wish for more. All artworks in the Membership Exhibition are available for purchase.

The generous underwriter for this fine collection is McCune-Brooks Healthcare Foundation for which artCental is immensely grateful. The Jurors for this exceptional exhibition are Beth Simmons, Director of McCune-Brooks Healthcare Foundation, and Reita Walker Miller, award-winning artist from Little Rock, Arkansas. They have selected four outstanding works to be awarded Underwriter, Gold, Silver and Bronze cash prizes for excellence. Additionally two Honorable Mentions have been named.

Juror Reita Walker Miller writes, “I found the 50 entries to be diverse in media, subject matter and technical ability. I applaud each artist for their creativity and their willingness to share their work with their community and beyond. Thank you for the opportunity to participate in artCentral’s mission to serve your community through art and artists. The urge to create is strong in many of us, and to have a community that supports art and artists is vital to cultural enrichment for everyone.” Yes! This is a time for celebration with the announcement of these gifted, award-receiving artists, their artworks and comments offered by the Jurors:
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UNDERWRITER: Andrew Batcheller, “The Sermon of the Dictator on the Mount (We Don't Deserve Love)”, Oil on Linen, 49”x74”: Expansive and intimate, too. Like a story told to be understood, yet mysterious and intriguing. Who or what is the black bunny? The complex composition is balanced like a diptych fully unfolded. The application of almost garish pigments is masterful.

GOLD: Dan McWilliams, “Last Dance”, Oil, 16”x20”: Strong composition and use of light compels the viewer to move through each section of this painting. The artist’s expert use of color sets the mood. A high level of technical ability reinforces the theme throughout.

SILVER: Mary L. Parks, “CALM COOL CONNECTED”, Acrylic and Mixed Media, 11”x14”: The choice of colors and consistent application add to the overall calm of this work. The simple framing does not distract from the movement within the artwork.
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BRONZE: Dustin Miller, “Joe’s Baby”, Charcoal, 22”x27”: The scale and simplicity of composition and presentation add strength to an already strong subject. Technical ability is very evident and the urge to over emphasize detail was resisted. The resulting understated drawing is serene and powerful.

HONORABLE MENTION: Linda Teeter, “Spirit + Sphere + Balance”, Archival Print, 26”x32”: Beautiful and simple, straightforward with expert lighting and presentation. Less is more.

HONORABLE MENTION: Jordy Vulpine, “Spirit of Michelle”, Charcoal, 9”x12”: The viewer is challenged to interpret the narrative through the individual objects. An intriguing idea and composition that could be developed more on a larger scale.

You may virtually preview and review all the artworks in the exhibit by visiting artCentral’s website at https://www.artcentralcarthage.org/2020-annual-membership-exhibition-21-aug-19-sep.html. Also, on Facebook at
https://www.facebook.com/pg/ArtcentralCarthage/photos/?ref=page_internal
you will find the entire exhibit’s fine art showcased in a photo album.
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This is definitely a time for celebration! Hyde House and the Annual Membership Exhibition are open and waiting for your visit at 1110 East Thirteenth Street in Carthage from August 21 through September 19 with Weekend Gallery Hours each Friday and Saturday from 12:00 to 5:00 p.m. CDC protocols are practiced at artCentral. Face masks and social distancing are required for everyone entering Hyde House. Please help us keep each other safe and healthy!

Recognizing this collection is exceptional, David and I wanted to make this installation our best ever. For four evenings, after David returned from his day job, we headed over to the gallery to work late. Getting Hyde House ready for your visits we prepped walls and swept floors and polished window panes. Mostly we considered and discussed and stood back to view possible arrangements and combinations as we hung art to create conversations of texture and color and harmony. The results are very pleasing. You must come see for yourself!

Each time I leave Hyde House and return I am filled with warm feelings of satisfaction and pride for artCentral’s 2020 Annual Membership Exhibition is elegant and provocative, inspiring and fun, beautiful and revelatory, quiet and well-spoken and filled with positive energy—all made and brought to us by the great talents that live and move among us. We are blessed to be in the company of these remarkable creative spirits:

Jane Ballard, Joan Banks, Andrew W. Batcheller, Eric Beezley, Karolee Blanchard, Diana Bray, Jim Bray, Maddie Capps, Landon Cawyer and Stephanie Cawyer;

April Davis-Brunner, Alice Lynn Greenwood-Mathé, David Greenwood-Mathé, Al Gritten, Carol Hammerbacher, Cindy Head, Steve Head, Barbara Hicklin, Nina Johnston and Janice Kinman;

Helen Kunze, Philip Ledbetter, Christina Lorenzen, Lori Marble, Koral Martin, Jesse McCormick, Dan McWilliams, Nicole Meyer-Foresman, Connie Miller and Dianne Miller;

Dustin Miller, Jim Miller, Margie Moss, Janice Myers, Mary L. Parks, Sandra Parrill, Tyla Raredon, Debbie Reed, Rich Reed and Donna Roberts;

Emily Rose, Brenda M. Sageng, Debbie Southard, Kerry Sturgis, Linda Teeter, Dan Trogdon, Jordy Vulpine, Elizabeth Wallsmith, Lora Waring and Bonnie Young.

Two distinguished Jurors have stepped up to the difficult tasks of selecting recipients to receive cash awards for the outstanding works of art. The Underwriter Award will be given by Beth Simmons, Director of the McCune-Brooks Healthcare Foundation, patron of artists, an avid collector of art and a longtime supporter of artCentral.

Reita Walker Miller of Little Rock, Arkansas, will name recipients of the Gold, Silver and Bronze Awards. Reita is a member of American Watercolor Society, New York; National Watercolor Society, California; Watercolor USA Honor Society, Missouri; and Mid-Southern Watercolorists, Arkansas. A painter for over forty years, her work is in over three hundred private, corporate and museum collections including the Arkansas Arts Center, Springfield Arts Museum (Missouri), Arts and Science Museum (Pine Bluff, Arkansas), Hendrix College and the Arkansas Children’s Hospital permanent collection.

You may virtually preview and review all the artworks in the exhibit by visiting artCentral’s website at https://www.artcentralcarthage.org/2020-annual-membership-exhibition-21-aug-19-sep.html.

Also, on Facebook at
https://www.facebook.com/pg/ArtcentralCarthage/photos/?ref=page_internal you will find the entire exhibit’s fine art showcased in a photo album.

This Annual Membership Exhibition will be open and waiting for your real time visit beginning at noon on Friday, August 21, 2020, at 1110 East Thirteenth Street in Carthage. The exhibition continues August 21 through September 19 with Weekend Gallery Hours each Friday and Saturday from 12:00 to 5:00 p.m.

I will be at Hyde House to greet you every Friday. Volunteer gallery docents will be present on Saturdays. We are all eager to welcome you to artCentral and to assist you in any way we can to enjoy artCentral’s home in elegant, historic Hyde House as you discover the outstanding art on display here.

CDC protocols are practiced at artcentral. Face masks and social distancing are required for everyone entering Hyde House. Please help us keep each other safe and healthy!
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All artworks in the Membership Exhibition are available for purchase beginning at noon, Friday, August 21. Please support artCentral's Member Artists! Make your choice and secure your selection by contacting me, Alice Lynn Greenwood-Mathé, Exhibition Curator, at (417) 358-4404 or artcentral@artcentralcarthage.org.

​Older Naked Lady beauties have been at home at artCentral for quite some time. Annually they magically appear in the circular flower bed beside the back patio. This month they are providing a lovely setting for the Heron—one of the sixteen works installed in Jason Shelfer’s SCULPTURAL SPECTACULAR exhibition underwritten by Schmidt CPAS & Advisors.

Board Member and exhibiting artist Jason Shelfer tells us: “Each year my Mom asks me what I want for Christmas, and I try to make my responses an equal mix of constructive and audacious.

The sewing machine Christmas launched my textile creations...and these sculptures are the result of my Lincoln Arc Welder Christmas. Once I had begun creating pieces from the objects I had on hand (and displaying them in my yard), friends began to give me metal. I could not do most of these without my dear friends slash patrons, particularly, the Ball Family! They have opened up their farm to be artistically plundered on numerous occasions.”

Do come on over to 1110 East Thirteenth Street and see for yourself the art made of Jason’s foraging. Admission is free!

When you arrive at artCentral the first sculpture you will view is Red I-Beams. Entering the campus and traveling counterclockwise around the circular drive, stop at the front porch stairs and pick up a site map from the red-topped information box.

In the island’s center you will find Thorax, A Tempest of Wheels, Alea iacta est (The die has been cast), Pyramidal Duo and Interstitial. Off to the right is the Heron knee deep in Naked Ladies then the ethereal blue Celeste Chairs. The mash up of Bike Lanes stands before the Great Wall. Continuing around next come Window Screens #1, Orange Steel Tube, Tractor Parts, Window Screens #2, Gray Mobius Wire, The Angelus by Millet via Dali and Cerchi per Nostro Circolo (Circles for Our Circle).

Sculptural Spectacular is a fine example of artCentral’s mission to offer grand art in our small town. All of artCentral’s exhibitions and events at Hyde House and through community outreach programs are made possible with the support of art lovers like you. Please show you gratitude for all that artCentral gives to enrich the quality of life and culture in greater Carthage.
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September 1 is Give Carthage Day sponsored by the Carthage Community Foundation. This is a perfect opportunity to make your donation to artCentral’s Give4Art! Fund. Your contributions make a difference! I can just imagine all artCentral’s Naked Ladies standing even taller and more beautiful as they nod their appreciation in your direction!

In addition to being a talented artist, Reita is known as an educator and encourager of others whether in watercolors or other forms of art.  She helped establish the art program at the Central Arkansas Library System during her tenure on staff there. She was also a founding member of Little Rock’s Arts+Culture Commission. Reita’s artwork is in numerous collections. The Arkansas Arts Center has three of her pieces in the Center’s permanent collection.
 
Mark your calendar today and plan to attend artCentral’s 2020 Annual Membership Exhibition, August 21 through September 19, 2020, at 1110 East Thirteenth Street in Carthage. Gallery hours will be on Fridays and Saturdays, 12:00 to 5:00 p.m. For more information call (417) 358-4404 or visit https://www.artcentralcarthage.org/2020-annual-membership-exhibition-21-aug-19-sep.html.