​Here’s your sneak preview. Each quilt is displayed with words that tell a story. Read these and just imagine what you’ll see.

Joan Banks: The idea for many of my quilts begins with the fabric, which was the case with "Apogee." The cotton background fabric suggested a starry sky to me, and I decided to put a moon in that sky. Still, the idea of layering circles of silk organza on a quilted background and then making it more ethereal with another layer of organza appealed to me. So what had I created? The word apogee popped into my head. I looked it up to make sure I had some idea of the meaning. My one tiny appliquéd "moon" is the smallest element and represents the furthest point in the moon's elliptical orbit around Earth: the apogee. The others? Just an art quilter's suggestion of our lovely satellite's path.

Ruth Potter: “Another Windy Day” came about by finding the background fabric in Paducah, Kentucky. I could see leaves falling in the fibers. So I purchased some gradation fabric from Caryl Fallert's store and a year later I gathered leaves from our yard and enlarged one to make this one of a kind quilt.

Sue Swindle: “Butterfly Fly Away” is an original design made from a block inspired by Molly Kohler. Quilted on my home sewing machine, my quilt is enhanced with a scalloped and piped edge.

Jinny Hopp: “Full Bloom” was designed by Barbara Persing and Mary Hoover of 4th and 6th Designs for Island Batik fabrics. I was drawn to the bright Batik fabrics and was challenged by the machine appliqué to create the flower blocks. A very satisfying process! Long arm machine quilting by Cheryl McFadden completes the quilt.

Karl McDaniel: I made my “Hanging Gardens” quilt when Miami Calico Quilters made a full size quilt for a fundraiser. I enjoy sewing ¾” pieces on my featherweight Singer sewing machine.

Barbara Montague: I fell in love with a quilt I saw in a 2001 Quilter’s Newsletter Magazine. Many years ago I started collecting a variety of plaid fabric for my own “Homespun Stars”. Some are re-purposed men’s shirts and some are quilt shop homespuns. (The hunt is half the fun!) I made a sample block and then the project set dormant for a few years, though I continued to add to my fabric collection when a certain plaid caught my eye. When I saw an opportunity with the “Art of Quilting” exhibit I was re-energized to finally make this quilt.

Mary Thornton: Cotton patchwork, metal charms, ribbon, braided cord, Angelica, wood frame. The poem was written first, which the inspired quilt, “Hourglass of Life”. The star points were cut off, wrinkled, and scrambled to represent passage of my life. Parts of “me” have broken up and fallen to the bottom. The positive thought is that people can reach out and reverse the hour glass and begin again: “Time ticks on in small bits. But each bit has the power to take large bites of one’s being….We can't alter the past. We attempt to deal with the present. We can only dream of the future, knowing in all certainty it is only a dream….[Time] is cursed, it is envied, it is abused, it triumphs. It adds balance to music, rhythm to dance, flow to words….The beating of the heart, the swinging of the pendulum, the movement of the celestial bodies are all put in motion by its power. Time will take it all back. To dust.”

Still I have more good quilt stories to tell and tease your interest. Return with me to Art Notes next week and not only will I share more quilt stories, I’ll also name names.

Yes, by then the award winners will have taken home their cash prizes and left their beautiful art work in our safe keeping for your viewing pleasure.
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Mark your calendar for an early autumn outing and then another to artCentral during weekend gallery hours: Fridays and Saturdays, noon to 5:00 p.m. and Sundays, 1:00 to 5:00 p.m. For more information or to schedule a weekday visit please call (417) 358-4404.

 OUR CLOUDSCAPES ARE SPECTACULAR! ​

Have you looked up much lately? This is that beautiful time of year when our cloudscapes are spectacular! Transitioning from summer into autumn, our daytime skies are putting on a heavenly exhibition against an exquisite cobalt backdrop! They’re enough to make you want to slow down and snap some photos for facebook and your screensavers.
 
Lately my husband David and I have been recalling how as children we’d stretch out on our backs and search the clouds and name the images we discovered. We’re doing this still though mostly when we’re riding upright behind a windshield, and we don’t try to identify shapes quite so much as we once did; rather we simply enjoy the shared pleasure of witnessing the ethereal beauty we see—fluffy clouds, puffy clouds, big and small and the wee little ones, too. 
 
Watching the clouds put on their show, I’m often transported into the paintings of my all-time favorite artist, the Belgium surrealist, René François Ghislain Magritte. Many of his canvases depict clouds painted in surprising settings—clouds surrounding the pupil of a single eye, clouds on the interior walls of a room, clouds within the outlines of a flying dove or a man’s head and torso beneath his bowler hat.
 
Viewing Magritte’s 1992 retrospective exhibition in the vast galleries of the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City, though I was enchanted by his “Time Transfixed” with his finely wrought steam locomotive dramatically puffing smoke and racing from an empty, sterile fireplace, his cloud paintings were what captivated my attention and kept calling to my heart again and again. They still do today.
 
René Magritte, (1898-1967) made witty, thought-provoking paintings. Using simple graphics he gave new meaning to seemingly unrelated everyday images and familiar, mundane objects. Over his lifetime he experimented in various styles and became a primary influence on the pop art movement of the sixties.
 
Magritte was born the eldest of three sons. His father’s manufacturing business sometimes afforded comfort for the family. At other times they knew financial difficulties. When Magritte was thirteen, after his mother took her life by drowning herself in the Sambre River, he found escape and comfort in films and novels and painting. Magritte’s constant play with reality and illusion in the paintings of his mature years has been attributed to the early death of his mother.
 
Leaving home at eighteen Magritte attended the Académie Royale des Beaux-Arts for two years, where he was exposed to cubism and futurism and was greatly influenced by the work of Pablo Picasso. After his compulsory year of military service he married Georgette Berger whom he’d known since childhood. Georgette became his model and muse. They remained married until his death.
 
In the early years of marriage, Magritte held various jobs to provide support. He worked briefly as a draughtsman designing cabbage roses in a wallpaper factory, then found employment as a freelance poster and advertisement designer. Continuing to paint as his time allowed, he was inspired by “The Song of Love” by the Italian metaphysical painter Giorgio de Chirico and his unusual amalgam of images—a small wall on which is mounted a Greek sculpted head and a surgeon's glove with a green ball beneath and the outline of a locomotive on the horizon.
 
Magritte became increasingly popular as his paintings incorporated clouds, rocks, pipes and bowler hats in curious juxtapositions and contexts, hence invoking both mystery and a madness of orientation. In spite of his popularity, his first solo exhibition in 1927 in Brussels was scorned by critics. Bitterly disheartened, Magritte felt compelled to leave his homeland for Paris where he landed in the center of the surrealist movement that included writer André Breton, poet Paul Éluard and artist Salvador Dali, Max Ernst and Joan Miró.
 
In the late 1930’s Magritte had exhibitions in New York City and London.  The onset of World War II found him back in Belgium where he remained during the Nazi occupation. Afterwards, the suffering and violence caused by the war moved him to change his palette to brighter colors. He adopted more impressionistic techniques that lead him away from the frequent dark and chaotic moods of surrealism.  “Against widespread pessimism,” he said, “I now propose a search for joy and pleasure.” I wholeheartedly advocate his admonition in our modern time of confusion and discord. Seek joy and pleasure!
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Among the many pleasures of my married life is David’s preference for doing all the driving when we go places together around town or on roads to more distant destinations. I’m delighted with every opportunity this affords me to look up get in some good cloud gazing that reminds me of Magritte. Somehow David manages to cloud gaze and converse about Magritte and safely drive simultaneously. Together we agree, “Our cloudscapes are spectacular!”          

​In the midst of all the rest, the bright and bold image on Frank Young’s 2008 invitation has captivated my attention and my heart since the first time I caught a glimpse. Against a color field of sparkling, vivid greens a sturdy, empty wheelbarrow stands. An old shovel rests, propped against the side. A deep shadow falls below. A serpentine garden hose stretches around and over the grass as though pointing the way to somewhere. The gardener has apparently walked away, for the title of this exquisitely simple painting is “Break Time”.
 
Plein air artist extraordinaire, Frank Young, too, has gone away. He passed from our presence on August 8th surrounded by Amy Fret, his wife of four years, and by members of his family. The community of artCentral artists is deeply saddened by his departure. He is truly missed. We send our love and caring to Amy and to all of Frank’s family.
 
Frank was special among artists. He was special among all human beings. To be in his presence was a privilege. When Joplin artist, Andrew Batcheller, learned of Frank’s passing, he immediately texted me, “I’m so glad you introduced us. Frank was the kindest man I ever met.”

 In the ways Frank was skilled at moving pigments onto a picture plane, Amy was fluent in the technical skills of digital transmission of images and text. Thank goodness, for many of our preparations were by long distance as they snowbird traveled west from their Joplin home during the winter months leading up to Frank’s March opening at Hyde House. Through cell phone calls and emails that attended to details preceding their return, all necessary arrangements were accomplished with ease.

​The artist statement and biography accompanying Frank’s paintings beautifully told Frank’s story behind his “Seen and Unseen” exhibition. Born in Manhattan, Kansas, Frank’s parents raised him there with his two sisters, Macey and Susan. His mother was an important influence in leading him in the direction of his art. He entered Kansas City Art Institute in 1964, graduating in 1968 with a Bachelors of Fine Arts degree. He then attended the University of Cincinnati from 1968 to 1970 attaining his  Masters of Fine Arts degree.
 
Following graduation, Frank worked in graphics at Western Auto in Kansas City, as well as at WDAF Channel 4 TV.  In 1976 he moved to Champaign, Illinois, where he was an instructor at the Parkland Community College. In 1980 he began working for the Department of Army in Ft. Bragg, North Carolina, transferring in 1983 to Fort Lee, Virginia, where he worked for thirty years, retiring in 2006. From his retirement until his death, Frank enjoyed his painting on a full time basis.

​Using a camera, Frank captured photographs with themes in all kinds of places, then created environments for their use.  In most of his paintings he used figures. The images are not photo realistic: he used them as jumping off points for his painting technique of broad brush strokes of color and value.
 
Frank enjoyed painting large because he felt more free to paint boldly, and he thought viewers could relate to the scale more easily.  When he painted smaller he tended to detail and tighten his techniques and lose the broad stroke brushiness he so enjoyed.

​Frank’s palette, limited to seven colors and white, consisted of a cool and warm combination of primary and secondary colors. He got more pleasure from mixing colors rather than just pulling them from tubes. As with many impressionists, he didn’t use black because black’s not naturally found in nature.

Like the absentee gardener missing from the setting of his “Break Time” painting, Frank Young has left his tools behind. His canvases and paints and brushes—once ​animated by his sure, bold strokes—are sitting still now, abandoned like the gardener’s. Though we’re feeling the loss of our inspiring artist friend, Frank Young, we are grateful to be blessed with the paintings he leaves made with the well-used tools of his trade.
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​​“Colors of Autumn” presented by the Four State Photography Enthusiasts and generously underwritten by The Country Caboose Wedding Chapel and Railroad Museum and The Print House Fine Art continues view through September 23, 2018, during weekend gallery hours. Do visit this spectacular, exciting exhibition! For more information call (417) 358-4404.