​​Hyde House, artCentral’s elegant home on the hill, is vibrating with excitement for our beloved Maple Leaf Festival and the holiday celebrations just beginning! All the artCentral galleries are fabulously filled with amazing holiday art at pocket-friendly prices for everyone!
 
        A long anticipated day has finally arrived! Friday, October 1, 2021, the “p-i-e-c-e-d TOGETHER” Opening Artist Reception and GREAT WORKS|SMALL WONDERS Silent Auction bidding take place FROM 6:00 to 8:00 p.m.

October 1 through December 4, 2021, “p-i-e-c-e-d TOGETHER” and artCentral’s annual fundraising SMALL WORK|GREAT WONDERS Silent Auction will be in Hyde House, made possible by the graciousness of Sharon and Lance Beshore, artCentral Sustaining Supporters, and with underwriting by Old Missouri Bank.
 
At high noon, October 1, artCentral’s vibrant green door at 1110 East Thirteenth Street in Carthage will open to reveal two remarkable collections of totally enchanting art created by artCentral artists. Be the first to come and see and savor these visual feasts! Meet the artists! Shop for your gift list! Post your bids! Make your purchases!
 
Lori Marble’s and Jo Mueller’s creative collaboration, “p-i-e-c-e-d TOGETHER”, was set in motion over a year ago and brought to life before Jo learned she would be losing hers to a terminal illness. Jo created as long as she could, and then with a great and quiet dignity she took leave of her dear artist friend and their collaboration that she so dearly loved. In the midst of Lori’s vibrantly joyful and colorful abstract paintings, Jo’s presence is still with us in a poignantly beautiful retrospective collection of her creations.
 
Lori Marble is the Director for Strategic Innovation at Mercy Hospital Joplin. Before entering health care, she held public relations positions in higher education, government and as an independent practitioner, serving a client list including Spiva Center for the Arts. Lori is a Public Relations Society of America (PRSA) College of Fellows member. She is involved with Mercy’s Women Leader’s Mentoring and Sponsorship committee, Pro Musica Joplin, the Neosho Arts Council, Joplin Regional Artists Coalition and Friends of St. Avips. Lori’s work has been shown at Bookhouse Cinema, Neosho Area Chamber of Commerce, Urban Art Gallery, Spiva Center for the Arts (membership exhibits) and various Joplin Regional Artists Coalition exhibits. Lori holds a Bachelor of Science in public relations from Oklahoma State University and a Masters of Liberal Studies in 20th Century Art History from the University of Oklahoma.
 
Jo Mueller (1950-2021) over much of her career demonstrated a passion for the arts and the business of art, filling management positions in film, dance, theater and visual arts organizations. From 2003 until her retirement in 2016, she served as executive director of George A. Spiva Center for the Arts in Joplin. Before and between those earnest and arduous not-for-profit adventures, she worked as a telephone installer, completed a year of dental school, and twice indulged her inner Martha Stewart as a bed and breakfast innkeeper in the Northwest. Jo was recognized numerous times for her accomplishments at Spiva and in 2016 received the prestigious statewide Leadership in the Arts award from the Missouri Arts Council. She served on the board of directors for Connect2Culture and enjoyed memberships in artCentral, Joplin Regional Artists Coalition, Spiva Center for the Arts, and Crystal Bridges. Jo’s work is held in private collections and has been shown locally in solo and group exhibitions. She was awarded a B.S. in organizational management from Colorado Christian University, Denver.
 
The SMALL WORKS | GREAT WONDERS Silent Auction features 48 artCentral artist-created 5x7 canvases which the artists have donated to help raise funds to support artCentral’s work for art and artists. Most opening bids begin at ten dollars. First bids may be placed when the gallery opens on Friday,   October 1, at noon.
 
To see and purchase the art in “p-i-e-c-e-d TOGETHER” and to see and bid on the SMALL WORKS|GREAT WONDERS visit artCentral online:
Events at www.artcentralcarthage.org and at facebook.com/ArtcentralCarthage.
 
October 2 through December 4, Weekend Gallery Hours are each Friday and Saturday from 12:00 to 5:00 p.m. with CDC protocols practiced at artCentral. Face masks and social distancing are required for everyone entering Hyde House. Please help us keep each other safe and healthy for the coming beauty of a Carthage autumn and all the holiday celebrations waiting to unfold while artCentral has holiday art for everyone!

October 1 through December 4, 2021, “p-i-e-c-e-d TOGETHER” is in Hyde House, made possible by the graciousness of Sharon and Lance Armstrong, artCentral Sustaining Supporters, and with underwriting by Old Missouri Bank. The Opening Reception is Friday, October 1.

​Every exhibition has a backstory!
 
Just like Alice falling down, down, down through the rabbit hole, artist Lori Marble, with one misplaced, clumsy step, fell tumbling down, down, down through the dark in the middle of the night. From the kitchen to the basement, down the stairs she fell.
 
All through childhood Lori’s missteps were attributed to clumsiness: a clumsy child became a clumsy adult. No one knew her motor skills were compromised by hemidystonia—a condition that affects muscle groups on one side of the body and can cause a loss of balance and difficulty moving. Lori’s hemidystonia made her sometimes drag her left foot.
 
Like so many of us who have taken a significant life tumble, Lori had a wakeup call that came at the bottom of her spill: she needed to do something to improve her ability to safely navigate through her days…and nights! She did. She had a deep brain stimulation device surgically implanted to help with her condition. Now she totes a battery pack in her chest and a pacemaker in her brain. They control the motion on her left side. They help and so does painting—Lori’s therapy of choice.
 
After her 2018 surgery, Lori began to explore her brain and creativity connection. Though her dominant side is her right side, she began painting abstract art with her left hand, the side affected by her hemidystonia. At first she had to hold a rock in her right hand to train that side to be still. Now her right side is content to stay at rest as she moves her brushes across picture planes. Left-handed painting has become Lori’s everyday habit.
 
Like Alice, Lori took a tumble and ended up in a land of magic. Alice found her Wonderland populated with a plethora of colorful characters and fascinations waiting to be found; likewise, Lori, led by her hemidystonia discovered a colorful inner life waiting to manifest!
 
Of course, Lori was not on her own as she made her recovery and journeyed into a new way of living and moving and painting. Among her many friends, artist Jo Mueller, former director of SPIVA Center for the Arts in Joplin, was her partner in discovery while Lori explored and exercised her new found creative passion.

As Lori’s and Jo’s mutual love for art continued past Jo’s retirement and Lori’s surgery, from time to time they showed up during weekend gallery hours at Hyde House to take in an exhibition where one or both had artwork on display. They both contributed individual donations to artCentral’s 5x7 fundraising Silent Auctions. All the while, as I am prone to do, I was keeping my eyes and ears on the pulse of the art world in southwest Missouri, tracking progress in the work of various artists. Lori and Jo were on my radar.
 
When I pitched to Lori the possibility of doing an artCentral exhibition with the proviso she propose another artist to be her exhibition partner, she immediately suggested Jo. Jo said, “YES!” Dates were selected. Their creative collaboration was set in motion, and “p-i-e-c-e-d TOGETHER” was underway.
 
Lori and Jo were in daily conversation choosing creative parameters and a ten month production schedule. For each month they identified three challenges—words and colors and motifs.
 
Words: The mothers of both artists were both librarians who serendipitously were born on the same day. Both raised their daughters with a love for words. Quite naturally, Lori and Jo took great mutual delight in choosing a different quote to inspire their creating for each month.
 
Colors: Lori and Jo took turns selecting a triad of colors to be included in every creation for a particular month.
 
Motifs: A specific motif/marking/Zentangle was designated to be used in each artwork made in a month.
 
Thus “p-i-e-c-e-d TOGETHER” was brought to life before Jo learned she would be losing hers to a terminal illness. She created as long as she could, and then with a great and quiet dignity she took leave of her dear artist friend and their collaboration that she so dearly loved. Jo’s presence is still with us in this remarkable body of work. Come and see: “p-i-e-c-e-d TOGETHER” is in the House!

Art is in the eyes of the beholder! When an artCentral member, born to adventuring and viewing his journeys through his camera lens, made a recent paddling trip down the Big River he had eyes for art at every bend. Snapping his shutter right and left, he recorded many of his sightings (including a squadron of white pelicans)
 
Our Paddling Man (PM) is quick to say, “The real art is the art of living in small, old, red brick river towns— peaceful places with a sense of being scaled to the rhythms and size of human beings—and learning the rhythms of the Great River. Walkable downtowns along the riverfront with sidewalks and overlook viewpoints connect people with the Big River so close by.”
 
This was not PM’s first paddling adventure on the Mighty Mississippi with the Great River Rumble (run by volunteers as a not-for-profit). For eight summers he has joined 200 or so strong-in-body-mind-and-spirit folks (united by their love of big rivers and belief that rivers belong to everyone) who together launch their canoes and kayaks at start points, varying year to year, for 100 to 150 miles of downstream paddling. About 50% of the paddlers are women. Annually about 80% of participants are returnees from previous years. Lasting friendships, made and renewed with each Rumble, insure that no one gets left behind. In 2021, the seven nights camping and six days paddling began in Mud Lake Park, Iowa, and finished at LeClaire, one of Iowa’s “Quad Cities” on the River’s banks.
 
The Mississippi River, host to every kind of launch from rafts like Tom Sawyer’s to a gigantic barge tow a quarter mile long, is the second longest river in North America, flowing for 2,350 miles from its source at Lake Itasca, a small glacial lake in northern Minnesota, through the center of the continental United States to the Gulf of Mexico. (The longest river by 100 miles is the Missouri River.) Home to 25% of all North American fish species, the Mississippi's widest point is over 11 miles across. Two people have swum the entire length of this river where water-skiing was invented.

This was the 25th and last year for the annual Rumble made with intentions to experience the life of tiny river towns and to do business to boost local economies while exploring the Mid-Western watershed of the Mississippi and its tributaries. Arrangements for 2021 began a year in advance. Various permits from different government agencies were acquired.  An affable road crew and rented trucks were obtained to carry the group’s camping gear.

In years past the Rumble’s organizers pre-arranged low-impact overnight camping in small town parks where local bands provided evening music and breakfasts and dinners were catered by fire departments or ladies church auxiliaries. This summer, the route dictated that the group spend several nights in remote areas, far from towns. With CDC protocols observed to keep the paddlers and townspeople safe, catered meals were delivered by nearby small town grocery stores.

​PM tells us, “This is not a float trip. You paddle every inch each of the way! Your attention is actively engaged every minute watching out for weather changes, commercial and pleasure river traffic plus your companions as you cross the river from side to side several times a day assisted by radio communication. This year offered more winds and waves, lots of heat and steady 15 mph head winds for the last three days of paddling. We went through three river locks. That is always interesting. We never go through a lock with any other boats except the four safety powerboats that always accompany us. The lock crews throw down 25 or more ropes for leaders to hang on. Others rafted up to the ones holding the ropes. All during the trip the job of the “Sweep” is to shepherd the slowest paddlers in the group to a safe trip and a safe exit from the water at the end of each day. On the last day of the trip, I was the "Sweep" and was the last boat in at the final finish line.”
 
Surely there is art in all of this—the last Great Rumble on the Great Mississippi!
 
At Hyde House, 1110 East Thirteenth Street in Carthage, the METAMORPHOSIS Exhibition concludes September 18, 2021. Gallery Hours are Fridays and Saturdays, 12:00-5:00 p.m. For more information call (417) 358-4404 or visit ArtCentralCarthage on Facebook or online at artcentralcarthage.org.

Now that was a night! Storms and high temps had been predicted for weeks. Storms and high temps were still the prediction when the day arrived for the METAMORPHOSIS Artist Reception for Debbie and Richard Reed; and yet, as so often is the good fortune that smiles on Hyde House, the storms did not develop and the temps dropped. The evening that unfolded was sublimely perfect for the indoor/outdoor reception.
 
For the full year of weeks and months that preceded the opening of METAMORPHOSIS, while the artists Debbie and Richard Reed were making art in their studios, the village of artCentral was twirling, twirling, twirling with the making of preparations to support our exhibiting artists and their talents.
 
In my Hyde House office as well as my remote studio office, I was on the phone and at my keyboard, setting calendar dates and timelines, prepping the Gallery Agreement and documents for the artists and confirming support by the exhibition’s underwriter, SCHMIDT CPAs and ADVISORS. Having created the graphics for the exhibition posters and invitations, I purchased a supply of stamps while Joseph Perdomo, owner, at Carthage Printing did his excellent (as always) printing job. While artCentral volunteer-extraordinaire, Lora Waring, labeled and stamped the invitations for mailing, Maddie Capps, Kalee Hinspeter and Jason Shelfer, members of artCentral’s board of directors, stepped up to help me with the media distribution in Carthage and Joplin as our board media guru, Wendi Douglas, made sure the news of METAMORPHOSIS went out to media near and far.
 
When the date drew near for delivery of the art work, my husband David Greenwood-Mathé, artCentral’s prepitor/art handler, and I spent extra evening hours at Hyde House—he patching nail holes and removing marks and smudges from walls and woodwork that he thoroughly touched up with paint, while I did the dusting and sweeping and mopping and tidying up in general to have the galleries looking their very best. They were sparkling when we finally sighed and said, “Ready!”
 
Debbie and Richard delivered their 36 paintings and 40 pottery works (plus 10 more filled with Richard’s carefully cultivated miniature succulents), and the work we think of as fun really began for David and me. We truly love doing exhibition installations together! David, an artist himself with fifteen years of experience as a Kansas City gallery owner, and I, as an artist with a passion for seeing and arranging art holographically, are a well-paired team. We begin with a total review of the art on hand then look and listen for the conversations between the artworks—conversations of color and/or content—making sure the conversation flows easily from one wall or pedestal to the next and from the downstairs galleries to those upstairs.
 
METAMORPHOSIS opened elegantly for Weekend Gallery Hours, 12:00-5:00 p.m. on the first Friday in August. For all the Fridays and Saturdays for the exhibition’s run, artCentral members (many of them artists) served as Gallery Docents. On Fridays which are always my day to docent, I was blissfully assisted by artCentral’s newest intern Sierra Hicks. Saturday docents include Jordy Vulpine, Heather and Sierra Hicks, Beth Kang, Jason Shelfer and Aurelia Burr.
 
The Missouri Arts Council has certified artCentral as an ArtSafe Space with CDC protocols observed by all who visit Hyde House. Masks are to be worn and social distancing is to be practiced as we all do our best to keep one another safe and healthy.
 
For the mid-August Artist Reception following CDC protocols, artCentral board president Betsy Flanigan was the Reception impresario assisted by board members Alexandra Burnside and Kalee Hinspeter. Board member, Doug Osborn, made sure to replenish the house libations and have them well chilled to accompany the individually packaged table fare. Bren Flanigan hosted the beverage table while Kerry Sturgis and David welcomed guests on the front porch. My friend Lori Bigley was a marvelous help writing invoices for the evening’s brisk sales. (Shhhh! Don’t tell! For Lori’s September birthday, her husband David purchased Debbie’s painting of a chicken Lori had admired.) 
 
Now that was a night! The weather turned out just right. Lots of folks came to share in the celebration and  many bought favorite artworks while Debbie and Richard spent the evening visiting with guests and talking art.
 
The exquisite METAMORPHOSIS Exhibition will continue on view through September 18, 2021, at Hyde House, 1110 East Thirteenth Street in Carthage. Admission is free. The public is invited. For more information call (417) 358-4404 or visit ArtCentralCarthage on Facebook or online at artcentralcarthage.org.

​For four years my artist husband David and I have been conceiving and preparing for our collaborative, multimedia exhibition to fill the galleries of artCentral. Paradise, our big, old house, is chock-full with the creations we have been making and saving to share with you. The upstairs hallway is overflowing.  Our studio easels are full and the walls, too. The front and back stairways have artwork marching beside us every time we go up and down. There is art temporarily displayed in the kitchen. The foyer and the dining room are serving as staging galleries. In the front salon and the music salon art is even filling up corners. Art! Art! Art! Art everywhere and yet we keep making and dreaming of making still more!
 
SIGNS & WONDERS first came to life on our Sunday outings—our drives on the winding blacktops carrying us and our puppies to George Washington Carver Monument Park near Diamond, Missouri, and our weekly trips across Center Creek on the back road taking us to brunch and a meet up with friends at the Joplin puppy playground.
 
Since our courting days David and I have shared the inclination to “ooh and ah” at sights that catch our eyes and tweak our fancies. Even following the same paths again and again we always find wonders to delight us—a quartet of Scottish highlander, hearty hairy coos keeping company with a donkey named Charlie; a gaggle of wild turkeys strolling about in a farmer’s front yard; sunbeams gleefully summer dancing in an urban brook; lapis lazuli shadows stretching lean over a river’s snow-covered, tree-lined banks; story-telling clouds bouncing or floating or rushing or resting still and serene over us in a plethora of shapes and sizes; a vine-covered fence post that began life as a cedar tree.
 
Those times we make mini-detours again and again we are pleased to have our senses entertained by the newness of the unexpected—an enormous black and white swine with blunted nose peering through swaying emerald-tinted grass behind a hog wire fence; spring and summer wildflowers showing off their beauty; naked winter old growth standing staunchly sensuous and unapologetic in bareness; a nursery of young black vultures lined up on a white fence railing with a raucous murder of ebony crows circling overhead; a longhorn posing roadside and offering a repertoire of amusing expressions as though for a photo-op; a pasture of horses dressed in masks and spats looking ready for a neighbor’s costume party.
 
With our comings and goings we are frequently entertained by the directional signs we encounter placed on posts and poles to help and guide us in our travels. The very noire arrow, pointed up with a wiggly tail flowing down over a reflective yellow backdrop, was the first road sign I decided to paint and call “Wiggle Bottom”, a reminder of the squirming Aussie riding in my lap as we made our way up a curving, twisting tarmac trail.
 
All these signs and wonders seem to be love notes left by a grand heart filled with benevolence—reassuring us we live in a world of beauty and goodness, telling us to pause and slow down. We do. We slow down. We stop. As David gathers an appealing stick or stone or rusted scrap of bric-a-brac for his sculpture, I start snapping my camera’s shutter—collecting images, capturing moments, making sweet memories to put into my painted photo tableaux.
 
Mark your calendar for SIGNS & WONDERS in April and May 2022, but please do not wait until then to visit Hyde House. Though artCentral will be closed September 3 and 4, 2021, in observance of Labor Day, you still have time to visit Debbie and Richard Reeds’ exquisite METAMORPHOSIS Exhibition of paintings and pottery on view through September 18, 2021, at Hyde House, 1110 East Thirteenth Street in Carthage. Schmidt CPAs and Advisors are the gracious underwriters for the Exhibition. Admission is free. The public is invited.
 
The Missouri Arts Council has certified artCentral as an ArtSafe Space with CDC protocols observed by all who visit Hyde House. Masks are to be worn and social distancing is to be practiced as we all do our best to keep one another safe and healthy.
 
For more information call (417) 358-4404. Weekend Gallery Hour are Fridays and Saturdays, 12:00-5:00 p.m.