We especially love the video of all the children singing and signing “Shalom” (Peace. Peace.) On the soundtrack we can hear one-year-old Alexandra sitting on her Mother’s lap and cooing-singing along with the big kids. We adore the photograph, where, having broken free of her Mother’s arms, Alexandra has toddled up to her big sister on the front row and is reaching up to her. A sweet, sweet connection. A sweet, sweet memory in the making.

This season is all about making sweet memories, being open to however they come and cherishing them.
My west coast son called and asked, “How is your schedule? I’m driving up from Alabama and can pass through Carthage and stay a couple of nights. I’m sorry this is so last minute. My trip came up suddenly.”
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I was in the midst of finishing a painting commission when his call came. I had to sit down. My surprise and my delight were equally immense. In my wildest imaginings I never considered the possibility of his coming. I was overjoyed with anticipation.

I am so very grateful for the gift of this unexpected visit. He and his wife live a long distance away. We all have very full lives and demanding day jobs. We love our family greatly, but time and geography make our visits few and far between. Our hours spent together always pass so very quickly. Every moment we get to share is precious.

Especially now, in this celebration season, I want to treasure every minute—the looks given, the words spoken, the thoughts and love and hugs exchanged. I want to make of them sweet memories to recall next year and the next. I want our sweet memories made together to last for ever and ever after.

I’m very aware that for many of you this season of celebration is filled with more than pleasing surprises and happy reunions. I realize there are those of you among us whose longings are creating tremendous heartaches—intensifying feelings of loss and aloneness.

I know the holidays can magnify all our emotions—joy and sorrow, too. I see your posts on Facebook. My eyes tear as I read, “Grief is like having broken ribs. On the outside you look fine, but with every breath you hurt.” I hear you. I care that you are hurting. I thank you for your honest sharing and telling us of your very real heartache and mourning—for the leaving of a precious child; a wife, husband, mother, father, sister or brother who has gone through the veil; a missed friend or lover; a pet who has crossed over the rainbow.

I wish for each heartache a candle, real or imagined, that whispers and burns ever so sweetly. I wish for you comfort. I wish for you peace. I wish for you a coming someday when your heartache lessens and becomes a soothing sweet gift—a sweet memory here and another there—sweet memories that mend your aching and cause you to smile with your recalling of dear loved ones who have departed.

There is an art to making sweet memories. Sometimes we must wait and weep to be ready for them to come. Come they always will like glittering stars in the winter night skies—like fireflies twinkling in summer’s dusk. Come they will. Come they will. I promise.

​For me Winter Solstice brings artCentral’s blessed Midwinter pause—a wee winter break—to reflect on the art-full, joy-filled highlights of the year we’re completing and to appreciate those who have supported artCentral’s many successes in 2019.

January - Artist and artCentral member Lowell Davis was named as the Chamber of Commerce “Artist of the Year”. Our local artist hero and artCentral member Andy Thomas presented his own original sculpture-enhanced oil painting honoring Lowell. Recently Lowell was inducted into the Hall of Carthage Heroes.

February-March - Hyde House galleries were filled with mixed media works created by a plethora of members of the Joplin Regional Artists Coalition for their exciting “Arti Gras” exhibition. KOKA Art Gallery and Cherry’s Custom Framing and Fine Art Gallery provided the exhibition underwriting.

April - The first Art.A.Fair Carthage took place on the historic square. Aspiring young artists painted plant-a-posie flower pots to take home with a set of complimentary paints.

April-May - Connie Miller’s bright, uplifting portraits were displayed at artCentral in “Conversations in Color” underwritten by Schmidt Associates, P.C.

May’s Give Carthage Day sponsored by The Carthage Community Foundation brought community online-giving support for artCentral’s GIVE4ART fund. Special recognition was given to artCentral with the Spirit Award from Revel Boutique for best use of social media.

June-July - With underwriting support by McCune-Brooks Healthcare Foundation, the Annual Membership Exhibition opened with an outdoor awards presentation on a perfect picnic evening. Member artist Andrew Batcheller of Joplin took top honors.

July brought the “All Creatures Great and Small” theme to artCamp attended by 70 youth with generous support by individual scholarship donors, as well as community supporters including the Helen S. Boylan Foundation, Carthage Council on the Arts, Carthage Rotary Club, Crackpot Pottery and Art Studio, Ruth I. Kolpin Foundation, Leggett & Platt, Incorporated, and S&S COMPUTERS.

August-September - “All Creatures Great and Small” was also the theme for the impressive exhibition presented by the Four State Photography Enthusiasts generously underwritten by Central Pet Care.
October-November - Jodie Sutton filled artCentral with 112 stunning “Encaustic Autumn Landscapes”. Sirloin Stockade provided the underwriting.

December - Eighteen talented artists created a beautiful Holiday Boutique shopping experience; Sixty-six artCentral artists donated their original 5x7 canvases for the fundraising Silent Auction; and the Board of Directors were honored at their Annual Christmas Luncheon.

Throughout the year artCentral’s satellite galleries at The Carthage Public Library and The Atrium at Sirloin Stockade were filled with works from JRAC’s “Arti Gras”, “Conversations in Color” and Membership exhibits, as well as two cameo exhibitions of florals and trains presented by artCentral board of directors secretary and photographer-artist Jane Ballard of Joplin.
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After our Exhibition and Event packed year working full steam on behalf of art and artists, I am ready for a rest! Winter Solstice is the perfect beginning! I’m going to paint, swim laps, train and play with our puppies and spend evenings by our yule fire with artCentral’s hardworking prepitor, my dear artist husband David.

Accompanied by his wife, Rose, and family members, Lowell was celebrated at the Fair Acres Family Y along with five other members of the eighth class of heroines and heroes.

With great appreciation for his contributions to the cultural life of our community and that of the far reaches he has touched, artCentral salutes Lowell. “Congratulations! Well done!”

The plaque presented to Lowell, a replica of the one now displayed in the Hall of Carthage Heroes, tells his story and celebrates his life as an “Artist and Citizen of Distinction”.

Lowell Davis, son of Berton Clayton Davis and Nell Marie Davis, was born in Lawrence County, Missouri, on June 8, 1937, and grew up in Red Oak, Missouri. He attended Mark Twain grade school and Carthage High School. Lowell married Rose Castillo Davis in 2003. He has three daughters and three sons from previous marriages: April Davis Brunner, also an artist, Heather Davis, Wren Davis, Phillip Davis, Jeb Davis and Aaron Davis.

Ironically, after failing English and art his sophomore year at Carthage High School in the 1950’s, Lowell dropped out to join the Air Force. As a part of a four-member crew, he flew prop planes during the Algerian War. After one particularly rough landing in Algiers, Lowell received a medical discharge. Following his military service, Lowell moved to Dallas-Fort Worth to be an Art Director for a large advertising agency. He explains his experience, “All those fourteen years, all I could think about was getting back to Missouri and getting a farm.” Fulfilling that wish, Lowell returned to a farm outside Carthage to farm and pursue his own art full time.

Well known for his art depicting farm life in America, most especially in Jasper County, Lowell is often referred to as the “Norman Rockwell of Rural Art”. His artistic works include paintings, figurines, bronzes, metal sculptures and art storybooks that reflect small town life in rural Missouri, giving a glimpse into simpler and often sweeter times.

Among Lowell’s greatest contributions to the Carthage area is his recreation of his childhood hometown of Red Oak, the original now vanished. Red Oak II is a charming step back into a small rural town, complete with the original Phillips 66 gas station, general store, school house, blacksmith shop and the Belle Starr home he preserved, moved and restored on the property. Thousands of visitors traveling Route 66 make a special stop to visit Red Oak II and sometimes have the pleasure to run into Lowell at his home there.

Lowell has created numerous metal sculptures and signs around Carthage, highlighting various businesses, schools and activities in our community. In 1978, he was one of the founding members of The Midwest Gathering of the Artists a juried art exhibit and sale held in Carthage for more than thirty years to showcase Midwestern and Western paintings and sculptures. In 2019 Lowell was recognized as the Chamber of Commerce “Artist of the Year”.
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The members of artCentral and the citizens of Carthage extend to you, Lowell Davis, our deepest gratitude. You have put Carthage on the cultural map of the world. Lowell Davis you make a difference! We honor you, a true Carthage Hero!

​#GivingTuesday and the HOLIDAY BOUTIQUE are two more grand artCentral successes. I stand, applaud and celebrate all those who participate and do their part to support and sustain our small town nonprofit arts center. To all these heroines and heroes I say “Thank you!”

Thank you to all artCentral supporters and friends, heroines and heroes who hit the online “donate” button and made contributions for #GivingTuesday. The success of this Facebook fundraiser goes far to insure the sustainable vitality of artCentral’s work on behalf of art and artists.

Thank you to all seventeen artCentral artists, heroines and heroes who brought their unique creations to fill the galleries and turn Hyde House into a beautifully elegant shopping venue: Linda Brown (Sgraffito clay giftables), Alexandra Burnside (whimsical pillows), April Davis-Brunner (paintings, wind chimes, mugs and coasters), Teri Diggs (garden art), Jerry Ellis (framed prints), Judith Fowler (angel journals and pillows),  Kristin Gerard (jewelry), Alice Lynn Greenwood-Mathé (prints and cards), Becky Golubski (paintings, mugs and pillows), Brenda Hayes (fiber creations), Helen Kunze (paintings), Koral Martin (porcelain, wood and metal ornaments), Jane McCaulley (glass ornaments), Mary Parks (cutting boards, coasters, small paintings), Marty Ann Petersen (whimsical ornaments), Priscilla Pettie (jewelry) and Dana Reed (Owl and Willow artisan candles).

Thank you to artCentral’s board of directors heroines—Betsy Flanigan (president), Jackie Boyer and Wendi Douglas—the phenomenal Holiday Boutique committee who worked with me for a year to create our splendid Holiday Boutique showcase and enlist the assistance of volunteers.

Especially thank you to hero David Greenwood-Mathé, artCentral’s hardworking and always willing prepitor, who prepared gallery walls, distributed banners and event flags, toted tables and chairs and graciously took care of many, many other tasks that made for smooth and easy set-up, shopping and reset of Hyde House.

Thank you to the all the other cheerful volunteers—those heroines and heroes who gave their time and happy spirits to staff the Boutique: Jane Ballard, Jackie Boyer, Aurelia Burr, Maddie Capps, Teri Diggs, Wendi Douglas, Betsy Flanigan, David Greenwood-Mathé, Jason Shelfer and Jane Van Den Berg. The Holiday Boutique couldn’t happen without you!

Thank you to former board member and heroine Gail White who originally brought to the board table the idea to plant and offer Amaryllis bulbs as a Holiday Boutique fundraiser. Each year the limited edition sale has brought more and more interest and success as Amaryllis have been purchased to be given as gifts and to decorate homes and offices.

A grateful thank you to heroine Wendy Verbeek of Bella Flora Nurseries for providing the space for planting and caring for the Amaryllis during their cultivation. Our Holiday Boutique patrons are carrying away stunning blooming plants that will give vibrant color and great joy all through the holiday season and well beyond.

To the artCentral artist heroines and heroes who have created and donated original 5”x7” creations for the Silent Auction fundraiser, I say “Thank you for graciously sharing your gifts and talents! Namaste." Your beautiful contributions individually and collectively attract patrons who generously support artCentral as they choose your creations to enhance homes and offices locally and far away. Our beloved artCentral is enriched by your artistic giving! You are heroines and heroes, one and all.

What a joy for me to work with and among all the artists of artCentral—those just emerging to find their creative voices; those well-established and continuing to find their ever broader audiences; and those special heroines and heroes who are being recognized for the outstanding artistic achievements of their lifetimes. In my next Art Notes I will celebrate with you the exceptional homegrown artist, Lowell Davis, who has very recently been inducted into the Hall of Carthage Heroes.

To all the heroines and heroes who support the life and work of artCentral I offer my deepest gratitude. You make a difference! I honor you!