ART NOTES from Alice Lynn Greenwood in The Carthage Press

Bride-artCentral Director-Curator, Alice Lynn Greenwood-Matthews and David Matthews, Groom-artCentral Prepitor

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AWARDS and a WEDDING CELEBRATION PICNIC

Not too much more than a year ago I’m single and feeling much too small to accomplish all my dreams for artCentral. During a monthly board meeting, while metaphorically pounding my head on the table, I cry, “I need a husband to help me!” All our board members sagely nod their heads as Helen Kunze prophetically responds, “He’ll have to be an artist and love art and artCentral as much as you do.”

Wow! What a difference a year makes. With artCentral board members supporting me anything can happen—even the appearance of my new husband, David Matthews. Not only is David a lifelong artist, he’s volunteering as artCentral’s prepitor, aka worker-person who helps me with everything including gallery installations like our fantastic current Membership Exhibition.
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This past weekend at our Annual Membership Exhibition Picnic, generously underwritten by McCune-Brooks Healthcare Foundation, artCentral’s community of members and artists celebrated David’s and my recent nuptials with a surprise wedding cake, hearty congratulations and gift donations to our new Greenwood-Matthews Fund which will be used to foster artCentral Art and Artists. David and I thank you, each and every one, for helping us make a beautiful shared beginning in this art world we love most!

The days before our picnic are filled with “if-y” weather predictions. We speculate, “Rain or no rain? Picnic inside or out?" Undaunted by any uncertainty, genius gourmand and picnic guru, Judy Goff, gathers food and all the fixin’s, directs placement of the tables, decorates our cake with fruit and herbs and flowers from her gardens and harvests magnolia blossoms to garnish the birdbaths. Hearts and hands are given to assist with essential tasks by Pat Goff, Betsy and Bren Flanigan, Jackie and Alec Boyer and Jan Evans.  
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Our jurors arrive and choose award recipients. Beth Simmons, Director of McCune-Brooks Healthcare Foundation, names Karolee Blanchard and her exquisite oil, “Bling and Bing” for the Underwriter Award. Anne-Marie Gailey, artist and art educator with a degree and graduate studies at Augusta State University and the University of Nebraska at Lincoln, bestows the Membership Awards: Gold to Emily Rose and her bold and daring oil, “Fire and Eyce II”; Silver to Nicole Meyer-Foresman for her sterling silver “Bowl and Stand”; and Bronze to Brenda Sageng, creator of “Napoleon”, her majestic rooster rendered in oil.

2017 Award Winners - l to r - Brenda Sageng, Karolee Blanchard, Emily Rose. Not pictured - Nicole Meyer-Foresman

Karolee Blanchard - Underwriter Award

Nicole Meyer-Foresman - Silver Award

Emily Rose​ - Gold Award

Brenda Sageng - Bronze Award

Picnic time arrives and all is ready. Members and guests bring their culinary creations to share on tables dressed in festive, bright colors. Sweet breezes are wafting all around our al fresco dining. David and I give a mini replay of our barn loft wedding as he sings me to him once again with “Oh my love, my darling, I’ve hungered for your touch a long, lonely time…I need your love, I need your love, God speed your love to me.”

​We celebrate all the artists who’ve given their hearts and souls to each of their creations gracing the walls of Hyde House. Just as I begin to announce the award recipients, John Hacker, our beloved artCentral-member-man-all-about-town-Carthage Press editor-magician strides across the lawn to document David’s handing out artCentral envelopes filled with this year’s cash awards. Our Awards and a Wedding Celebration Picnic is just perfect!
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Come see artCentral’s remarkable Annual Membership Exhibition during weekend gallery hours through July 30. Information: (417) 358-4404 and www.artcentralcarthage.org.