They’re coming! They’re coming! Adorable dogs and precious kittens will be here at artCentral on two Sunday afternoons during our All Creatures Great and Small exhibition showcasing more than fifty animal-centric images by members of the Four State Photography Enthusiasts.

Yes, dedicated Carthage Humane Society volunteer Braden Horst is bringing these treasures for a “Meet and Greet”. From 1:00 to 5:00 p.m. on Sunday, August 25, and Sunday, September 15, on the Hyde House lawn in the cool shade beneath the beautiful, spreading canopy of old growth trees, you’ll find an assortment of furry delights waiting for your visit.

If you have experienced the love of an animal—seen the energetic wag of a dog’s tail or heard the soft purr of a contented cat—you know the affection of a pet that is dedicated to you. The unconditional love and companionship that animals give us are what make these creatures such exceptional gifts in our lives.

Should you fall in love and have your heart set on taking home a special new companion that you meet at artCentral, Braden will happily facilitate adoption. The shelter’s usual adoption fee will be reduced for these two special days.

Checking in with the Humane Society’s website at www.carthagehumanesociety.org, I learned:

The Carthage Humane Society (CHS) is a non-profit animal shelter in Jasper County, Missouri. Home to many homeless companion animals entrusted to the Society’s care, CHS puts the animals first. Working with dedication to promote responsible pet ownership, CHS plays an ever-evolving role as mediator in the changing relationship between people and animals.

The Humane Society’s mission is to provide a safe, caring and temporary haven for animals entrusted to their care. Since 1948, the Humane Society has reached out to those people who enjoy and employ animals, as well as those who love and share their lives with them. As an animal welfare organization, the Society is also very much a people business. Supporting and promoting the human-animal bond, the CHS strives to place adoptable animals in responsible homes. The Society also strives to reduce pet over-population by offering education on the advantages of spaying and neutering.

Caring for the large number of animals seen during the year at CHS is very expensive. The majority of shelter funds come from donations in the form of memberships, bequests, adoptions and gifts from individuals like you, businesses and foundations. Get involved and help animals in Jasper County and beyond. Your tax-deductible donation to CHS helps make vaccinations, medical treatment and daily care available for animals at the shelter. On the Society’s website you can make a financial gift safely and securely through PayPal to help the animals staying at the shelter.

Your gifts and contributions can be in many forms including purchases made from the shelter’s Amazon Wish List and shipped directly to the CHS doorstep. The gift of your volunteering is one of the best donations you can make. You can sign up to volunteer your time to help at your availability. Tasks vary from dog walking, kennel cleaning and yard work to office work.

The Humane Society also provides lost and found services and advocates prevention first. Pet owners are encouraged to keep a collar and identification tags with the owner’s name, local phone number and home address on their dog or cat at all times. If your pet is lost, visit the shelter during business hours as soon as possible and return frequently to view intake pets. No phone calls, please. Only onsite viewing can positively identify your pet.

The Carthage Humane Society is located at 13860 Dog Kennel Lane in Carthage, Missouri. Hours are Tuesday through Saturday 12:00 to 4:00 p.m. The shelter is closed on Sunday and Monday. You can call the Society at (417)358-6402.

​The best way to prevent permanent loss is by securing your pet safely using microchip technology. Microchips can be implanted just under the skin of dogs and cats. Veterinary, animal control, animal shelters and local humane society professionals can then use handheld scanners—just like those used in market checkout lines—to “read” the chips implanted in animals found wandering unsupervised. The microchip provides a unique code for the pet that can then be matched against an identification database. Microchips are made to work through the lifetime of a pet—a chip typically lasts at least twenty-five years. They don’t ever need replacing and can’t be lost. For more information on microchipping and many other ways to protect your pet visit www.petsforlife.org.

When you come to artCentral’s Humane Society “Meet and Greet” beneath the trees, be sure to step inside elegant Hyde House and visit All Creatures Great and Small, artCentral’s awesome August and September exhibition. Generously underwritten by Central Pet Care, All Creatures Great and Small will be on display throughout the galleries at 1110 East Thirteenth Street in Carthage, Missouri, during weekend gallery hours from August 23 to September 22. The public is invited. Admission is free.

After months of anticipation and planning, my husband David’s and my morning coffee conversations have shifted. They began with “How will the Exhibit Prospectus be written?” Now they focus on last preparations like fine-tuning the reception table installation and our declaring, “Let’s use our collection of wooden animals!” All of this started with a puppy picture of our brand new Aussie, Lasyrenn—sister to Chiquita, our nine year old Wheaten Terrier Poodle, and Ding, our rather ancient long-haired white cat.

,Our time for acquiring our own offspring had long passed with David’s and my having married quite late. Even so, we followed our natural urgings to expand our blended family. First we added our four laying hens. Then we saw a compelling notice on the door of Midwest AG Supply—our much loved, close-to-home feed store on the corner of Grant and Central in Carthage.

​I felt my heart leap as we read, “Registered Australian Shepherd Puppies”. David said, “Go and look.” I did. Love-at-first-sight made me yearn for the sweet, wee merle, the only blond one, the littlest of nine. I brought her home. David insisted, “Her name will be Lasyrenn (la-se-wren),” Creole for The Siren, the patron spirit of artists and musicians in Haiti.
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Full of playfulness and antics, though she was always chew-chew-chewing up everything, we thought Lasyrenn was an adorable fluff ball. Chiquita behaved as though she thought Lasyrenn was nothing but an aggravation. When Lasyrenn romped around her, Chickie just growled and turned away. She was having nothing of our puppy’s charming cuteness and bothersome nonsense.

As the last two years sped by and Chiquita’s grumpiness continued, the tension in our household rose and rose. Chiquita was no longer the “bigger big sister”. Lasyrenn had grown taller than she and was not willing to accept being growled into submission. When the discord in our household kept escalating, we reached out for help. Dog trainer Morgan Dutton appeared, walked into an out-of-control bark fest in progress and diagnosed our family as a dysfunctional pack. “I can help train the puppies,” she encouraged, “But you’ll have to be trained, too.”

​For weeks we’ve been working and training every day to realign our pact order. Like all of life’s lessons worth learning, occasionally some are mastered quickly, others can be rather slow. Sometimes they even take a frustrating step back, but we continue on with our commitment to restore peace and quiet to our home. The positive behavioral changes are really happening, and we are resolved in our hope to one day have Lasyrenn ready to work as an Emotional Support Dog (ESD).

To offer our girls more opportunities for learning and socialization outside our home, in addition to working with Morgan, we’ve added weekly obedience classes taught by Jessicca Bailey at Central Pet Care’s Canine Academy. Central Pet Care, offering an always calm atmosphere and super care, is where we take our girls to see Dr. Melanie Grundy. (Throughout her new puppy checkup and inoculations, Lasyrenn actually slept soundly in the arms of Dr. Grundy!) We also see Dr. Richard Brus and our all-time favorite groomer, Lisa Lipscomb.

I send out special “thank yous” to those at Central Pet Care who are assuring the success of artCentral’s All Creatures Great and Small. They include Manager, Eddy Grundy, and Managing Assistant, Desiree Breidenstein, who said “yes” and facilitated my request for underwriting for this exciting exhibit.

The board members of artCentral are playing their parts, as well. Wendi Douglas is serving as reception impresario. Jane Ballard, a many-gifted and multi-talented photographer, wrote the exhibit prospectus, reached out to the members of the Four State Photography Enthusiasts and arranged cash awards for outstanding images. Award winning images will be selected by board member and skilled photographer, Kerry Sturgis, who first began his photography work while serving in the Navy. He’s studied photography in exhibitions the world over and developed a keen eye for photographic creativity and technique. Come see Kerry Sturgis’s choices and all the other enchanting images.
​
In All Creatures Great and Small you’ll find every size of wonder sure to please you!

Terri Heckmaster, president of Precious Moments Supporting Foundation reached out to inquire about my helping with art for the walls of an exciting new venue she was working to bring to Carthage. For those of you who already know Terri, you know she’s an amazing visionary. Like her husband Lonnie Heckmaster who serves as treasurer on artCentral’s board of directors, she dreams big dreams and lives those dreams until they really do come true. Though my artCentral commitments kept me from jumping into the delicious art-making opportunity Terri was proposing, David and I put her dream project on our go-to wish list.
 
You see, somehow we’d let my February birthday and our May wedding anniversary pass without finding just the right dates and places for celebratory dinners. Eventually we decided to celebrate the two events as one. Though we made trips to Kansas City and Joplin and New York City and other restaurant rich locales, still we had not found that truly “special” time and meal for our birthday-anniversary celebration.
 
In the meantime, we made food-centric, close-to-home outings. We kept enjoying after-work visits for “amuse bouche” (French for “a little bit of food”) at The Deli and Mother Road Coffee on our hometown square. Making our way to run our puppies at the Parr Hill Dog Park in Joplin, we indulged in cappuccinos and weekend brunch at the outdoor bistro seating at Starbucks.
 
By way of our eating out here in the Carthage-Joplin crossroads of America we have connected with interesting people from many, many places. We have met numerous Route 66 travelers from across the USA and several continents beyond. David has swapped Navy stories with lots of folks who have been to far shores in uniforms for our country.
 
Not too long ago a nice man in a uniform—the working attire of a chef—held the door for me at Mother Road Coffee. Not bumping into too many people dressed as he was, I asked him where he cooked. “I’ve opened my own restaurant outside of town,” he told me with a decidedly European accent. “I just came in for a good espresso, and I have to get to work.” Off he went leaving me with questions I really wanted to ask him. “What restaurant? Where outside of town?” 

Two weeks after artCamp’s ending, the artfully wondrous sights and sounds of artCamp are still dancing in my heart and head—a school of glistening watercolor koi swimming on sheets of paper spread out and left to dry in the sun on the patio beneath my office window; a kiln stuffed full of clay animal mugs, pinch pot musical instruments and birdhouses waiting to be fired; artCampers at lunch decorating the driveway with chalk drawings while vigorous games of kick ball and swing-the-statue happened all around them with laughter, laughter, laughter everywhere. Oh, what wondrous sights and sounds I still have to keep and savor.

For ten days “Come see! Come see!” rang out again and again from artCamp’s classrooms where artCamp’s amazing teachers taught and inspired and encouraged the hands and the minds and the spirits of seventy (yes, seventy!) artCampers—artCampers who came eager to learn and explore as they made art and friends in forty unique classes.
​
For lending their highly trained and well-cultivated super powers to the making of artCamp’s magic, I send out kudos galore to instructors Alexandra Burnside, April Davis-Brunner, Cheryl Church, Teri Y. Diggs, Jane McCaulley, Anne-Marie Gailey, Tom Jones and Sarah Serio. Watching these wizards at work gives my heart cause to sing!
​
I am deeply grateful for our dedicated teachers and for all nine artCamp interns, as well. They showed up day after day with energy to match their smiles as they pitched in to sustain artCamp’s creative tempo. With sincere appreciation I say “thank you!” to artCamp’s Interns: Jackie Boyer, Aurelia Burr, Maddie Capps, Betsy Flanigan, Jalayne Osborn, Mary Riley, Miki Smith, Bev Sturgis and Shannon Wedge. They tidied and set up classrooms. They greeted and registered artCampers. They companioned first time campers. They shared play time oversight. They supported the teachers and they helped me consistently, unselfishly. They were my artCamp angels and always seemed to be at my side just when I needed them most.

When I was working days and evenings, too, to stay up to speed with my director’s duties and simultaneously trying to keep up with artCamp’s photographic documentation, Aurelia Burr came to my rescue and began answering those “Come see! Come see!” calls for important photo ops. Knowing her way around a cell phone and a camera, Aurelia became our official artCamp photographer collecting and editing images and transmitting them to me for posting in our Facebook photo albums. Thanks to Aurelia we have a spectacular memory bank for sharing!

In our photo memory bank are many, many smiling images of a cadre of Interns-in-Training who cheerfully gave of their free summer days to learn the tasks and skills of Interns as they gained in-class experience. With great pleasure I think of these Interns-in-Training as artCamp’s eleven-ever-ready wonders: Sydney Campbell, Gabby Cook, Lola Chapman, Brady Cloud, Justice Cunningham, Sara Eddington, Addison Nichols, Karlie Nichols, Olivia Pierce, Abby Rogers and Anna Wheeler.

With special attention from interns Aurelia Burr, Maddie Capps and Miki Smith who put together the installation, the artCamp Exhibition overflowed with two weeks of thoughtfully displayed creations. On a warm summer evening the wrap-up Reception was a remarkable Hyde House celebration. The artCampers attending showed off their art and their classrooms to their families and their friends as everyone sampled the chocolate infused array of artCamper donated cookies, gourmet mini-cupcakes created by artCamper Arya Palmer and a special artCamp cake baked and decorated by artCamper Mia Miles.

While watching the artCampers chatting as they stayed close to the refreshment table where I served up cup after cup of lemonade, I was reminded of similar sights I saw at the art gallery receptions I once attended in New York City. The well-known secret then was that no artist need ever starve,if they were resourceful enough to move through Soho or Chelsea in progressive-dining-mode and graze through the abundance of food and beverage piled on tables at both large and modest venues alike. Even the youngest of our artCamp artists seem to share this instinct. I have good faith they will become the art-makers and shakers of the art scenes of our tomorrows.

As my husband, David, likes to say, “You don’t have to be constantly creating works of art to live an artistic lifestyle.” This is just one of the many lessons our young artCamp protégés are learning as we teach them a smattering of French-on-the-porch along with the tools and skills and curiosities they’ll need to make magic of the creative lives they’ll be living full of artfully wondrous sights and sounds to savor.

“In the autumn of 1970 I had a job singing in the [Berkshire] school system, playing my guitar in classrooms,” he said. “I was sitting on the veranda one morning, reading a biography of Van Gogh, and suddenly I knew I had to write a song arguing that he wasn’t crazy. He had an illness and so did his brother Theo. This made [his life] different, in my mind, to the garden variety of 'crazy’—because [as was commonly thought] he was rejected by a woman. So I sat down with a print of ‘Starry Night’ and wrote out the lyrics on a paper bag.”
 
(“Vincent” was written by McLean while he was living in an apartment full of antiques in the Sedgwick House, a beautiful Federal style house in Stockbridge, Massachusetts. The Sedgwick family included Edie Sedgwick, a colorful figure whom pop artist Andy Warhol had filmed at his Factory in the 1960s.)
 
McLean explained the inspiration for his lyrics, “Looking at the picture, I realized that the essence of the artist’s life is his art. And so, I let the painting write the song for me. Van Gogh painted “Starry Night” during one of the most difficult periods of his life, while he was locked up in an asylum at Saint-Rémy. He had to paint the scene from memory, not outdoors as he preferred.
 
Journalist Brown observes that “with [a] bittersweet palette of major and minor chords, McLean’s soothing melody is one of high emotion recollected in tranquility. The lyrical list of colours—the ‘swirling clouds in violet haze’, the eyes of ‘China blue’ and the ‘snowy linen land’—evoke a mental slide show of the artist’s work.”
 
Vincent (Starry, Starry Night) by Don McLean, 1971
 
Starry, starry night
Paint your palette blue and grey
Look out on a summer's day
With eyes that know the darkness in my soul.
Shadows on the hills
Sketch the trees and the daffodils
Catch the breeze and the winter chills
In colors on the snowy linen land.
 
Now I understand
What you tried to say to me
And how you suffered for your sanity
And how you tried to set them free.
They would not listen, they did not know how
Perhaps they'll listen now.
 
Starry, starry night
Flaming flowers that brightly blaze
Swirling clouds in violet haze
Reflect in Vincent's eyes of china blue
Colors changing hue
Morning fields of amber grain
Weathered faces lined in pain
Are soothed beneath the artist's loving hand.
 
Now I understand
What you tried to say to me
And how you suffered for your sanity
And how you tried to set them free
They would not listen, they did not know how
Perhaps they'll listen now….
​
There are many versions of “Vincent (Starry, Starry Night)” performed by various musicians. I still like Don McLean’s rendering the best, though there’s a very popular one performed by Josh Groban. If you haven’t heard “Vincent (Starry, Starry Night)” recently or ever, take time to listen now.
 
Go to utube at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oxHnRfhDmrk. Queue up your iPhone or ipad. Find a quiet place to sit and be comfortable. Clear your mind and listen with your heart and know this great painter as never before.
 
Having taken in these lyrics again and again, they have become and will forever remain a go-to happy place within me. I hear the lyrics and I see Van Gogh’s “Starry Night” in my mind’s eye and then images of his other paintings begin to flow before me. Always I am captivated by “Café Terrace at Night”, the first painting in which Van Gogh used a background filled with stars in an evening sky—the painting made in Arles, France, in 1888, the year before Van Gogh was committed to the Saint-Rémy asylum and the year before our old house was built here in our small town of Carthage.
 
Today when at night I look up at the star-spangled summertime canopy over our small town, I am blissfully aware that the canopy above us is the same backdrop as the one we see in the paintings of Vincent Van Gogh’s Starry Night Skies.
 
I am grateful for the heavenly beauty that blessed and inspired this greater painter and blesses us still.   

When the puppies finished their last romp in the puppy yard, we sat in our small town on our evening stoop wrapped in summer’s warm embrace.  The chickens had been secured in their coop. Our Aussie had been spritzed with Island Sunset (our favorite new puppy scent) and groomed—ear ruffs combed to keep the mats away, pantaloons brushed to stay soft and fluffy. Our Wheaten Terrier/Poodle, Chiquita, had gone upstairs to be “mise en place” on David’s side of the bed. Lasyrenn sat on the top step between my husband and me. We were all content and quiet, peaceful and enchanted as we watched our dusk-time entertainers softly scattered, silently, randomly lighting up our clover-crusted lawn.
 
They reminded me of those New York City evenings when mesmerized I stood on the Manhattan bluffs above the Hudson River entranced by a similar show. Those nights there seemed to be thousands of tiny fairies illuminating the black backdrop of the New Jersey Palisades from tree line above to water’s edge below. Where did they come from? Why were they putting on such an extravaganza?
 
Fireflies. Lightning bugs. Summertime insect fairies. We love them. As children my little brother David and I ran barefoot over the Bermuda and Saint Augustine sod to catch them in our hands and put them in glass Mason jars. We punched holes in the jar lids to give them air. We placed a wet paper towel on the bottom topped with a few blades of grass for a temporary habitat. We set the jars on our bedside tables and fell asleep watching our guests taking turns going on and off, on and off like the rhythm of a lullaby. Next morning with Mother’s reminding, we took our visitors back outside, opened the lids and lay our jars sideways on the ground. By lunchtime our wee fairies had all disappeared.
 
Fireflies. Who are they? Our fireflies are not flies at all. The Lampyridae family of insects is in the beetle order Coleoptera with over 2,000 described species. Their name is from the Greek “lampein” which means “to shine”. Commonly called fireflies or lightning bugs, they are soft-bodied beetles known for using twilight bioluminescence to attract mates for loving or prey for dinner.
 
Did you know firefly light can be yellow, green or orange? With regard to energy expended to make their flashes, fireflies are efficiency superstars using oxygen to mix with luciferin that generates light with very little heat.
 
Serving as courting overtures in the insect world, firefly flashes can be as romantic as a dozen roses given by a lover to woo the affection of another. Male fireflies typically fly through the air in search of a female by emitting a species-specific flashing pattern of one to nine flashes. The females resting on the ground wait until they see a truly impressive light display. They indicate their interest with a single flash in a species-specific manner, timed to echo the males’ flashing. Then, well, you know the story. In nature’s perfect timing a batch of new fireflies will be birthed into our world.
 
Regrettably, humans are contributing to the demise of our firefly populations. If you don’t see as many this summer as you have in the past, consider that light pollution, development of appropriated firefly habitats and agricultural harvesting are decreasing their homes and numbers. Fireflies do not relocate when their homes are overtaken. Sadly, these magical insects of summer just disappear. Where can we find inspiration and answers to show us how we can keep our romantic fireflies happy at home and lighting up night skies in our small town and everywhere?
 
So often as artists seeking inspiration David and I simply look up to lift our spirits and to invite intuitive insight and answers. On many a summer’s night we are awed by the hosts of stars and planets shining as though to ignite sparks of ideas within us as they echo the firefly light show twinkling before us.
 
Frequently our awe for the beauty and the grandness of our natural world turns our thoughts to our awe for the great art we both love—art like Vincent Van Gogh’s exquisite “Starry Night” that we viewed at the Museum of Modern Art on our recent trip to New York City.
 
Made in June of 1889, by this post-impressionist Dutch painter this famous oil on canvas describes the view from the east-facing window of Van Gogh’s asylum room at Saint-Rémy-de-Provence. Just before sunrise the firmaments radiantly shine over far pastures and the ideal, church steepled village added by the artist. Did Van Gogh see fireflies dancing on the asylum’s lawn the summer nights before and after he painted this sunrise?
 
In this sweet summer of 2019, in our small town beneath our own firefly-sprinkled starry nights may we each find all the inspirations and answers we seek. May they twinkle in our hearts and in our minds like magical lightning bugs happily dancing over all our twilight lawns and across all our evening pastures for ever and ever. Amen.

​Do you remember how our cool, wet spring went on and on so sweetly in our small town? Now suddenly summer is insistently moving in hot and steamy! Yes, Missouri is definitely heating up!
 
To beat the Saturday heat we knew was coming with the rising sun, my husband David and I started out early to give our Aussie her training walk around Central Park. This takes a while with lots of repetition practiced at every street crossing as we focus on teaching her in French while she walks “au pied”, at heel, and learns her directions at every intersection looking “à droite”, to the right, “à gauche”, to the left and “allez-allez!” for go ahead.
 
Getting half way around the park this morning, we veered off course and passed the Library gardens and the Police Station to check the artCentral box at the Post Office. Continuing on we made the corner onto the historic Carthage square. After buying tomatoes and beets from Tammy Wilson at the Farmers Market, we lingered at the windows of the Big Dog Boutique before stopping for cappuccinos and pastries at Mother Road Coffee where we sat out front with our puppy.
 
As often happens at MRC, we met and had a delightful conversation with out-of-town visitors. This couple from north of Kansas City was passing through Carthage on a weekend getaway loop. They had found very affordable airbnb lodging at the Crossroads Loft, an 1880's executive loft that has been completely renovated.
 
We told our new acquaintances of some of the nearby great art in our small town like Judith Fowler’s pop-up exhibition on the other side of the Courthouse and the stunning interior of Lillian James, the upscale salon and spa conceived by owner Becky Andrews with artful multi-media assemblages by our late and famous artist Larry Glaze. We encouraged them to seek out Koral Martin’s colorful nature photography in her KOKA Art Gallery on down Main Street just past The Palms Massage and Day Spa, the Maple Leaf Music Company and Spellbound Boutique. We urged them to visit Cherry’s Art Emporium to see the works of local artist heroes including Lowell Davis, Jerry Ellis, Andy Thomas and Bob Tommey and the plethora of other highly accomplished Carthage and regional artists. Of course we shared our enthusiasm for artCentral’s summer happenings—artCamp and our Annual Membership Exhibition. By the time our new friends departed they were sold on Carthage as a haven filled with art and artists.
 
Our extended morning outing thoroughly enjoyed with Lasyrenn, we practiced street corner training all the way back home, where with David’s much needed assistance I finished prepping an artCentral mailing just in time to make the last Saturday afternoon mail pickup. Then off we went to meet up with our friends Kerry and Bev for a much anticipated afternoon art party—Art by the Spring at historic Cox Spring hosted by artist April Davis-Brunner in the amazing, art-filled home she’s created with her husband, Larry, nestled in their serenely forested acreage.
 
Leaving our car beneath shade trees in the Parking Pasture, we passed between two stone stanchions adorned with a plaque reading “Cox Spring, Established 1842” and topped with two silhouetted black buzzards. Created by April’s dad Lowell Davis assisted by Jason Vickers, these watchful greeters cut from metal, perched on large wooden limbs before a metal disc of a golden full moon.
 
Cox Spring was settled by John Cox, the founder of Joplin. His name is inscribed on a limestone ledge above the spring which was a regular stop to provide water to both passengers and animals on the Butterfield Stagecoach Lines in the late 1800’s. The ruts from the stagecoach trail are still visible in the yard west of the spring which is said to have been used during the Civil War for encampments and as a water source. In the early 1900’s the spring was a popular place for church picnics and family gatherings.
 
We imagined we could almost catch snippets of laughter from past good times echoing off the bluff and bubbling down the meandering waterway. Hearing the sweet real time notes of stringed instruments and singing voices, we were delighted with the offerings of guest musicians including Taylor Jones, Alex Williams and Jeremiah Jones positioned knee deep among lavender blooming hostas. While beautiful notes wafted about us, we wandered through the art-filled tents set beside the brook where white ducks waddled on the colorfully flowered banks and fishes lazily swam just beneath the clear surface. Sampling the abundance of palate-pleasing beans and cornbread and fragrant muffins and brownies, we toured the main house and April’s Art House where she makes her art and teaches lessons. Her artistic creations were everywhere, available for pleasurable looking and for purchase, too.
 
What a splendidly artful, steamy summer Saturday from beginning to ending with our driving the winding backroads carrying us home to Carthage and our old house filled top to bottom and inside and out with art that moves our hearts in every season in our small town. 

ARTCAMP INTERNS ARE IMPORTANT!      ​

I can’t imagine trying to stage artCamp without volunteer interns! Interns are important!

What am I to do? Some of my best interns have taken full time summer jobs and won’t be available for artCamp.

Help! I need more interns to make this year’s artCamp run smoothly and well. Last year artCamp had eleven interns. Today we have only four. My teachers need your support!

Will you please step up and say you’ll help? Will you give a day or two or more to have a lot of fun assisting an artCamp teacher, while encouraging our young aspiring artists as they explore and create in the world of art at artCentral?​Please call me today at (417) 358-4404 to say you want to help make our 2019 artCamp another grand success. You can make a difference!

artCentral’s artCamp for youth, ages 8 to 14, is happening Mondays through Fridays, July 8-12 and July 14-19, 2019! For two weeks our beautiful, historic Hyde House galleries and our Pottery House are transmogrified into teaching classrooms. A typical day looks like this for you as a volunteer intern:

• Sack Lunch - Bring one. Juice boxes are available for 50 cents
• Dress Code - Cool, appropriately modest, art intern attire
• Cell Phones - Silenced and not used in front of campers (Campers don’t get to keep or carry theirs)
• 9:00 a.m. Coffee’s ready! Arrival and classroom preparation
• 9:45 a.m. Porch time with campers
• 10:00 a.m. Morning class session begins
• Noon Lunch with campers and lawn play with teacher and intern supervision
• 1:00 p.m. Afternoon class session begins
• 2:45 p.m. Snacks for campers in the kitchen
• 3:00 p.m. Campers depart. Teachers and interns tidy and prepare classrooms for the next morning
• 4:00 p.m. Finish up and head home.

Inspired by this year’s artCamp theme, “All Creatures Great and Small”, our 2019 curriculum is packed with forty imaginative creature-centric classes in a multitude of media from clay to fiber, paper to paint, glass to recycles and more. You can find them all listed with details on artCentral’s website at www.artcentralcarthage.org/artcamp-2019.html. Check out the choices and let me know your preferences. I’ll try to match your interning time with your favorites. No special skills are required. Just bring your interest in art and the desire to make a difference helping boys and girls have fun, positive experiences in a nurturing environment where they can discover their talents.
 
The boys and girls that come to artCamp are amazing. They choose to come. They beg to come. They pester their parents to let them come. One returning young artCamp fellow negotiated with his mom to let him earn half his two week tuition by doing extra family chores. She agreed. He succeeded and he’s registered to learn and create for the two special weeks he looked forward to all through the school year.
 
Guided and supported by their teachers and interns artCampers have fun and make new friends while making lots of truly amazing art to display at the closing exhibition then take home as their own uniquely created treasures. These artCampers grow before our very eyes as they extend kindness and support to each other. The older ones help the younger ones and the younger ones find older artCampers as role models to learn from and emulate.
 
Interns are essential to facilitating artCamp’s positive, uplifting opportunities for growth and discovery. This year I have only four interns signed up so far. Justus Cunningham is a student still in school. A Carthage High School graduate, artist Aurelia Burr is newly returned to Missouri following a one year gig as an au pair for two children in Australia.
 
Jackie Boyer, a retired interior designer, serves on or presides over several philanthropic boards in Carthage. Originally from Georgia, she’s a long time member of artCentral’s board of directors, just finishing her term as artCentral’s board president. Her grandson, Cook Hudson, comes to artCamp all the way from Columbia, Missouri.
 
Bev Sturgis, a career retired aerospace engineer, is an Oklahoma farm girl and avid master gardener dedicated to keeping organic seed lines safe. She is an outdoor enthusiast and dedicated biker and an emerging artist in various media.
 
Justus, Aurelia, Jackie and Bev are my key 2019 artCamp volunteer intern-magic-makers so far. They are terrifically valued and appreciated for sharing their precious summer days mentoring our delightful artCampers! Please, please give me a call or email me at artcentral@artcentralcarthage.org and add your energy to this terrific intern team.
 
Again I send out a most sincere “Thank You!” to the community supporters of artCamp. Their contributions make artCamp possible. This year’s generous artCamp donors include the Helen S. Boylan Foundation, the Carthage Council on the Arts, Crackpot Pottery and Art Studio, the Ruth I. Kolpin Foundation, Leggett & Platt, Inc., the Rotary Club of Carthage, S&S Computers and Walmart.

Walk through the summery green front door of artCentral at Hyde House, and what do you see? There is lovely natural light pouring in through the expansive, undraped windows. There are the simple, arts-and-crafts white staircase rungs marching up to the second floor.

Enter this historic four square farmhouse at 1110 East Thirteenth Street in Carthage and you see the welcoming foyer filled with selections from artCentral’s Annual Membership Exhibition on view in June (during weekend gallery hours Friday and Saturday, 12:00-5:00 p.m., and Sunday, 1:00-5:00 p.m.) and through July by appointment.

Throughout all the galleries downstairs and upstairs the vibrant works of forty-three artCentral artists are waiting for your viewing pleasure. You can preview the entire exhibition in the photo album on artCentral’s Facebook page at www.facebook.com/ArtcentralCarthage/. Take a look online then come delight and marvel at the wealth of talent shining through all the wondrous works of art in this exceptionally strong collection.

When you do arrive, before you leave the foyer to wander through the house exhibition, pause to take in the wondrous art created by artCamp’s instructors. Yes, they’ve created delightful samples of their class projects and these are all on display. They are fun! They are colorful! They are creative inspirations for all the aspiring young artists, ages 8-14, who will become artCampers during artCamp’s two weeks, July 8-12 and July 15-19, 2019, 10:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m.

You can register your artCamper at Hyde House. Curriculum and registration forms may also be picked up at Carthage venues including Cherry's Art Emporium, the Carthage Public Library, KOKA Art Gallery, Mother Road Coffee, the Palms Massage and Day Spa and the Carthage Deli and in Joplin at Spiva Center for the Arts, Cleo’s Picture Framing and Design and Crackpot Pottery and Art Studio. Forms for artCamp are also available online at https://www.artcentralcarthage.org/artcamp-2019 where you’ll find all the fun artCamp facts.

Here is a look at the choices for all Week Two Classes:

MONDAY, July 15:
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PAINT BABY ANIMALS with April Davis-Brunner - Draw and acrylic paint your favorite baby. Bring a photo, if you want to.
HOGWARTS SCHOOL FANTASTIC BEASTS with Teri Y. Diggs – Create your own magical creatures with backstories and magical powers.
AUSTRALIAN ANIMALS with Cheryl Church - Learn about the art of the Aborigines and use sticks to dot paint aboriginal motifs.
THOR’S HAMMER with Sarah Serio - Are you a worthy creature to forge and lift Thor’s Hammer made big and strong from recycles?

TUESDAY, July 16:

I LOVE♥MANY KINDS OF ANIMALS! with Alexandra Burnside - Make a paper menagerie using lots of paper hearts and glitter, too!
PICTURE FRAMES with April Davis-Brunner - Use pretty embellishments to decorate a frame for your favorite pet photo.
FEATHER YOUR POCKET PURSE with Teri Y. Diggs - Upcycle a denim jeans pocket as a unique bag with embellishments.
FLY AWAY WITH GLASS BIRDS (Ages 10-14, campers wear closed toe shoes) with Jane McCaulley – Make a glass tree full of birds & a stand up bird!

WEDNESDAY, July 17:

PAPIER MACHE PIGGY BANKS with Alexandra Burnside - On a balloon mache your piggy fat and fun! Paint a face. Add a tail and ears.
AFRICAN TINGA TINGA with Cheryl Church - Learn Tinga history as you draw and vibrantly paint African Tinga animals.
PAINT WINGED FLYING FRIENDS with April Davis-Brunner - Using acrylics, paint a favorite—butterfly, eagle, owl—your choice on canvas.
HOGWARTS SCHOOL WIZARD WARES with Teri Y. Diggs – In this School of Wizardry you create quills, wands, parchment and butterbeer!

THURSDAY, July 18:

PAPER MOSAIC ANIMALS with Alexandra Burnside - Colorfully paint papers and cut them into shapes you assemble into animals!
PRETTY FLOWER POTS with April Davis-Brunner - Attach a pet photo and paint and decorate a pot then plant a posie.
ADVANCED ZENTANGLE with Teri Y. Diggs - With gobs and oodles of tangles and doodles you create unique animals.
FRIENDLY GLASS BUGS (Ages 10-14, campers wear closed toe shoes) with Jane McCaulley – Use different glasses and techniques to make a butterfly, a jar of lightning bugs and a dragonfly.

FRIDAY, July 19:
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DOTTED DARLINGS with Alexandra Burnside - Draw and acrylic dot paint enchanting animal friends.
CREATE YOUR OWN JEWELRY with April Davis-Brunner - Sculpt beads and flowers and more for bracelets or earrings or a necklace!
RESIST ANIMALS! with Cheryl Church - Create several projects with resist painting techniques on tiles and paper.
CUSTOM ARMOR with Sarah Serio - Be prepared! Custom design your very own unique arm bracers and shields.

In their chosen classes, 2019 artCampers will experience the delight and satisfaction of creating individual art projects to keep and take home. Additionally, they will have an opportunity to exhibit their creations at the end of the last day of 2019 artCamp. An artCamper Exhibition and Reception will be held at Hyde House, Friday evening, July 19 from 6:00 to 8:00 p.m. Refreshments will be served. Family and friends are invited to celebrate the artCamper creations while they meet artCamp’s 2019 teachers and interns in artCentral’s Main Galleries.

To the community supporters of artCentral’s nineteenth artCamp we send out an appreciative “Thank You!” Their help makes possible the two weeks of summer magic beginning very soon at artCentral! This year’s generous artCamp donors include the Helen S. Boylan Foundation, the Carthage Council on the Arts, Crackpot Pottery and Art Studio, the Ruth I. Kolpin Foundation, Leggett & Platt, Inc., the Rotary Club of Carthage, S&S Computers and Walmart.

The artCamp teachers have delivered their class sample projects. They are all really awesome and fun! So many great ideas are on display. All are created with an amazing variety of media and imagination. You can see them at Hyde House, 1110 East Thirteenth Street in Carthage, during weekend gallery hours Friday and Saturday, 12:00-5:00 p.m., and Sunday, 1:00-5:00 p.m. Come view these cool creations and register your artCamper soon!

Curriculum and registration forms may be picked up at artCentral and at Carthage venues including Cherry's Art Emporium, the Carthage Public Library, KOKA Art Gallery, Mother Road Coffee, The Palms Massage and Day Spa and the Carthage Deli and in Joplin at Spiva Center for the Arts, Cleo’s Picture Framing and Design and Crackpot Pottery and Art Studio. Forms for artCamp are also available online at https://www.artcentralcarthage.org/artcamp-2019 where you’ll find all the fun artCamp facts.

When you are at artCentral to pick up or drop off your artCamper registration be sure to take in the 2019 Annual Membership Exhibition which will be on view through all of June, during weekend gallery hours, as well as through artCamp. Viewing in July will be by appointment. Detailed information is at www.artcentralcarthage.org.

Yes, during artCamp’s two weeks, Mondays through Fridays, July 8-12 and July 14-19, 2019, artCentral’s aspiring young artists, ages 8-14, will be surrounded by great art made by the accomplished artists of Carthage as well as talented artists from neighboring towns.

Inspired by this year’s artCamp theme, “All Creatures Great and Small”, our 2019 curriculum is our very best ever. Four unique classes are offered for each artCamp day. Here is a look at the choices for all Week One Classes:

MONDAY, July 8:
ANI-MUGS with Alexandra Burnside - Create a clay animal mug masterpiece using hand building techniques.
GOURDS OF FUN with Cheryl Church - Learn to create farm animals out of Sculptey clay and gourds. 
AMAZING ANIMAL HABITAT DIORAMA with Anne-Marie Gailey - Draw and paint! Sculpt and construct! Waterfalls and mountains and forests!
WATERCOLOR PAINTING with Tom Jones - Get the paper wet. Add exciting splashes of color for a sunflower and a ladybug, too!

TUESDAY, July 9:
PILLOW PETS with Alexandra Burnside - Draw and sew and stuff your special fabric animal or imaginary creature.
CLAY HOMES FOR WINGED FRIENDS with Cheryl Church - Learn hand building techniques as you create a clay bird house.
CHARCOAL PORTRAITS with Tom Jones - Humans are creatures, too! Have fun with this slightly messy medium!
BARNYARD ANIMALS IN GLASS (Ages 10-14, campers wear closed toe shoes) with Jane McCaulley make a glass rooster+cow+pig+maybe more!

WEDNESDAY, July 10:
CLAY PINCH POTS with Cheryl Church - Learning cool techniques, you make clay whistles and flutes and even drums!
COLORFUL STONE PAINTING with Teri Y. Diggs - Learn simple steps and layouts for stone painting your favorite critters.
3D MODEL TREE HOUSE with Anne-Marie Gailey - Design and build a unique model tree house for viewing nature and animals.
WATERCOLOR ABSTRACTS with Tom Jones - Learn fun and super cool techniques and tips for abstract beauty and backgrounds.

THURSDAY, July 11:
NATURAL 3D BUILT ENVIRONMENT with Deb Bentlage - Collaboratively construct a mixed media natural habitat on photo canvas.
SCULPT BABY ANIMALS with April Davis-Brunner - Shape, sculpt and create your favorite babies.
COLORED TISSUE PAINTING and COLLAGE with Tom Jones - All creatures are possible to create with colorful tissue painting!
UNDER SEA GLASS CREATURES (Ages 10-14, campers wear closed toe shoes) with Jane McCaulley - Make glass jelly fish, starfish and more!

FRIDAY, July 12:
LACEY AND PRETTY ZENTANGLE with Teri Y. Diggs - Learn Zentangle drawing and create beautiful butterfly wing designs. 
JAPANESE SHADOW THEATER with Anne-Marie Gailey - Learn about unique Japanese creatures. Build a theater. Make jewelry, too!
ACRYLIC ABSTRACTIONS and POURS with Tom Jones - Explore new and unique acrylic techniques!
ACTION FIGURE DIORAMA with Sarah Serio - Create an animal filled adventure world for your action figures to roam.

​Yes, Week One at artCamp is packed with an awesome array of innovative creative opportunities and sure-to-be favorites for every artCamper. Classes are filling up fast. Don’t delay. Sign up your artCamper today!
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An end-of-artCamp Reception and Exhibition will be held in the Main Gallery at Hyde House on Friday, July 19, 2019, from 6:00-8:00 p.m. Everyone is invited. Mark your calendar and plan to come celebrate our artCampers and their two weeks of exciting creativity! I look forward to having you join us!