​THE BEAUTY OF BITTERSWEET

Along the way as we passed a boundary generously decorated with bittersweet, my father would point out the window and exclaim, “Look! There’s lots over there. Isn’t that beautiful?” Dependably, Mother would chorus, “Let’s stop and cut some to take to the folks!”

We did stop. We stopped and helped ourselves to the abundant bounty free for the harvesting and filled the large basket we carried for collecting the treasure that was to be our yearly offering.

As we arrived at our farmhouse destination, Daddy pulled into the front yard. From under the glowing yellow maple tree he dramatically honked our car horn over and over. Uncle Chester flung open the screen door, waved and crossed over the wrap-around porch. With his burly arms he gathered us up and then our overnight cases. When Aunt Gladys came out wiping her hands on her white apron, Mother presented her with our bittersweet brimming basket.

While Daddy parked by the chicken coup, my brother and I raced to be first at the outhouse. Until my brother was old enough to go to school, I always won, being four years older.

Though we wanted to explore the big hay barn, dinner smells drew us inside and to the dining room. There we found Aunt Gladys expressing her delight as she decorated the dinner table “just so” with our vining strands of festive orange berries. Mother Nature was palpably present blessing the table before we even sat down and Uncle Chester said our grace.

Uncle Chester and Aunt Gladys have passed. Their memory-filled farmhouse is gone—burned to the ground by a lightning strike. Mother and Daddy and my brother are all gone, too.
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Ah, such bittersweet memories. They return this time each year as our trees color and the air turns brisk and my husband David and I decorate our old home with autumn leaves and strands and wreaths of bittersweet and other autumn berries. Nothing much else is needed except for a scented candle burning in each room, offering up the memories of bittersweet seasons already passed.
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October is a bittersweet, sad-and-happy month. All the while we are saying our good-byes to the bright sunshine and warmth of the summer just passing, we are celebrating with the pageantry of Maple Leaf as we anticipate the festivities of the holidays—artCentral’s Holiday Boutique and the 5x7 Silent Auction and the splendid, fund-raising Amaryllis waiting to burst into brilliant scarlet blooms.
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As songster Billy Joel reminds us, “Life is a series of hellos and goodbyes.”

Even an exceptional art exhibition must come to an end with our regretful good-bye, but not quite yet. You still have plenty of time to say “hello” to Jodie Sutton’s ENCAUSTIC AUTUMN LANDSCAPES—112 stunningly awesome paintings made with hot wax—continuing on view at Hyde House through November 17, 2019. Gallery Hours: Fridays and Saturdays, 12:00 to 5:00 p.m. and Sundays 1:00 to 5:00 p.m. The display of this beautiful collection is generously underwritten by Sirloin Stockade. For more information call (417)358-4404.
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I send you best wishes for this beautiful bittersweet season.

​When David gets his curiosity all revved up and puts his questions to me, he just won’t give them a rest until he gets sufficient explanations to satisfy his persistent queries. At last he’ll have his answers here

​Encaustics were first created in Greece.

An ancient painting medium with roots running as far back as the fifth century B.C., encaustic, meaning “to burn in or fuse”, was first practiced by the artists of ancient Greece.

As the oldest known pigment binder, encaustic combines molten beeswax with dry pigment and tree resin. Encaustic is completely resistant to the effects of moisture. This main preservation property of encaustic was instrumental for weatherproofing Greek ships. Introducing pigments to the wax brought about the decorating of ships with colorful iconography.

Greeks that settled in Egypt adopted the custom of honoring their dead by painting their portraits. Their encaustic rendering of a deceased, in the prime of life or after death, was placed over the mummy of the person.  The Fayum Portraits are the most well-known of these funerary paintings. They are the only encaustic paintings that survive from ancient times.

Some of the Fayum Portraits dating 3,500 years old are part of the Egyptian collection at the Metropolitan Museum of Art as well as in other museum collections around the world. All of these encaustic works are in very good condition considering how old they are. In comparison, most Renaissance paintings are only 500 years old, cracking and in need of extensive restoration work.

​In ancient times, the encaustic fusing process was achieved by putting a flame under metal that heated the painting.

Today the encaustic is a very versatile medium that offers a variety of handling methods.  Once molten, the wax is applied to the surface with a brush or other tools and fused with a heat gun, heated iron or propane torch.  In earlier times, the same fusing process was achieved by putting a flame under metal that heated the entire surface of the painting. Because of the adherent nature of wax, this medium also works well with the application of collage materials.

As a hardening agent, Damar tree resin is added to the molten wax. The resin also acts as a bonding agent as well as a hardening agent for the beeswax. Like in ancient times, this resin is what gives encaustic paintings their rich and glasslike sheen if buffed. Just before guests arrived for Jodie’s Opening Reception, Jodie moved through all the galleries carrying small, soft white cloths and gently buffing each of her paintings—making them at their very best for their evening debut.

Encaustic is best painted onto rigid wood. A variety of other surfaces can also be used. The applied wax can be thick or thin, translucent, clear or opaque or molded. The wax surface can be scraped, carved or etched into. Jodie Sutton uses various techniques and tools, including exacto knives, to achieve the exquisite details and textures in her painting surfaces. Among my favorites of her details are the randomly appearing dark, dashed lines. She makes these using a small pointed-toothed wheel, the very same type of wheel I once used when transferring onto fabric the cutting lines printed on tissue paper dress-making patterns. Virtually any color pigment can be added to the hot wax though consistency and pigment particle size varies. To intensify details, Jodie uses pigment sticks (that come premade from R&F Paints) rubbing the color into the lines and wiping away any excess.

​To view Jodie’s painting process please visit:
https://www.jsuttonstudio.com/?fbclid=IwAR1coDUNqcEI-sFSx46f4meZ3RMuGWmC2fsawyjrxHt9dQPFdYmoyUIucz8.

ENCAUSTICS: When and where did they begin?

With your now knowing the answers, be sure to visit ENCAUSTIC AUTUMN LANDSCAPES which continues on view at Hyde House during weekend hours through November 17, 2019.

    Works of a Wonder Woman on artCentral's Walls         

​My husband, David, artCentral’s prepitor (art handler and installation guru) and I watched with satisfaction. After finishing our day job tasks, for three nights we had worked very late installing Jodie’s art. For hours we moved throughout the galleries, upstairs and down, thoughtfully considering the conversations suggested by these beautiful encaustics. As we placed all of Jodie’s 112 awesomely stunning paintings we kept thinking and talking about how much we’d like to purchase and gift every single one to ourselves and others. Finally, we made our choices for acquiring four of these treasures.

​Jodie’s creations, painted with molten, pigmented wax, (sometimes applied in as many as fifty layers) range from 4”x4” at $35.00 to 30”x40”at $700.00 with a wide variety of sizes, presentations—framed or matted or unframed—and price points in between. Please do come see for yourself this astounding, budget accessible collection of beauty and wonder. Just as we have, you, too, will quite likely fall in love with Jodie's exhibition and find a favorite painting or two to take home.

​I have worked for the same company for ten years and just a year ago started working from home. My job varies from day to day. One day, I could be working on a print brochure and the next I could be working on a web page design for a mobile device.”

“I enjoy my full time job,” this artist tells me, “I get to be creative and work for a company that focuses on helping children and teachers succeed. However after sitting for forty hours in front of a computer each week, painting gives me a much needed break from the technology that I enjoy.”

While fully committed to her family and her forty-hour a week day job, Jodie still manages to carve out studio hours. She stands in that class of exceptional artists I think of and admire as the Wonder Women of the Art World. Somehow they have those special skills that enable them to be fully present to their families and day jobs while they create a significant body of highly accomplished art.

Loving spirits are surely with this young woman! Daily they are giving her the grace to live a complex life with great poise and success. I am grateful to have Jodie’s talented graciousness glowing on the walls of artCentral.

Jodie Sutton’s ENCAUSTIC AUTUMN LANDSCAPES, generously underwritten by Sirloin Stockade, will continue on view through November 17, 2019. The public is invited. Admission is free. Weekend Gallery Hours are Fridays and Saturdays, 12:00-5:00 p.m., and Sundays, 1:00-5:00 p.m. On October 19th, the Saturday of the Maple Leaf Parade, artCentral will be open by prearranged appointment only. Please call (417)358-4404 to schedule your visit.
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To watch videos of Jodie at work visit https://www.jsuttonstudio.com/….

Jodie’s paintings made with wax may look simple at first sight and with regard to composition many of them are, but they have a captivating and sophisticated simplicity accomplished by Jodie’s dedication and her mastery of the demanding medium of encaustics. To watch videos of Jodie at work visit 
https://www.jsuttonstudio.com/...

I first grew to be enchanted with encaustics during my New York City (Greenwich Village/Chelsea/Brooklyn) years while I was living in what felt like the epicenter of the art world. That’s when I became acquainted with the encaustic work of the now famous Jasper Johns. My next door neighbors on Barrow Street had served with Johns in Korea. Having worked with him on entertainment for their company, they proudly trotted out and showed me the lovingly preserved theater designs they had collaboratively made with Johns.

Back then I was living in the West Village. Six days a week I left my brownstone and traversed Sheridan Square to work for a small fashion house on Greenwich Avenue where I was designing dresses, as well as designing and installing window settings. When I learned that much earlier Jasper Johns and Robert Rausenberg had designed windows for Tiffany’s and Bonwit Teller, I claimed them as kindred spirits. Of course the windows I was designing for Lo’s New York were certainly not so prestigiously chichi as those the men had created, but still, I liked to think of our having similar gigs.

During the 1950’s while Johns and Rauschenberg were sharing studio space, Johns was strongly influenced by their friends, the choreographer Merce Cunningham and the composer John Cage. Working together they explored the contemporary art scene, and began developing their ideas on art.
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Today Jasper Johns is known as the American painter-sculptor-printmaker whose work is associated with abstract expressionism, Neo-Dada and pop art. (Andy Warhol was one of his acolytes.) Well-known for his encaustic depictions of the American flag and other U.S. iconography, Johns' works regularly go for millions of dollars at sale and auction, including a reported $110 million sale in 2010. At multiple times works by Johns have held the title of “most paid for a work by a living artist”, putting to rest the old saw that if you follow your artistic bliss you will end up a starving artist.

​Today Jasper Johns is known as the American painter-sculptor-printmaker whose work is associated with abstract expressionism, Neo-Dada and pop art. (Andy Warhol was one of his acolytes.) Well-known for his encaustic depictions of the American flag and other U.S. iconography, Johns' works regularly go for millions of dollars at sale and auction, including a reported $110 million sale in 2010. At multiple times works by Johns have held the title of “most paid for a work by a living artist”, putting to rest the old saw that if you follow your artistic bliss you will end up a starving artist.

Johns, now 89 and living in Sharon, Connecticut, since the 1990’s, upon his death wants to leave his estate as a gift to that town. His properties will be used as an artists’ retreat where 18 to 24 artists at a time can live and work without distraction. (When I did a painting fellowship at the Vermont Studio Center two states north in Stowe, Vermont, I found just that kind of opportunity in a community of creative artists. Our studios and lodging were provided. Our meals, too. All I did was make art, visit the local old-fashioned mom-and-pop New England hardware store and climb the path plowed through waist-deep snow to the community college on the hill where I went to swim laps in the frigid cold pool.)

In Sharon, Connecticut, a town Selectman says the gift from Johns will be great for Sharon and other towns in northwest Connecticut. “In our town and in our region, we have every type of artist you could possibly imagine. We have artists that do art through wood or iron, painting, drawing, music, you name it. I’ve watched our town change into a very active artists’ community, just in the past three or four years.”
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All this good artist retreat news gets me wondering, why don’t we start this conversation in our own region of southwest Missouri? Certainly the wealth of talent is already here! And can you imagine a more ideal setting than Carthage to offer artists a quiet life where they can focus and concentrate on their art-making. Jasper Johns’ retreat will employ 19 to 25 people. A retreat here in Carthage can offer similar economic benefits. I’m going to get me a soap box and calligraphy “Artist Retreat” on two sides and “Dog Park” on the front and back. I’ll have more to write later on these themes.

In the meantime come see Jodie Sutton’s intriguing ENCAUSTIC AUTUMN LANDSCAPES at artCentral. I will tell you more about artists Jodie Sutton and Jasper Johns and the roots of encaustics that run deep into antiquity in my next Art Notes.

I have seen enough encaustics to know encaustics is not an easy medium. Arduous is an apt description of the process. Demanding. Requires artistic gumption and grit. Immensely rewarding and satisfying—if and when accomplished.

Encaustics require extra effort—by the maker. By the viewer, too. You have to look and look again with patience and curiosity. Satisfactions can be readily seen on the textured surface but they are hidden, as well, in the depths of the layers. Appreciating encaustics is certainly worthwhile.

Cleo Copeland—passionate patron of the arts and owner of Cleo’s Framing and Design in Joplin—will back me up in this. For years she’s been looking and buying and homing art like a life purpose. She’s always on the lookout for something exceptional. Something with that extra effort that creates the edge.

Cleo called me long before I stood meditating on the complexities of “Broken Halos”. She asked, “Do you remember that small, red encaustic painting that hung upstairs a year or so ago. The artist was new to me. I don’t remember the name. Do you? I still keep thinking about that piece! Did someone purchase that treasure?”

Of course I remembered the very work! I too had been drawn and impressed by the magic on that seemingly simple, textured surface. I remembered the artist, Jodie Sutton—a first time artCentral group show exhibitor who received honorable mention from the juror.
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With a couple of texts and emails I located Jodie’s contact info and passed that on to Cleo who promptly followed through with her pursuit and added that red treasure to her personal collection. Voilà! Once again as artCentral’s curator I had the joy and pleasure of seeing exceptional art discovered and perfectly homed by a happy patron.

Board members Doug Osborn and Jason Shelfer, both artists themselves, are serving as the evening’s impresarios, so we know the event will be awesome and special.
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Surely, when you read here Jodie’s own words you will be enticed to write large on your calendar ENCAUSTIC AUTUMN LANDSCAPES!

These pieces reflect the various stages of my journey in encaustic painting. After a long break from the fine arts, I found myself needing to disconnect from the daily barrage of technology. So, I taught myself the basics of encaustics and I began experimenting in photo encaustics.

I soon transitioned into abstract landscapes and nonrepresentational pieces. I enjoy exploring the texture, translucent quality and fluidity that can be achieved through the medium.

Encaustic is a wax-based paint. Made of beeswax, resin and pigment, the encaustic mixture is heated to about 170 degrees Fahrenheit and kept at a molten state for painting. The encaustic paint is applied to a rigid surface. After each layer is applied, the piece is fused by blowtorch or heat gun. This technique creates a unique texture and vibrancy that’s difficult to reproduce in other mediums.”
********

Jodie Sutton has mastered the art of creating texture and vibrancy with encaustics, and she puts in the hours and hard work that make this look easy. Best of all, her results are stunning. Come see for yourself!

​To watch videos of Jodie at work visit https://www.jsuttonstudio.com/?fbclid=IwAR1coDUNqcEI-sFSx46f4meZ3RMuGWmC2fsawyjrxHt9dQPFdYmoyUIucz8.

The seasons they are a-changing! As artCentral artist Tyla Marie Raredon writes:

​New beginnings and endings. Long nights, a sleeping land.
Cicadas, crickets and katydids are slowing their tempo, quieting down their exuberance.
Light is being clarified by the tilt of the Earth. A random bright orange leaf can be spotted.
Darkness creeps in earlier and earlier, pushing daylight into the shadows.
Birds once scattered, are forming flocks.
Butterflies are in abundance, fluttering around late blooming flowers.
A crow family, with a summer home elsewhere in town, has returned.
A light cool breeze can occasionally be felt, stirring up a slight smell of decay.
Sunflowers hang with heavy heads, bowing to the goldfinches....
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Yes, the seasons are a-changing as sunflowers bow their heads, and we are doing our best to keep up with all the birthdays in my husband David’s and my blended families. We’ve celebrated spring and summer birthdays. Now we look ahead to autumn’s and winter’s as we update David’s beautiful birthday book inscribed and given to him my his mother, Lydia Lucille. She, like David, was a gifted artist. We have several of her paintings displayed in Paradise.

David’s birthday book is a splendid example of his mother’s impeccable, stylish taste. Published by the Museum of Art, New York, the cover replicates an art nouveau detail of a wallpaper design by Englishman William Morris (1834). The front and back endpapers are reproduction details of a textile design, “Brother Rabbit”, also by Morris.

Throughout the book facing pages are set up so one is chronologically dated throughout a year with birth dates for well known artists and lines for entering other birthdays. Each companion page offers a reproduction of an exceptional work of art. Altogether the array of artworks reflects the diversity of the Museum’s collections.
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The book includes architects, couturiers, cabinetmakers, goldsmiths, silversmiths, print-makers, photographers, illustrators and musical-instrument makers, as well as painters and sculptors—from Peter Paul Rubens (1577) to Rembrandt (1606); from Paul Revere (1735) to Mary Cassatt (1844), William Morris Tiffany (1848), Henri Toulouse-Lautrec (1864), Winslow Homer (1870) and Pablo Picasso (1881); from The House of Peter Carl Fabergé (1846) to Andrew Wyeth (1917) and David Hockney (1937). To turn a page, any page, is to be inspired and delighted!

Delighted I am when I look at my own birthday pages! On the line beside my date, in his best cursive, David has written “My Beloved Wife Alice Lynn Greenwood-Mathé”. The image pairing with David’s inscription is an upclose detail of “The Oxbow” (The Connecticut River near Northampton, after a thunderstorm), 1896, a lushly rendered painting by Thomas Cole.

Where did Thomas Cole go from Ohio? He went into the American wilderness. He took a steamship up the Hudson in the autumn of 1825, stopping first at West Point then at Catskill landing. He hiked west high into the eastern Catskill Mountains of New York where he painted the first landscapes of the area. Coming from England, the brilliant autumn colors in the American landscape inspired him.

Cole found work early on as an engraver and maintained a studio at the farm called Cedar Grove, in the town of Catskill, New York. He painted a significant portion of his work in this studio. Mostly a self-taught painter, he relied on books and studied the work of other artists. In 1836, he married Maria Bartow of Catskill. They had five children.
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Cole is regarded as the founder of the Hudson River School, an American art movement that flourished in the mid-19th century and was embodied by a group of landscape painters whose aesthetic vision was influenced by Romanticism. Often juxtaposing peaceful agriculture and the remaining wilderness which was fast disappearing, they portrayed the American landscape as a pastoral setting, where human beings and nature coexisted peacefully. Their highly detailed paintings typically depicted the Hudson River Valley and surrounding area, including the Catskill, Adirondack and White Mountains just as they were becoming appreciated for their qualities of ruggedness and sublimity.

Just like we’ve both been known to do before, when something poignant moves our artist hearts as one, we cried and cried. Then we wiped our cheeks and picked up our next bites with our chopsticks, and we laughed and laughed about how hard we’d been crying over a sad song and we talked about how fortunate we are to have the joy of a shared life knitted together by art in the many forms that move and inspire us.
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As many of you already know, David and I are well into preparing for our collaborative artCentral exhibition that will be unveiled in October of 2020. Since for now our day jobs are making of us Sunday-only painters, our once-a-week afternoon studio hours are very precious to us. After Sunday brunch in Joplin and alternating brief trips with Lasyrenn and Chiquita for a walk-around at George Washington Carver Monument Park or lots of running at Parr Hill Dog Park, we’re eager to be home ensconced in our twin studios.

When we take breaks we’re apt to cross the hall and pay studio visits. David likes to sit in my angel chair in my somewhat tidy space. He quietly looks and ponders what’s on my easel. He never gives advice, but from time to time he’ll make an affirming comment on my work in progress. Or maybe he’ll ask a provocative question that gets me thinking about a possibility of expression I haven’t yet considered. I like his visits.

Going into David’s studio is for me like entering an entirely different world. Besides the paintings underway on his two big easels there are objets d’art scattered everywhere—on window ledges and tops of chests and palette cabinets, over table surfaces and on the floor and spilling out of drawers. Here is creative chaos personified housing a plethora of treasures to tempt my acquisitive nature. Sometimes when I express a special liking for one of these treasures, David just gives me his good stuff—good stuff like an old weathered board found beside the road or like the wind worn and unraveling prayer flags from our chickens’ palace.
Eventually all our combined good stuff will show up in David’s or my paintings and assemblages to become our “Signs and Wonders” exhibition. My focus is on “signs”—traffic signs that tell stories, text set in curious places, iconic images with universal interpretations. David’s emphasis is on “wonders” painted and constructed on various surfaces whether canvas or wood or any number of found objects.
Like our food preferences, our tastes can be broad and varied with regard to arty materials and their manipulation. Neither of us knows for sure how many works we’ll have ready or how they’ll all fit together for our exhibition. I often look at David’s painted fortune teller and think,“Perhaps she sees the answers in the gazing ball before her.” I look at my “Choices” painting and see a question anchoring possibilities. For now we’re satisfied and inspired by the ambiguity of not knowing all the answers. We’ll keep on with our Sunday painting and looking and waiting for inspirations that move us to tears and to joy and to laughter.

​​I was very disappointed to receive a recent phone call informing me that my weekly Art Notes column will no longer appear in the Joplin Globe's printed Sunday weekend section which is being cut in content to make room for more advertising.

I deeply regret losing this opportunity to publicly share the inspiring life of artCentral.

In coming weeks, I will continue to write Art Notes with artful news and reflections and publish these here on artCentral's facebook page, on artCentral's website blog and in The Carthage Press online editions.

Your positive responses and comments are always a source of great encouragement to me to keep writing "for the love of art"!

​Thank you for being such a supportive readership as together we celebrate the vibrant life of art Central!

Every day creatures inhabit my stream of consciousness. You know how this goes. A sound or an image leads to a thought then to a word which leads to the next and another and then another.

​This happens to me from time to time when my husband and I are sitting for our morning meditation, and I am putting my thinking at rest. Just as my body and mind are moving into a state of surrendered stillness, a river of streaming, associated thoughts begins. While David breathes quietly beside me I reach for my bedside paper and pen to note the delivery. My meditation evolves into a reverie.​

The call of this morning’s nighthawk was accompanied by the summer’s-end chirping of quietly chorusing crickets and the low, mournful whistle of a train approaching from a distance. I thought, “Ah, autumn is coming upon us.” There is a new stillness settling in. Change is in the air. The sun’s rays have less intensity as first leaves begin to yellow and come twirling down. Am I ready? The feeling of a familiar melancholia is present—that feeling that always comes when one season shifts into the next.

​​“Nighthawks” is Hopper's most famous work and is one of the most recognizable paintings in American art. Within months of completion the painting was sold for the then impressive sum of $3,000.00 to the Art Institute of Chicago where “Nighthawks” still resides.

Starting soon after they married in 1924, Edward Hopper and his wife, Josephine (Jo) kept a journal in which he would make a pencil sketch-drawing of each of his paintings along with a detailed description of certain technical specifics. Jo Hopper would add other information illuminating themes of a painting.

Hopper’s “Nighthawks” portrays people seated late at night in a downtown New York diner on Greenwich Avenue where two streets meet, a corner I know well from my years in Manhattan. The red-haired woman was modeled by the artist’s wife whose notes include the provocative possibility that the title may make reference to the “Man night hawk (beak) in dark suit” at the bar. The anonymous uncommunicative customers and the man behind the counter appear lost in their thoughts and remote from each other and the viewer.

Though Hopper insisted he did not infuse this or any other of his paintings with symbols of human isolation and urban emptiness, he did concede that in “Nighthawks” he was probably unconsciously painting the loneliness of living in a big city. I certainly had lonely times while living in New York among eight million people, but lonely times can happen to us anywhere, any time—living in a city or in the country or in a small town like Carthage.

How do we assuage our human loneliness? My stream of consciousness, begun with the cry of a morning nighthawk, suggests perhaps I am not the only one who finds the presence of animals so wondrously comforting, whether they companion us as pets in our homes or as fishes in the seas or as nighthawks circling and crying in an end-of-summer sky.
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You’ll be comforted, uplifted and inspired by the sixty-six marvelous images found in All Creatures Great and Small, artCentral’s awesome exhibition. Generously underwritten by Central Pet Care, this collection features the works of sixteen members of the Four State Photography Enthusiasts (FSPE) on view through September 22, during weekend gallery hours. The public is invited. Admission is free. Detailed information can be found at www.artcentralcarthage.org.

  Juror Kerry Sturgis, artCentral board member and dedicated outdoorsman, has been an avid photographer and student of photography for more than four decades. He is a graduate of the U.S. Department of Defense Information School where he was trained as a military journalist and photojournalist. His work has appeared in a variety of military and non-military newspapers and magazines over the years. His most recent body of work includes macro, travel, and street photography as well as industrial photography involving large machinery and structures.

For many years Kerry made a serious study of fine art black and white photography and printing and maintained a black and white darkroom. All that ended with the development of digital photography. He was an early adopter of digital cameras and photo processing software. Kerry has made a life-long effort to track down and view the work of the master photographers in galleries and museums everywhere. We are honored to have Kerry make his carefully chosen award selections for All Creatures Great and Small, now on display at artCentral. He used four criteria in making his choices:

• Impact of Presentation (including uniqueness of subject matter and artistic rendering)
• Composition of Elements
• Technical Achievement (use of basic photography parameters including subject, composition, selective      focus, exposure control, color and background to express a fresh creative viewpoint), and
• Reflection of the Exhibit Theme (All Creatures Great and Small)

Kerry has offered his thoughtful, insightful responses to each image named as outstanding.
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First Place: Russell Kinerson’s “Borneo Eared Tree Frog” (above), features a unique and interesting subject and just the right lighting. The diagonal composition implies action that immediately calls for the viewer’s attention. The green leaf background accentuates the color of the plant and the animal without distracting the viewer. The body posture and facial expression of this Borneo eared tree frog engagingly captures a unique moment in time. From a distance this high impact image appears somewhat like a painting.

Honorable Mention: “Sharing the Pad” by Koral Martin shows a butterfly and a bee landing on a coneflower together. This image ranks high in technical prowess. The focus is sharp, even with live insects in constant motion as subjects. Photography of this sort requires persistence and the patience to keep observing and photographing the subject until the decisive moment appears. The colors are intense and reflect the beauty of the flowers and insects in the micro-environments we often take for granted.

Honorable Mention: Bob Essner’s, “Bambi” monochrome image of a fawn captures the animal in an interesting and animated posture in a natural habitat. The focus is sharp and the animal’s eyes face the camera, allowing the viewer an insight into the nature of this beautiful creature. The choice of black and white toning rather than color and the slight vignetting around the photo’s edges draw the viewer into the image.
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All Creatures Great and Small, generously underwritten by Central Pet Care, will be on display throughout the artCentral 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. For additional visit www.artcentralcarthage.org.

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 8, 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.