​My story told here began when I left my artist life in Manhattan driving south back to Arkansas intending to stay to see my aging parents through their end times. I did.
 
After the passing of both my parents, I found myself too depleted in body, mind and spirit to make my re-entry into the fast-paced east coast urban life I had exited. Seeking solitude and restoration, I went to the way-back wilderness of the Ozark highland mountains to live with two cats, two dogs and four chickens beside the Little Buffalo River.
 
My plan was to stay in seclusion for twelve months before reentering community. Instead, before I moved on, four years passed recuperating and reading, dreaming and journaling and deep spiritual diving; four years painting and writing through my grief to find my mending.  

​Wordsmiths like Dr. Clarissa Pinkola Estés helped me. I reread her “Women Who Run with Wolves,” again captivated with her recounting of the tale of “The Handless Maiden”. (The original German fairy tale, “The Armless Maiden” was collected by the Brothers Grimm and first published in 1812.)
 
In Dr. Estés’s telling, the Devil, promising wealth and a privileged life, bargains with a father for what stands behind his barn. The father thinking there's nothing but an old apple tree behind his barn, agrees to the bargain, not knowing his daughter stood there, too; hence, we are reminded that a “fruiting tree has represented the talent, sexuality, life-giving force of women: the maiden, the mother and the old woman, all in one.” Alas, the father has traded his fertile daughter when she is ready to bear the fruits of her talents.
 
When the Devil returns to claim his prize, as Dr. Estés writes, “The girl's purity of heart continually repels him so he cannot take her as though a force field surrounds her. The devil tells the father that he has to cut off his daughter's arms so that the devil can take her. The father is horrified, but he follows through, for the devil threatens to take the father's life if he will not sacrifice his daughter.
 
And thus, in one of the most horrendous episodes in ancient tales, the father hoists his sharp axe and severs his daughter's arms. The girl is disparaged and offered up for the father’s ease of life and material gain. She and the apple tree behind the father's barn are not protected even though fully filled with gifts. They are instead judged as nothings: her gifts, not appreciated or seen, are thereby forfeited. She is not allowed to grasp or live her own deep and pure reality as a force of the feminine.”
 
With my own retelling of the tale, the maiden regains her limbs. Nourished by the running waters beneath the star spangled mysteries of darkness, my Handed Maiden with her arms restored is made verdant once again—fertile, flowering and yielding fruit, rooted in the wisdom-rich soil of the ancestors gone before. Her hands bearing eyes are those universally known, like the Hamsa Hand, for uniting the good, dispelling the bad, thwarting negativity and bringing about positive energies.
 
Come bask in the positive energies of storytelling inside Hyde House! FOILED AGAIN! remains on exhibit through March 18.

with towering, budding branches. Stripped down from the mount, the lawn’s security lamp dangled from the post. A live electrical wire snaked across the ground.

​Beginning with gratitude, walking around the massive pin oak—75 or 100 years old or more—stretched out beside but away from the Pottery House, my gratitude list grew ever greater. There was no structural damage to this building, or to any other. The historic well was not crushed yet still in peril with the mammoth trunk hovering eight inches above. Though portions of the vintage sidewalks, hand-mortared and made of Carthage marble, rose up in disarray like peaked waves on an ocean, they could be reset. The carving-adorned cement bench favored by artCampers was untouched. So, too, the towering rough-hewn obelisk brought in by Bob Tommey for his sculpture-making class.

A three day marathon took off with the weather window rapidly closing before the next round of spring showers.

Day One: Calls were made. CWEP was on site within the hour. Power was cut: the downed line made safe. KC gave permission to reach out for work estimates. The electrician came quickly and restored the power contact point torn from the Pottery House. CWEP returned and installed a new security light. The power was turned back on. The tree service bid was received.

Day Two: Greg Wilkerson, owner of Affordable Tree Service in Joplin, brought his crew plus a bobcat, trucks for hauling and lifting a bucket, as well as chain saws and rakes. Before 5:00 p.m. their work was done, but still removal of the enormous trunk, stump and root ball had to be accomplished. Thankfully, Greg went the extra distance before leaving: he contacted Neal Asbell of Asbell Excavating and Trucking Inc. in Carl Junction and facilitated an onsite assessment and strategized using heavy equipment for final work to be done the next day.

​Day Three: From 7:00 a.m. until 4:00 p.m., Asbell workers brought in, off-loaded and reloaded equipment (including a giant excavator) and delivered top soil, grass seed and straw to repair the lawn. Two men worked the excavator for the trunk and stump removal. They filled the huge crater left by the stump. The same two did the entire lawn repair then reset and mortared the broken portions of the walkways.

​Lori shared April’s selection thoughts telling us, “Alice Lynn’s artistic aesthetic is uniquely her own: colorful—with a style and design I have always admired. You are drawn into Alice Lynn’s art—becoming a part of her experience, sharing in a conversation with her.
 
Alice Lynn’s selfless commitment to artCentral—her support for both seasoned and budding artists at our Carthage non-profit arts center—is a generous and loving example for our area. She is always smiling, always encouraging. Her optimism and ability to infuse each encounter with deep meaning and connection has infused artCentral with a magnetic vitality. Having kids at artCamp—an activity that Alice Lynn spends countless hours organizing, hosting and promoting—is one of her favorite experiences. As an artist, I think it's so important for our children to experience art firsthand.’”
 
Presenting me with the 2022 award—an original painting by April created to honor me on this special occasion—Lori concluded, “Congratulations Alice Lynn, the 2022 Carthage Chamber of Commerce Artist of the Year.”

​I was blessed to have two parents who encouraged my creativity. If I built a playhouse out of sticks and stones, or if I wrote a little story and drew and painted pictures to go with my words, they said, “Oh, you are so artistic!” And those times I acted a little different or weird, they said, “Well, she is just being an artist.”
 
With all my heart, I believe each of you is an artist, too—whether you make paintings or have a gift for numbers—whether you do your part to save our environment or know how to play a tune or sing a song—whether you give good hugs or share you smiles generously—whether you can build a portfolio or a treehouse—whether you raise a child or a puppy—whether you can identify a bird call or cultivate a garden—whether you serve in a soup kitchen or know how to sew a seam…
 
Be the artist that you are! Your individual creativity makes a difference to all of us. Honor the artist in yourself. And especially honor the artists in our children. Honor their unique inclinations to create! They are the future makers of our world.
 
Truly, I am thankful to be honored as the 2022 Carthage Artist of the Year.
 
The artist in me honors the artist in you! Namaste.

​At Hyde House this was another sunny almost-spring morning. Beautiful bright light was sweeping across the front porch and spilling through the tall gallery windows. As though magically animated, foils and metallics were sparkling and gleaming in the 48 artworks now on exhibit through March 18, 2023.
 
Right on time the morning’s guests, Cheryl Church’s advanced class of art students, made their déjà vu seasonal appearance. Arriving in an assortment of vehicles, including again a black-‘n’-white retired police car that appeared last year, they stood in the parking lot smiling their hellos.

Gathered inside we made introductions and had a photo op in the foyer. Cheryl (Ms. Church to her students) introduced the exhibition’s FOILED AGAIN! theme. I directed attention to the award ribbons identifying those artists and their art selected for special recognition by the exhibit’s juror, Nellie Mitchell, who tapped six recipients including: FIRST PLACE AWARD “Welcome to the Campsite, 1980s” by Diana Bray; SECOND PLACE AWARD “Be Mine” by Helen Kunze; THIRD PLACE AWARD “Passage to India” by Debbie Reed; BEST REFLECTION of EXHIBITION THEME AWARD “The Moon Danced while the Stars Sang” by Brenda Sageng; HONORABLE MENTION AWARD “Their Ethereal Peace” by Chadan Tomlin; and HONORABLE MENTION AWARD “Careening through the Universe” by their teacher Cheryl Church.

and resin. Admiration was expressed for the ​beauty of Janice Kinman’s “Evening Serenity”, the design work in Linda Passeri’s “Make Lunalove” and the intricate detailing found in Debbie Reed’s “Passage to India” and in Sandra Parrill’s “Wings of the Soul.”

​Possibilities for a student bestowed award included the works of Andrew Batcheller, Roxenne Kendall, Jacque McDonald and my own Foiled Again Man.
 
Do come enjoy your own viewing of FOILED AGAIN! Weekend Gallery Hours are Fridays and Saturdays, 12:00 to 5:00 p.m.

As an artist there is a part of me persistently looking ahead—ahead to my next painting or shrine or exhibition installation or to a leap to a new home in my next artful destination? This is why I painted my Bridge to Clarity.
 
On the left is a fertile green mountain sprinkled with scarlet blossoms.  Another mountain rises to the right. In between is an expanse of water that must be crossed to travel from left to right. How will I to do this? The answer seems obvious. Build a bridge to span the gap!
 
Maybe you have had this experience of being in a pleasing high place and wanting to journey on to the next. Maybe as recently as New Year’s Day you made a resolve to move ahead…to build a bridge and achieve a longed for destination. How are you coming along with building and crossing your bridge?
 
I have found that my bridge to my next place often takes me on up and down loops and twists and turns that spell “befuddlement”.  When I was actually poised to leap the pond and set up camp in Paris, fate moved me from New York City to the wayback Ozark wilderness of northwest Arkansas and I ended up in Carthage. Alas, twelve years later I am still here building my bridge day by day—upping and downing and circling around—believing I will eventually get where I am going. As they say, “C’est la vie!”
 
My bridge of befuddlement sometimes leaves me confused, lacking clarity and questioning.  Am I headed in the right direction? What is my next step? Am I making my best choices to carry me forward?
 
In my painting all the winged hearts are like love notes coming to me from the beyond. Flying before a sequin-spangled blue sky, in perfect timing they deliver messages of guiding clarity. Discerning their messages requires my pausing and getting very still. Clarity comes when, in this physical dimension, I get still enough to hear the birds singing all around me. Clarity is a super power.
 
Inspiring is the journey of French graphic artist Malika Favre who has lived in Paris, London and now Barcelona. Her dramatic [New Yorker] depiction of two figures walking over a bridge—Manhattan’s Brooklyn Bridge—reminds me of my own first passing over that bridge.
 
In a January 30, 2023, interview with Françoise Mouly, Favre tells us, “There is something fascinating about the architecture of the Brooklyn Bridge and its imposing gates; it almost feels like a portal into another world. I still vividly remember crossing it in a taxi, minutes after landing in New York for the first time. It was a magical moment.” I felt the same way as I first crossed that bridge.
 
Asked by Mouly if her moves to new home towns were turning points, the artist responds “Moves between cities and countries have always been turning points for me. Each time, I felt excitement and anticipation for the new life that was awaiting me. I have always loved…embracing change.” Me too! Change, like clarity, is a real super power.
 
Treat yourself to a weekend portal into another world. Explore the artCentral galleries of Hyde House at 1110 East Thirteenth Street in Carthage. The FOILED AGAIN! exhibition is showing through March 18, 2023, generously underwritten by THE PALMS Massage and Day Spa and CHERRY’s Custom Framing and Art Gallery. Gallery Hours are Fridays and Saturdays, 12:00-5:00 p.m.

​Graciously serving as the exhibition’s Juror, artist and educator Nellie Mitchell, has selected six award recipients for FOILED AGAIN!  Awards will be given for Gold, Silver, Bronze and two Honorable Mentions and one for Best Reflection of the Exhibition Theme. The Juror’s selection guidelines included 1) impact of presentation, 2) composition of elements and 3) technical achievement.
 
An art teacher in southwest Missouri for the last seventeen years, Nellie Mitchell currently teaches high school art at Carl Junction and is an adjunct professor for Crowder College. She has taught elementary art and middle school art. Nellie was the 2012 Missouri Art Educator of the Year. She has served on the education committee at Spiva Center for the Arts in Joplin, helping develop the Art Lounge program for teens.
 
Nellie completed a summer painting residency at Kansas City Art Institute in 2019. She has a post-baccalaureate certification in painting from MSSU and a Master’s Degree in Educational Administration from William Woods. Nellie has exhibited her work at Spiva, MSSU and Crowder College. She loves to travel and visit art museums all over the world.
 
FOILED AGAIN! at artCentral offers the perfect venue to view regional art and purchase originals to grow your personal or business collection while engaging with local art makers and their creative interpretations of this exhibition’s theme!
 
artCentral, established in 1985, continues to grow as a community of artists, art lovers and supporters with a mission of service for the greater good of art and artists. The Joplin Regional Artists Coalition, founded in 2010, offers a network of visual artists seeking to effectively engage in cultural, economic and educational artistic activity.
 
The memberships of both artCentral and JRAC include professional and amateur artists, art enthusiasts and patrons of the visual arts. Both artCentral and JRAC seek to encourage businesses and individuals to choose to “buy local” and enrich our communities with unique opportunities to support regional artists.
 
All FOILED AGAIN! art works on display at Hyde House may be viewed online at www.artcentralcarthage.org or at www.facebook.com/ArtcentralCarthage/photos_albums. For more information or to make purchases phone (417) 358-4404.

​Most recently Deborah was one of four Featured Artists at artCentral’s annual Holiday Boutique where her collection of sophisticated mandalas filled the galleries with exquisite designs and brilliant colors.

Until recently Deborah Barnett shared a home with her musician husband. Their house was his family home where he was raised. Like most American homes constructed before 1940, their house was built in the balloon frame style with the vertical studs extending the full height of the building from foundation plate to rafter plate.

Two days before last Christmas, while temperatures hovered around four degrees with negative wind chills, the call came from a mutual artist friend, “Have you heard? Their house burned down. Down to the ground. The family got out. The dog was rescued.” ​A fire starting at the bottom had spread within walls to the second floor then all the way to the top of the roof. 

After the passing of her elderly mother, Deborah was moved to make a mandala on a wooden disc as a memorial tribute to her mother. There followed an uninterrupted mandala succession over the course of her year of mourning.  All were celebrations.

Many of Deborah’s mandalas traveled home with Holiday Boutique patrons. Those that went back to her studio are now forever gone as are the creative space of their conception and all the materials Deborah had planned to use for future works.
​
Though Deborah has lost everything she tells me she plans to make a new body of work as a Feature Artist for artCentral’s 2023 Holiday Boutique. I believe her. I believe her passion will prevail. Deborah is a woman of grit. When many artists would be winding down she is determined to make a new beginning.
 Artist Deborah Barnett is an artist in need of support. Will you please help? Will you help Deborah and her art and her family reemerge from the ashes all around them?
                      
Donations can be made and identified for the Barnetts on artCentral’s website (artcentralcarthage.org/give4art-fund.html) or Facebook page (facebook.com/ArtcentralCarthage) or by mail (artCentral, POB 714, Carthage, Mo 64836) or by phone (417) 358-4404.
 
Donations may also be made at artCentral during the upcoming FOILED AGAIN! Exhibition—opening February 3, 2023, (weather alternative February 10), and showcasing the fabulously talented community of the Joplin Regional Artists Coalition through March 18! 

“Sam and Kate” stars two real-life parent-child pairs: Dustin Hoffman and Jake Hoffman play a father-son duo, Bill and Sam, while Schuyler Fisk and Sissy Spacek appear as Kate and her mother, Tina.
 
Emily Bernard’s online review in the “Collider” expresses perfectly my appreciation for this tender, teaching film:

“[‘Sam and Kate’ is]…less of a ‘love’ story and more of a ‘life’ story that happens to feature budding romances that come about when you both least expect it and most need it….
 
While everything harmonizes in this movie, with an honest script, sharp direction, and dynamic characters, the casting is what makes it really sing. Darren Le Gallo’s feature directorial debut follows the intermingling of two dysfunctional parent-child relationships. Bill (Dustin Hoffman) is an easily irritated but mostly caring older man who is frustrated with his current circumstances. His heart troubles and overall habits (smoking, eating, drinking) are putting his already poor health at an even greater risk, and his adult son Sam (brilliantly played by his real-life son Jake Hoffman) has moved back in with him to keep a closer watch on his old man.
 
Sam [a gifted, but unexhibited artist] isn’t exactly thrilled to be back home in the middle of nowhere in the middle of the country. When he’s not taking his dad to the doctor, he’s working his shift at the chocolate factory and working on his impressive sketches that never see the light of day. This father-son dynamic is quite endearing (Sam calls his father ‘Bill’ per his dad’s request) and their bond is further cemented by the shared trauma of losing a wife and mother to cancer. Despite their frequent bumping of heads when Sam tries to sneak any form of nutrition into Bill’s diet…and Bill’s constant [disparaging] comments about Sam’s future, it’s clear the pair cares deeply for each other.
 
[Both parents]...are angry and scared at their loss of control in life and get irrationally possessive and frustrated over benign things. Tina and Bill often take their grievances out on their children who are simply trying to help. Tina is a hoarder (or as she prefers to be called, a ‘collector’), and Bill feels suffocated by his health changes. 
 
While the Hollywood legends don’t disappoint, it’s their children who steal the spotlight. We meet [Kate who has given up her music] when Sam walks past a local antique bookstore. In the window is Kate (Schuyler Fisk), the girl-next-door-type owner…. [Sam’s and Kate’s] one-on-one interactions…are unabashedly vulnerable and deep without at all feeling contrived.
 
Le Gallo’s dialogue…is genuine, playful, and consistently captivating….These intimate interactions serve as a respite from life’s at-times mundane reality. 
 
‘Sam and Kate’ reminds us that life is unpredictable in the best and worst of ways, and that you shouldn't wait to pursue who or what you are passionate about [especially your unique expression of your art!].”
 
“Sam and Kate” offers us insights that encourage us to deal with our inherited traumas so no longer to be oppressed but rather to be freed to fully pursue and live our passions to make art. Can this pursuit be the New Year’s resolution that will change your life?
 
Looking for inspiration? February 3 through March 18 will offer plenty with 2023’s opening artCentral exhibition—“FOILED AGAIN!”—showcasing the fabulously talented community of the Joplin Regional Artists Coalition!

​Starting a new year with gratitude is always a good idea. Indeed, if you have not already, consider putting “practice daily gratitude” at the top of your 2023 resolutions. Being grateful each day sets the tone for all that is to come.
 
Start practicing daily gratitude. Set aside a time. Repeat. Repeat. Repeat. Make a habit of your gratitude time. Show up for yourself.
 
Gratitude grounds you in the present. Gratitude brings inspiration in the moment beyond regretting the past and worrying about the future. In gratitude you become a receptive vessel for the rich gifts of your experience.
 
Gratitude attracts inspiration. Remember that when doubting or fear show up, they are merely prerequisites for inspiration to follow. Do not run away! Lean into doubt and fear with your gratitude practice. You will be amazed at your power to attract the goodness that is sure to come.
 
My meditation teacher Light Watkins reminds us that when going the distance in developing a habit like gratitude, “The reason that most resolutions fail by February is because the original plan only works in best-cases scenarios.  But what are you going to do if it’s snowing? Or if you have to stay up late working? Or if you get a headache? How will you make it happen? Figure out some workarounds. Test them out before you need them. And you’ll have a plan that can go the gratitude distance.”
 
Practice gratitude repetition. Build your gratitude habits. Start today and receiving daily inspiration will become second nature to you far beyond February. When setbacks appear keep going!

Gratitude will carry you over mountains. Gratitude will take you to the depths of satisfaction. Practice gratitude! Today. Tomorrow. Practice one day at a time right up to the threshold of 2024 and beyond.
 
Today, for what and whom and how are you grateful? What are your top ten gratitudes in this moment?
 

1. I am grateful to walk this good earth another day.
2. I am grateful for art as my first language and my passion.
3. I am grateful for my husband David whose first language and passion, like mine, are all about art.
4. I am grateful for artCentral.
5. I am grateful for our Carthage hometown community where art and artists matter.
6. I am grateful I have the privilege of directing artCentral through this new year.
7. I am grateful for a position of work that perfectly aligns with my life purpose to serve art and artists to make our world a more creatively compassionate, safe and serene place for all of us.
8. I am grateful for artCentral’s benefactress Katherine Hyde, an artist, whose vision inspired her to set aside her Hyde House family home to always be used to support artists and the arts.
9. I am grateful for each and every artist and supporter who sustain artCentral through membership and participation and time and talents and dollars.
10. I am grateful for artCentral’s exciting new exhibition season opening February 3 with FOILED AGAIN! showcasing the creations of the Joplin Regional Artists Coalition. 

 
As our holiday decorations are put away for another year, with open arms and minds and hearts let us welcome this new year while we count our blessings with gratitude.
 
May 2023 bless us all with health in body and mind and spirit; with wealth in all the ways that sustain our well-being; and with happiness that reminds us to practice gratitude every day as we go about the business of appreciating and caring for the art and artists we love.
 
May we remember with gratitude the words of the wise sage Willie Nelson: “When I started counting my blessings, my whole life turned around."   

New artCentral Exhibition Season!​

Finally my answer came in a dream! While sleeping, I was reminded that standing curbside at the 2022 Maple Leaf Festival parade, I snapped a series of photos when I saw a strolling and waving figure dressed in a suit that appeared to be constructed of hundreds of foil triangles.
 
Voilà! My dream muse delivered not only the media graphics but my JRAC exhibition entry as well.
 
Waking from my dream and inspired, I went to my computer and opened my album of parade images. I chose a “foiled man” photo that I translated into an animated painted image I now think of as my “FOILED AGAIN MAN”. 

​Today I send out an artful “thank you!” to the parade’s striding man-in-the-suit whom I have come to learn is the marvelously, multi-talented Kevin Fields, the creative director and dance instructor at Flowagraphy. See for yourself! You can find him on Instagram and Facebook.
 
JRAC ARTISTS are you ready to make FOILED AGAIN! art? Delivery date is January 22, Sunday, 2:00-4:00 p.m., for your own fabulous creation.
 
FOILED AGAIN! SUBMISSION CRITERIA

• In keeping with artCentral's standard of excellence the Executive Director-Curator of artCentral is responsible for final acceptance and installation of all submitted art works.
• All submissions must be family friendly. No pornographic works will be considered.
• One art work may be submitted. A second submission will be considered depending on installation space available.
• The Director-Curator will not accept any "wet" art work. The artCentral Prepitor will not install any "wet" art work.
• All art works submitted must be created by JRAC Artists in the previous two years and never before displayed in an artCentral gallery exhibition.
• 2D art works submitted must be framed or gallery wrapped and wired for hanging.
• 3D art works displays, if available, will be supplied by artCentral.
• All JRAC Artists must submit a signed and dated Participation Agreement (downloaded from artCentral’s website FOILED AGAIN! page).
• Each artwork must be accompanied by a high quality photo image emailed to joplinrac@gmail.com by Wednesday, January 18, at 5:00 p.m.
• The Artist grants and artCentral reserves the right to photograph any exhibited art work for the purpose of documentation and/or reproduction at the discretion of the Director-Curator.
• With the template provided, THREE (3) ID LABELS (downloaded from artCentral’s website FOILED AGAIN! page) shall be completed and two affixed on each art work: 1 label top R Front, 1 label top R Back. A third label shall be submitted to the Director-Curator upon delivery.
• For detailed information regarding Sales and Sales Tax; Insurance Responsibility; Invoicing and Payments; and Storage Fees (for any art left at artCentral after the close of the Exhibition) consult artcentralcarthage.org and look for the FOILED AGAIN! page under EVENTS!

 
Do mark your 2023 calendars and come celebrate JRAC ARTISTS at the FOILED AGAIN!” Opening Reception on Friday, January 22, 6:00-8:00 p.m. AWARDS will be presented. Libations and hors d’œuvres will be served. Admission is free!