In addition to being a talented artist, Reita is known as an educator and encourager of others whether in watercolors or other forms of art.  She helped establish the art program at the Central Arkansas Library System during her tenure on staff there. She was also a founding member of Little Rock’s Arts+Culture Commission. Reita’s artwork is in numerous collections. The Arkansas Arts Center has three of her pieces in the Center’s permanent collection.
 
Mark your calendar today and plan to attend artCentral’s 2020 Annual Membership Exhibition, August 21 through September 19, 2020, at 1110 East Thirteenth Street in Carthage. Gallery hours will be on Fridays and Saturdays, 12:00 to 5:00 p.m. For more information call (417) 358-4404 or visit https://www.artcentralcarthage.org/2020-annual-membership-exhibition-21-aug-19-sep.html.

​On a recent warm summer evening, before beginning our nightly ritual of hand watering our gardens, into our little artCentral-green car we loaded—my husband David and me and our two puppies, Chiquita and Lasyrenn. Making a quick curbside dinner pick up at The Carthage Deli on the Square, we headed east beneath amazing banks of billowing clouds that seemed to grow more beautiful beyond every curve in the road.

Arriving at our destination—a favorite place to relax and unwind and where a portion of the original Route 66 pavement runs along Spring River—we circled Kellogg Lake twice looking for the perfect location to spread our rug and picnic on the grass with a view of the water.

As we made our first go-around, in front of the lakeside stone pavilion a very large flock of Canadian geese completely blocked our passage. We waited patiently amused as we watched them decide to slowly go waddling and flip-flopping their way up the steep embankment and out of our path while sporting their gleaming white face masks like chin straps. When just a few stragglers hung behind and voiced indecision about joining the others, the entire consortium turned around and blithely ambled back over the road in the other direction. Our dinner appetites ripening, we watched and waited some more.

On our second go-around, passing the boat ramp we saw quite a few folks comfortable in assorted lawn chairs. Quietly bantering back and forth, surrounded by coolers and tackle boxes, they sat with fishing poles at the ready to make their evening catches.

One large family had come to unload for an evening excursion over the lake’s calm surface. Their flatbed truck filled with sleek crafts looked like a colorful bouquet of pointed flowers. With paddles like leaves sticking out here and there in every direction, one by one they launched and began quietly slicing the water—a family flotilla of kayaks—mother and father and an assortment of boys in varying sizes, each and every one wearing life vests and baseball caps.

​Finally we settled in the peaceful quiet beneath shade trees on the far shore away from the activity of anglers and paddlers. Sharing our sandwich and chips and cool cucumber water we watched the graceful fountain spraying misty plumes high and wide not far from the markers commemorating Charles A. (Lex) Kellogg and Mary E. Kellogg who donated the land for the lake and E. M. “Uke” Haughawout who contributed foresight, planning and direction for Kellogg Lake’s creation in the mid 1950’s.

Seeming to arrive out of nowhere, thoroughly enjoying the splashing and laughing of horseplay, boy members of the family flotilla chopped their way into the placid waters just before us, calling up images of other hatted paddlers moving a bit more languidly through the waters of the Yerres river across the ocean in France.

​French boaters like those pictured in Périssoires sur l'Yerres (Boating on the Yerres) were a favorite subject of the realist and impressionist Gustave Caillebotte. As described online: "The three boats—sporty, kayak-like craft—glide on a stream that opens in a wedge shape. The tilt of the riverbank exaggerates the downhill flow of the water. The geometry of the painting, a rough wedge expanding from the top right to the lower left, promotes the sense of downward, leftward flow. The lead boat cuts an arrowhead of light into the shadow cast by the large tree.” This painting is one of the earliest and largest of the seven boating scenes that Caillebotte completed between 1877 and 1878 at his family's estate along the Yerres River.

Perhaps you will be inspired to don a summer hat and take a spin around Kellogg Lake where you can enjoy the dancing fountain, boat, picnic, fish, hike, play Frisbee, cloud and bird watch and conjure images of other flotillas out for summer pleasures while enjoying the gifts of Mother Nature’s waters.

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For a summery outing right in town be sure to visit the JASON SHELFER | SCULPTURAL SPECTACULAR— the free drive-through exhibition now on view at artCentral, 1110 East Thirteenth Street in Carthage.

​I have painted mermaid images for as long as I can remember. I once painted a 1970 Chevy with a mermaid swimming down one side and her companion merman swimming over the opposite doors. The first gift I gave to David was my painting of a Haitian mermaid.

David has collected mermaids for decades, especially gathering them during his Navy years as a sailor circling the globe. We now have these treasures scattered all over our house—resting on table tops and nestled in planters, swimming on walls and perched on the tops of picture frames.

Searching the web, I have learned that mermaids have been swimming through worldwide cultures for a very long time. The first known mermaid stories “appeared in Assyria around 1000 BC. The goddess Atargatis, mother of Assyrian queen Semiramis, loved a mortal (a shepherd) and unintentionally killed him. Ashamed, she jumped into a lake and took the form of a fish, but the waters would not conceal her divine beauty.”

“On 9 January 1493, Christopher Columbus observed something he had before seen on the coasts of Africa…mermaids. In his journal he described the encounter with three mermaids that elevated themselves above the surface of the sea.”

Mermaid sightings by sailors and Christopher Columbus, too, when they weren't made up, were “most likely manatees, dugongs or Steller's sea cows (which became extinct by the 1760s due to over-hunting). Manatees—the creatures once believed to be mermaids—are slow-moving aquatic mammals with human-like eyes, bulbous faces and paddle-like tails. Indeed, manatees and dugongs are both known to rise out of the sea like the alluring sirens of Greek myth, occasionally performing ‘tail stands’ in shallow water.”

“Thousands of miles from the seas Columbus sailed, the dugong—found in the Pacific Ocean—had been living in legend for centuries. In 1959, 3,000-year-old cave drawings depicting dugongs—the word translates to "lady of the sea" in the Malay language—were discovered inside Malaysia's Tambun Cave.”

With such an alluring heritage and our love for creatures of her mystique, how could we resist bringing home this over-painted lady of the sea? We were not sure where she would land, but we  agreed that, before we placed her in our gardens, we needed to rid her of her over-done bold colors.

On the shelves of our local hardware store we found a user-friendly, non-toxic but still effective paint removal gel. For two weeks, yearning to reveal the concrete beauty of our mermaid’s sweet face, delicate hands and curvaceous form, I kept stripping her down, layer by layer. Even when the swarming mosquitoes seemed ferociously intent on torturing me, I held my course and continued removing our mermaid’s suffocating impasto pigments.

​Finally, our lovely lady stood bare and beautiful swimming with her two companions atop splashing concrete waves still slightly tinted with hints of the thick blues that had once weighed them down. 

​Now from the street you can see them atop the incline rising up to our house. Above a sea of mossy green they charmingly beckon us to admire their restored dignity and their rescued mystical essence. 

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For many more magical sightings be sure to visit the JASON SHELFER | SCULPTURAL SPECTACULAR—the free drive-through exhibition now on view at artCentral, 1110 East Thirteenth Street in Carthage!

Here in Carthage the towering mimosa tree on my street and all the other lovely mimosas blooming this time of year throughout our town are descendants of Albizia julibrissin, the Persian silk tree or pink silk tree—a species of tree in the family Fabaceae, native to southwestern and eastern Asia. The genus is named after the Italian nobleman Filippo degli Albizzi, who introduced the exotic tree to Europe in the mid-18th century.

The magically intoxicating mimosa blossoms decorating our neighbor’s giant tree were like hundreds of perfumed ornaments placed and arranged just so in a hairdo woven with strands of fern-like foliage above dozens of scented adornments fallen down over the walk and grassy lawn.
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The mimosa perfume lingering long in my mind and my imagination appeared to go before and follow us all the way to and around the park and back home to a lovely cup of tea that seemed to be infused with the same Mimosa scent.

That morning’s surreal meandering set my mind to pondering the wonders of magic realism—that style of fiction and literary genre that paints a realistic view of the modern world while also adding magical elements. Magical Realism is familiar to us in literary and film classics in which realistic narrative and naturalistic technique are combined with surreal elements of dream or fantasy—“One Hundred Years of Solitude” by Gabriel García Márquez; “Beloved” by Toni Morrison; “The House of the Spirits” by Isabel Allende; “Like Water for Chocolate” by Laura Esquivel; and the “Harry Potter” novels by J. K. Rowling.
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Well-known artists who are considered strong followers and practitioners of Magic Realism art include Italian painters Felice Casorati, Giorgio de Chirico and Gian Paolo Dulbecco; German Alexander Kanoldt; Latin American Marcela Donoso; American Paul Cadmus, Joseph Cornell, Edward Hopper, Syd Baker and Colleen Browing; Armenian Gayane Khachaturian; Swiss Ricco Wassmer; Dutch Carel Willink; Belgian René Magritte and Mexican Frida Kahlo de Rivera.

​For a very real and magical outing be sure to visit the JASON SHELFER | SCULPTURAL SPECTACULAR— the free drive-through exhibition now on view at artCentral, 1110 East Thirteenth Street in Carthage!
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​​In art there is a long tradition of appropriation—the practice of borrowing what has come before and using that original to engage an old conversation from a new perspective.
 
My husband David recently sent me the image of a provocative painting he saw on Facebook. The painting titled “Agency Job”, an oil on canvas created in 2009 by the British artist known as Bansky, is a classic example of appropriation art.

​​As an introduction to his contemporary conversation, Banksy borrowed “The Gleaners”, the 1857 canvas painted in oil by Jean-François Millet. The original painting describes the activity of collecting leftover corn and other crops from farmers’ fields after the harvest. Millet depicts three French peasant women each involved in one of the three aspects of gleaning: searching for ears of corn, picking them up and tying them together in a sheaf. Their tasks were backbreaking but made an important contribution to the diet of rural workers.
 
An analysis of “The Gleaners” offered on www.visual-art-cork.com tells us:
 
“The painting's focus on the lowest ranks of rural society attracted considerable opposition from the upper classes, who were upset by its artistic pretentiousness and its social radicalism, and linked it with the growing Socialist movement. ‘The Gleaners’ was however accepted for display at the annual Salon of the Academy and was greatly admired by French republicans for its dignified and realistic appreciation of the rural poor.
 
Millet paid close attention to the “Gleaners” composition, using artful devices to imbue his subjects with a simple but monumental grandeur. The angled light of the setting sun accentuates the sculptural quality of the gleaners, while their set expressions and thick, heavy features tend to emphasize the burdensome nature of their work. Furthermore, these figures, bent double and toiling in the darkened foreground, are set against a warm pastoral background scene of harvesters—with their haystacks, cart and sheaves of wheat—reaping a rich harvest. The contrast between abundance and scarcity, and between light and shadow, is cleverly used by Millet to emphasize the class divide. And the remoteness of the landlord class is also highlighted by the blurry image of the landlord's foreman, sitting on a horse in the remote distance (right).”

“Millet had been deeply affected by the 1848 revolutions and their promise of democracy. Becoming the first European painter to portray the peasantry, a doomed class impoverished by advancing capitalism, he was castigated by the bourgeois class.”
 
In Millet’s calm imagery of the 'Gleaners' he declares that there are signs that the world can be changed into a better place—that change is coming. The white vest and red and blue hats of the gleaners form the three colours of the Tricolour—the flag of the French Republic and the symbol of popular Revolution in France - as captured for instance in "Liberty Leading the People” (1830) by Delacroix.
 
For us as citizens of a nation that flies the Red, White and Blue, is not Bansky offering the same message delivered by bold French artists almost two centuries ago?

The slaves stolen from their African homelands were packed into the bowels of cargo ships and carried across the Middle Passage. Bell graphically describes how having lost everything—their homes, their families, their status, their languages and their spiritual practices—the enslaved people came together through their shared language of drumming: he tells how out of their clandestine gatherings Vodou, their new, synthesized spirituality, was born calling in an entire pantheon of lwa (spirits) that guided the enslaved.
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Bell identified by name the Vodou spirits that brought courage and succor and the will to rebel. When those very Vodou spirits began to appear in my night time wilderness dreams, I felt compelled to know them better. So began my quest to learn all I could about Vodou which led to my making a collection of paintings and subsequent exhibitions titled “Les Morts et Les Mystères: The Ancestors and the Spirits” among whom the lwa Danto appears.

Danto is commonly associated with the Black Madonna of Częstochowa, the patron saint of Poland. Among Haitians the original association of Danto with this Catholic icon of the Mother Mary is hypothesized to be from copies of the icon brought to Haiti by Polish soldiers.

In Haitian spirituality Danto is understood as the hardworking mother-warrior spirit known for her fierce protectiveness. Her child is said to be a daughter, Anaïs. Danto is associated with tough, country ways. She is credited for the initiation of the 1791 slave revolt begun with the slaughter of a black pig on a feast day in her honor. Danto, the Mother figure associated with Mary, gave inspiration with her fierce, protective presence!

When I find myself in times of trouble,” the Beatles poignantly sing…"Mother Mary comes to me speaking words of wisdom, let it be. And in my hour of darkness she is standing right in front of me speaking words of wisdom, let it be. Let it be, let it be, let it be, let it be. Whisper words of wisdom, let it be. And when the broken-hearted people living in the world agree, there will be an answer, let it be. For though they may be parted, there is still a chance that they will see. There will be an answer, let it be…”

While we are waiting for health and peace and well-being to come to our community and our country, remember to look to your sources of strength and comfort and to always look to art to soothe and inspire your heart.
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Visit artCentral’s free drive/walk-through exhibition at 1110 East Thirteenth Street in Carthage. You will be uplifted by JASON SHELFER/SCULPTURAL SPECTACULAR on the beautiful, tree-canopied Hyde House lawn.

As the traffic on my website has slowed considerably over the past several years, this influx of orders, though greatly appreciated, was perplexing 

“Why all these requests coming now and all at once?” I asked my husband David. “I wonder what has generated the renewed regard for this particular image.” 

Finally the answer came to me by way of Susan Adams, Interim Executive Director of Spiva Center for the Arts in Joplin. She posted on Spiva’s Facebook page a kind recognition of my Black Madonna that she apparently came across as a Facebook post made by author Sue Monk Kidd. Sue, who has a worldwide Facebook following of 25K, had posted the image of “Our Lady of Chains” along with five other images of the Black Madonna. Several of Sue’s followers tracked my Black Madonna to my website and then placed their orders for prints.

Sue Monk Kidd wrote on her post:

“I became deeply interested in the history and meaning of the Black Madonna many years ago.

Most scholars believe her blackness derived from her connection to dark-skinned, pre-Christian Goddesses once worshipped in Europe—Goddesses with African, Eastern and Mediterranean roots. When Christianity emerged and began to spread, the images and replicas of these Goddess were not always destroyed, but were simply renamed Mary.

I find this blending of the ancient Goddesses with the Christian Mary fascinating. In effect, the Black Madonna inherited the symbolism, functions, and roles of both the Goddess and Mary. She retained the fearlessness and power of the Goddess and the empathy and mercy of Mary.

In my novel, “The Secret Life of Bees”, the Black Madonna has a rather prominent part. I think of her as the queen bee in the hive. The raised fist and painted red heart on her statue represent her untamed power, strength, and autonomy, as well as her compassion for those who are silenced, excluded, abused and marginalized.

In the novel, she is called Our Lady of Chains, not because she wears chains, but because she breaks them. Her role in the story is not only to comfort and sustain the female characters, but to inspire them to find the Black Madonna’s attributes within themselves. She is a kind of Civil Rights Mary who empowers the women to act.

Today, the Black Madonna still carries these meanings for me.”

As noted on Amazon: “Sue Monk Kidd's debut novel, “The Secret Life of Bees”, spent more than one hundred weeks on the New York Times bestseller list, has sold more than six million copies in the United States, was turned into both an award-winning major motion picture and a musical, and has been translated into thirty-six languages. 

Her second novel, “The Mermaid Chair”, was a number one New York Times bestseller and was adapted into a television movie. Her third novel, “The Invention of Wings”, an Oprah's Book Club pick, was also a number one New York Times bestseller.

Her latest novel, “The Book of Longings”, was published April 21, 2020.

She is the author of several acclaimed memoirs, including “The Dance of the Dissident Daughter”, her groundbreaking work on religion and feminism. She lives in North Carolina” where a Black Madonna keeps watch over her writing desk.

For Sue’s shout out for my work and for the fans who have tracked me down I am most grateful!

While artCentral at Hyde House is temporarily closed through July, in the interest of public health and safety we are reluctant to move too fast and too soon to throw open our doors for group gatherings. Statistics of rising diagnosed cases of this virulent virus behoove us to proceed with caution.

In artCentral’s tradition of offering grand art for our small town, Board member and artCentral artist Jason Shelfer, is installing his original up-cycled, repurposed, found objects assemblages on the beautiful Hyde House lawn under the impressive canopy of old growth trees.

This drive-through (from the air-conditioned comfort of your car) and walk-through (to get some cool-of-the-day exercise) exhibition is free for your viewing pleasure at 1110 East Thirteenth Street in Carthage. For more information visit www.artcentralcarthage.org/sculptural-spectacular--jason-sh… or call (417) 358-4404.

As an artist of many, many talents, Jason Shelfer has a Bachelor of Arts in English (minored in Studio Art with a Sculpture Emphasis) and a Bachelor of Arts in Communication. He not only makes large scale sculptural constructions, he also creates lovely rosaries and whimsical jewelry and paints and contributes paintings to artCentral’s fundraising artist-generated auctions.

Jason, married to Meg Fethers Shelfer and father of Miles and Flannery, is a truly committed Carthaginian and has tirelessly supported our community as a City Council member. He works today as the Supervisor in the Child Support Division in the office of the Jasper County Prosecuting Attorney. He serves on the board of Art Feeds National.

A graduate of Carthage Senior High School, he tells us he has shoes to fill:

“My Great Great Grandfather permanently moved to Carthage in 1918 where he was appointed to serve as Street Commissioner and eventually passed away at his home on Maple Street. My Great Grandfather worked for 23 years at Carter Hardware until he became a Deputy Clerk at the Jasper County Courthouse until his death at McCune-Brooks.

My Grandfather graduated from Carthage High in 1929. At one point he was a credit manager for the Carthage Marble Corporation and was the owner/operator of the local Buena Vista Dairy. My mother graduated Carthage High School in 1967 and has been a very active volunteer to numerous local organizations.”

Come see Jason Shelfer’s SCULPTURAL SPECTACULAR! Treat yourself, ask a friend to ride along or load up the car with your family and celebrate the art that is thriving on a beautiful lawn in our hometown.

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For my artist husband David I painted a mini “Sculptural Spectacular” of another nature to hang on his studio door. “Sculptural” because in the 2D picture plane I built a sinuous image made of curving contours: “Spectacular” because I included a clip from David Bowie’s outlandish “Space Oddity” lyrics that go “Take your protein pills and put your helmet on!”

Lately this painting has been on my mind because right now we all need at least one personal “Sculptural Spectacular” to remind us that we are in the second surge throes of a pandemic—that is revving up fast. I almost feel I should immediately crank up mass production of wall art that reads, “Take your temperature and put on your facemask!” In other words, do your small part to monitor and protect yourself and to show respect for the health of others. Put on your masks, people! Put on your masks and wear them everywhere!

 When I stay focused in the present, continue to work with intention, do not waste worry on the future and stay open to receive the help I need, then that help consistently comes and I get to practice saying “Yes!”

​The Universe just keeps coming through in better than imagined ways like the creation of July’s Virtual Summer Arts Camp now set for July 13 through July 17, 2020!
 
This is one of those “things” I have been experiencing and writing about ever since the message on my morning tea bag read “Let things come to you.” Wow! Another unexpected delivery of really good news—a really good opportunity—arriving unsolicited out of the blue.
 
Saying “Yes!” came easily when artist/art teacher/arts activist Sarah Serio first pitched her request: “Is artCentral interested in partnering with the Neosho Arts Council to present a Virtual Summer Arts Camp?”
 
“Oh! Yes!, Yes!, “Yes!”, I heard my heart chorusing, as Sarah and I talked details and logistics over the days that went into planning this online art adventure for aspiring artists, ages 8 to 15.
 
Back in early spring when Covid-19 became a growing concern, lacking a crystal ball to predict the unfolding circumstances of the pandemic, with great regret artCentral’s 2020 Annual July artCAMP for Youth on the Hyde House campus was cancelled. This artCamp director as well as the teachers, interns and artCampers who were anticipating another two weeks of fun discovery, camaraderie and art-making were without a time and place to celebrate creativity.
 
Thank goodness for a tea bag’s admonition to relax and receive; for the Universe responding; and for Sarah Serio and her phone call and her energetic team that have manifested an exciting week of online classes. You can see the class curriculum, get all the details and signup at http://www.neoshoarts.net/summer-arts-camp.html.
 
The Registration deadline is Saturday, June 20. Don’t delay! Spaces are limited.
 
Each one day class runs for two hours via ZOOM from 1-3 p.m. The Class Supply Fee of $35 is the only charge, with a reduction in the fee for each additional class taken.
 
All supplies will be mailed to artCampers anywhere in the US at no extra charge via USPS Priority Mail.
 
Here’s the schedule:
July 13, Monday – “Welcome to Songwriting” taught by professional songwriter and touring musician Violet Vonder Harr.
July 14, Tuesday – “Creating Comics” instructed by Jeremy Haun, professional comic book artist.
July 15, Wednesday – “Addictive Art of Zentangle” with artCentral artist and artCamp teacher Teri Diggs. Teri will teach how to draw tangle patterns in a relaxing, fun way and guide students in creating miniature works of art.
July 16, Thursday – “Acrylic Painting Adventure” led by Matt Myers of the Ringling College of Art & Design.
July 17, Friday – “Wizards and Wands” instructed by artCentral artist, artCamp teacher and proud Gryffindor Sarah Serio will guide you to become a master wand maker of a wand that chooses the wizard as you craft a wand of our own and a wand rack for displaying your wand when not in use.
 
Visit http://www.neoshoarts.net/summer-arts-camp.html and sign up today, then pull out your next year’s 2021 calendar and write in bold letters…artCENTRAL 2021 artCAMP – PERFECT VISION plus ONE – July 5-9 and July 12-16, 2021 on the Hyde House campus! Surely the Universe will make this dream yet another terrific delivery to which we all can say “Yes”!When I stay focused in the present, continue to work with intention, do not waste worry on the future and stay open to receive the help I need, then that help consistently comes and I get to practice saying “Yes!”

That’s right—“The Veggie Knight”—because his suit of armor is made entirely of garden variety vegetables! Corn and peas; artichokes and mushrooms and broccoli; onions and turnips and squash; carrots and a radish and a pepper topped with a rhubarb face guard on a pumpkin helmet! All are rendered with meticulous draftsmanship and the just right tints and hues of fresh produce.

“Who did this?” I asked Bev. “John Hendrix!” came her reply. I googled this master of imagination to learn the title of his flamboyant knight is “Fruits and Vegetables Are Trying to Kill You”.  John Hendrix’s website tells the story of his impressive artistic career and his success at https://www.johnhendrix.com/about:

 “John Hendrix is a New York Times bestselling illustrator and author of many children’s books…including Drawing is Magic…His illustrations have appeared on book jackets, newspapers and magazines all over the country. John is a Professor of Art, teaching illustration at the Sam Fox School of Art and Design at Washington University in St. Louis. 

John’s work has appeared in numerous publications, such as Newsweek, Entertainment Weekly, Rolling Stone, The New Yorker, Esquire, The New York Times, Time Magazine and National Geographic among many others.  His images also appeared in advertising campaigns for ESPN/ABC, AT&T, and Target/Star Wars.

John lives in St. Louis with his wife Andrea, son Jack and daughter Annie, dog Pepper and cats Kit-Kat and Luna. 

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I make about 70% of my income from my illustrations, selling rights and original works as well as prints. The rest comes from teaching, speaking fees and other work outside the studio, but still related to illustration.'

John has some good advice for aspiring artists: 'Remember that for the moment you don’t worry about the…question: How will I make a living? Put that out of your mind. What is important right now is to do the stuff that you love doing. If you follow your desire (and desire trumps talent any day of the week) then making a living will come naturally. Push yourself to try new things and most importantly, KEEP A SKETCHBOOK AND DRAW EVERY DAY! Don’t forget to have fun…and travel as much as you can.”

Besides veggies John Hendrix has mastered illustrating an incredibly wide and varied range of images and interests. This gifted drawer seems to be able to draw any and every thing! Be inspired and amazed! Check out more of his fascinating art on his website and by searching “John Hendrix Illustrations” on the web.

You will be happy for any time you spend in the company of this illustrator of the “Veggie Knight”—a native son who found east coast artistic success and has returned to Missouri to make his home with his family.