SIGNS & WONDERS is coming soon to Hyde House! Mark your calendar and plan to attend the festive Opening Reception on Friday, April 1, 2022, from 6:00 to 8:00 p.m. Filling the galleries downstairs and upstairs, too, this whimsical mixed media exhibition will be on view April 1 through May 21.
While excited for the new wafting in the air, we must bid “adieu” to VERDANT, the vibrant collection brought to artCentral by the talented members of the Joplin Regional Artists Coalition. Only one weekend remains with Gallery Hours from 12:00-5:00 p.m. Friday and Saturday, March 11 and 12. Give yourself a special spring pleasure. Visit VERDANT showcasing the lovely theme of “green”—“green” like artCentral’s green doors of hospitality, “green” like our Missouri lawns and surrounding countryside growing green with lush grass and rich vegetation.
Our gratitude goes out to the underwriters for VERDANT—The PALMS Massage and Day Spa and Cherry’s Custom Framing and Art Gallery—both well established, art-loving businesses on our historic square. Doug Osborn, a Carthage native and owner of THE PALMS, is a gifted and much sought after massage therapist, a talented photographer and a hard-working member of artCentral’s board of directors. Carthaginian Cherry Babcock, owner of Cherry’s, is a long-time supporter of artCentral and the innovative creator of a hometown gallery that rivals any of the best in any large urban setting.
SPELLBOUND Boutique is the gracious underwriter for SIGNS & WONDERS. Sarah Manzer, SPELLBOUND’s owner, is an artist extraordinaire herself, whom I interviewed for Art Notes shortly after she opened her shop four years ago.
Sarah explained, “I just wanted a place to set up my sewing machine and make soulful custom clothes….When I was traveling with my Sarah Dunn Band, during breaks between performing I began making my stage outfits. I found great pleasure in designing and constructing these as a form of my own self-expression. That’s carried over into my work today. Through the shop I like to encourage people to make bold choices for their higher selves and to have lots of fun as they aspire to be more honest versions of their uniqueness. My arms are completely open—open to celebrate all people—all people of all body shapes and sizes—all people of all creeds.”
Spellbound Boutique echoes Sarah’s all-embracive gestalt that seeks to acquire and maintain meaning in our fast moving, chaotic world. With her Ozarkian spiritual orientation, she values the beliefs passed on through her ancestral peoples, particularly her mother and grandmother. They taught her the value of signs: for instance, if chimney smoke travels down to the ground then snow is on the way. Learning the power of magic and nature’s messengers and symbols, Sarah has chosen the owl as the Spellbound motif in her shop’s logo.
Sarah sees owls all the time and everywhere as signposts pointing to transformation. She believes they appear to call her to pause and to consider, to stop and to evaluate, where she is in her life at the moments of their appearances. “In our screen-oriented times, we easily forget to see and feel the world we’re living in and walking through,” she observes. “Owls tell me to unplug, put down my screens and to step apart from the mainstream, so I can listen and hear what I need to know.”
Thank you to Sarah Manzer for listening and hearing and believing in the SIGNS & WONDERS coming soon to Hyde House!
