The Opening Reception for HEART & SOUL is almost here! Beginning Friday, February 7, 2020, Hyde House will be fabulously filled upstairs and down with mixed media art created by the talented artists of the Joplin Regional Artists Coalition (JRAC). The exhibition is generously underwritten by Cherry’s Custom Framing and Art Gallery and KOKA Art Gallelry.
Mark your calendar! Celebrate with us on Friday, February 7, 2020, 6:00-8:00 p.m. then return again and often to view this heart-warming, soul-inspiring collection guaranteed to brighten February as we transition into March and the advent of the spring we so eagerly await. For more information call (417) 358-4404 or visit www.artcentralcarthage.org online.
Of course my husband David and I will be present—he as artCentral’s prepitor (art handler) who with me creates the magic of each exhibition installation—me as artCentral’s hostess-director-curator. We make a good team aligned in the service of art—the art of others and our own art, also. As members of JRAC David and I both have works in this exhibition currently on artCentral’s gallery walls.
Being out on the town and celebrating art, we’ll count this HEART & SOUL evening as our customary “Friday date night”. We both cherish our date nights as those special occasions when we take a break from day jobs and chores and puppy training to spend time sharing hours together in satisfying pleasure. An evening celebrating art among art lovers and creators, like a “dinner and a movie night” certainly fills this niche, especially when we add our own twist.
Recently, late on a wintry Friday afternoon, David called from his work place and asked, “What do you want to do tonight?” When I pitched “dinner and a movie”, he was all in. We looked online but could not find a nearby theater showing a movie that tweaked our interests. Next best choice: “dinner and a movie” at home…in bed. No need to bundle up and go out into the night to travel on slick roads while the temps were falling below freezing. Instead, while I carried my laptop to our bedroom, set up a “free” movie to stream and turned on our faux wood stove, David popped popcorn to bring upstairs on a big tray filled with peanut butter, apples, chocolate and bubbly cucumber water.
Our movie choice was excellent—a perfectly cast, exquisitely poignant 2006 sleeper neither of us had seen before. Weeks later we’re still talking about “Marilyn Hotchkiss’ Ballroom Dancing & Charm School”, which the online notes describe as “a heartfelt, nostalgic and gently humorous story about a chance encounter in which one man’s dreams become another man’s destiny”.
Our staying in date night was so, so happily satisfying! Our going out to artCentral and the HEART & SOUL opening will be just as pleasing. We think our peer artists of the Joplin Regional Artists Coalition are awesome and the stories they tell in their creations are as moving and meaningful as the story told in “Marilyn Hotchkiss’ Ballroom Dancing & Charm School”.
2020 is JRAC’s tenth anniversary! Besides the work of the JRAC artists we’ve come to know and love, we will have art by a few fresh new faces in JRAC’s membership. They are excited to be exhibiting with us for the very first time at artCentral.
The Joplin Regional Artists Coalition is a not-for-profit group founded in 2010. JRAC’s mission is to promote, strengthen and advocate for the visual arts and artists, art enthusiasts and patrons of the visual arts and to network visual artists to more effectively engage in cultural, economic and educational artistic activity within the Joplin region. Many Carthage artists are active members of JRAC.
Come see what all the talented JRAC artists have created with HEART & SOUL for our pleasure! Come and be pleased! Come find your favorites. Choose one or more for your own HEART & SOUL collection.
