Our town is full of Naked Ladies! If you bike-drive-walk-wander through our beautiful community you will see them on every street, standing on their slender legs, nodding their fetching, sophisticated hairdos.
Formally these lovelies are recognized as Amaryllis Belladonna. They appear each year in August once their green foliage has died back, giving them their common name—“Naked Ladies.” With their sweet perfume, their bouquets of fragrantly feminine light-pink flowers allure us to look and admire their clusters.
Recently Jim Brock donated dozens of bulbs of Naked Ladies, also known as Surprise Lilies, to enhance the gardens of artCentral. This time next year they will bloom in abundance, for they will naturalize readily in the well-drained soil found on the Hyde House campus.
Older Naked Lady beauties have been at home at artCentral for quite some time. Annually they magically appear in the circular flower bed beside the back patio. This month they are providing a lovely setting for the Heron—one of the sixteen works installed in Jason Shelfer’s SCULPTURAL SPECTACULAR exhibition underwritten by Schmidt CPAS & Advisors.
Board Member and exhibiting artist Jason Shelfer tells us: “Each year my mom asks me what I want for Christmas, and I try to make my responses an equal mix of constructive and audacious.
The sewing machine Christmas launched my textile creations…and these sculptures are the result of my Lincoln Arc Welder Christmas. Once I had begun creating pieces from the objects I had on hand (and displaying them in my yard), friends began to give me metal. I could not do most of these without my dear friends slash patrons, particularly, the Ball Family! They have opened up their farm to be artistically plundered on numerous occasions.”
Do come on over to 1110 East Thirteenth Street and see for yourself the art made of Jason’s foraging. Admission is free!
When you arrive at artCentral the first sculpture you will view is Red I-Beams. Entering the campus and traveling counterclockwise around the circular drive, stop at the front porch stairs and pick up a site map from the red-topped information box.
In the island’s center, you will find Thorax, A Tempest of Wheels, Alea iacta est (The die has been cast), Pyramidal Duo and Interstitial. Off to the right is the Heron knee-deep in Naked Ladies then the ethereal blue Celeste Chairs. The mash up of Bike Lanes stands before the Great Wall. Continuing around next come Window Screens #1, Orange Steel Tube, Tractor Parts, Window Screens #2, Gray Mobius Wire, The Angelus by Millet via Dali and Cerchi per Nostro Circolo (Circles for Our Circle).
Sculptural Spectacular is a fine example of artCentral’s mission to offer grand art in our small town. All of artCentral’s exhibitions and events at Hyde House and through community outreach programs are made possible with the support of art lovers like you. Please show you gratitude for all that artCentral gives to enrich the quality of life and culture in greater Carthage.
September 1 is Give Carthage Day sponsored by the Carthage Community Foundation. This is a perfect opportunity to make your donation to artCentral’s Give4Art! Fund. Your contributions make a difference! I can just imagine all artCentral’s Naked Ladies standing even taller and more beautiful as they nod their appreciation in your direction!
