Left: The Art Center's first building (1970)

Above:  The Art Center offered its first children's art classes on Saturday at Tope Elementary in the early 1950s.

 This photo is a 1957 class.

Al Nestler

One of 19 founders

and an artist in The Art Center's Permanent Collection

The Art Center's

55th Anniversary  Celebration

September 5th -- November 15th

Underwritten by Shear Inc. & Chuck and Patti Shear

The Gift

Barbara Churchley

Brush and Palette

Members Show

October 3rd -- November 15th

    Roberta Smith will be exhibiting large scale mixed media collage works on canvas and panels.  Her exhibit opens on September 5th and will focus on the ways in which she makes or alters elements and the importance to her of recycling objects that have been neglected, rejected or discarded.

Re-Membering
“History, memory, dreams, imagination and the pursuit of knowledge are essential to my creative process. Old books, maps and papers fascinate me in the way that old people do: they become richer and more fully realized with the passage of time, bearing visible traces of their pasts.  They acquire secrets, mysteries and stories that I see as more vital than those imprinted upon them when they were new. Collecting venerable discards and incorporating them with my drawings, calligraphy and prints in order to endow them with new life and meaning based upon my own experience and understanding is my way of "re-membering".  Because I put so much of myself into the work, literally and figuratively, the evolving pieces are both cathartic and filled with autobiographical content.”

    Since earning a BFA with highest honors from Pratt Institute in New York Roberta Smith has worked as a jeweler, graphic designer, children's book illustrator, muralist, and mixed media artist.  She also spent six years cruising the world in a small sailboat, gathering memories and images to last a lifetime.

Roberta Smith

September 5th -- November 15th

Underwritten by

and

    What became both an exhibition and the conceptual art studio book Roadsongs, A Journey into the Life and Mindscapes of an American Artist, began as a drawing I started in late 1968. The fully realized idea was completed when the book was released in 2001. During the mid 1980’s, as work on relief etching images progressed, a new idea gradually dawned on me. If I were to create each etching to be experienced with a respective audio drama, my audience could continue to create their own ‘head’ images as the audio played. This ‘Mindscape’ would be a kind aesthetic osmosis or cerebral cinema and each imaginative event would be as unique and person having it. In addition such an experience could give my audience the sense of being in my life during the moment of inspiration.

    In order to bear the gravity of a single frame movie, a Mindscape image had to have an icon-in-the-moment quality. The question, “How long can this image stimulate your thoughts,” became a kind of mantra. Ever since the invention of motion pictures in the early 1900’s, still visual artists have had an increased necessity to make their images work on many levels (to stand for more than just an illustrative experience). This idea is the nexus of an icon maker, and the way you can tell if you are looking at substantive art or wall covering.

    Our world culture is so steeped in instant media gratification that we run the risk of degrading our imaginations and our aesthetic taste. I think anything that stimulates critical thought and civilized creative imagination is most timely.

Roadsongs:

A Journey into the Life and Mindscapes of an American Artist

Malcolm Graeme Childers

September 5th -- November 15th

Underwritten by

and

Chuck and Kendra McDaniel