Want a GREAT Family Art Activity?

Posted on May 15, 2012 by The Arts Center

Perennial favorite Artist-in-Residence William Hessian aka Mr. Billy launches another Miniature Buffalo Art Hunt this weekend.

Miniature Buffalo Art Hunt
Jamestown, North Dakota
Starts – Friday May 18th, 2012

First Clues Published 12:00 noon on Friday

The art hunt is a FREE event open to everyone!

Samples of previous Buffalo Hunt minis. These artworks are about the size of a matchbook.

Example of a "clue".

The artist creates hand painted miniature buffalo paintings and hides them in the public spaces of Jamestown. This is the seventh annual miniature art hunt that William has performed during the past seven years. The residents of the town are invited to study visual clues, released throughout the week on the internet and the Jamestown Sun Web Site (Area Voices Section – Culture Builds Community Blog) in order to help you find the hidden art. Winners get to keep the original work of art and also claim an additional prize to be awarded at the art center.

FOR CLUES & INFO CLICK HERE

Check this blog or the above link for clue updates and Mini Buffaloes found.

There will be a special meet and greet event, informational booth, draw with the artist event and information available during the art hunt. All of “Mr. Billy’s” past students and anyone else interested are welcome to come draw with the artist at an art-in-the-park get together/picnic. This will occur at 1:00 pm on Sunday afternoon. William Hessian has performed over 20 miniature art hunts all across the united states, from the East Coast to the West Coast and all around the Midwest.

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Re-Opening of the Arts Center Re-Energizes Everyone

Posted on May 9, 2012 by The Arts Center

What better to get people excited about Art than a brand new arts facility!  Technically a remodel, but everything is completely new and fresh. Everyone who visited at the grand opening last weekend was delighted with the upgrades. There were great comments all around and an infectious enthusiasm for the future success of the Jamestown Arts Center.

Ribbon cutting, May 5, 2012. Photo by Matt Sheppard for CSI Replay Channel

The opening exhibit, Capture the Coteau features a variety of artists who were on-hand to share their unique visions of the North Dakota landscape.

Capture the Coteau Exhibit - Photo by Matt Sheppard for CSI Replay Channel

If you didn’t get a chance to visit the opening festivities, no problem! Come anytime between 9:00 am – 5:00 pm, Monday – Friday and Saturday noon – 4:00 pm. Admission is free.  The exhibit includes a scavenger hunt for kids which encourages close examination of the artwork to find hidden details. Kids who complete the hunt will receive a sketchbook. The exhibit will continue through the summer with new artworks being periodically added. And don’t forget, if you have a small “treasure of the coteau” to contribute to the exhibit, please bring it in and we will add it to the community installation. (Want more details on this? See previous blog post).

 

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Does the Landscape Inspire You? Be Part of the Arts Center’s Opening Exhibit

Posted on April 16, 2012 by The Arts Center

Does the landscape inspire you? In particular, the Coteau? The Prairie?

How does it make you feel? How does the North Dakota landscape, environment, history, etc. affect your work? What impresses you, concerns you, moves you about the land?

These are questions posed to artists who will be part of the Arts Center’s reopening exhibition, Capture the Coteau (opens May 5, 2012). The coteau and prairies of North Dakota have a way of speaking to those who listen, and artists are good listeners. The artwork included in the upcoming exhibit, whether painting, print, photograph or prose, speaks to the region–either figuratively or symbolically. Through the eyes of artists and writers and perhaps even YOU, the exhibit will explore the region that the Arts Center community calls home.

If you happen to read this blog–I’d like to hear from you. What are your thoughts about our landscape? Has it inspired you? Perhaps you’ve written a poem, taken a picture, gathered a “treasure” or found something that provided you a personal connection with the land. Please share by COMMENTING HERE or better yet, you can be part the exhibit by contributing  something (an found object, a written statement or anything else) that embodies the essence/spirit what our landscape means to you. Contributions will be accepted and displayed throughout the exhibit. At the exhibit’s close a digital catalog will compile and document all aspects of the Coteau project.

Selected artwork from the upcoming Capture the Coteau exhibition. Artists (clockwise starting in upper left): Jessica Christy, Molly McLain, Sherry Short and Anna Meidinger.

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Art in All Places – Jamestown Regional Medical Center

Posted on April 10, 2012 by The Arts Center

This morning I had the opportunity to visit the Jamestown Regional Medical Center (JRMC). Not as a patient but as an art enthusiast. I hadn’t yet had the opportunity to see the new facility. So why stop in now?

JRMC has asked the The Arts Center help with a changing artist gallery. It will be located in the corridor between the JRMC and the future Essentia Health Clinic. This gallery will showcase different artists’ work and rotate every few months. The changing space will complement the collection of artwork already displayed throughout the facility.

It was a treat to tour the facility and recognize many regional artists. There were also some that I didn’t recognize but I was impressed with the selections. Yes, there are a few commercial looking photographs but there were more than enough standouts to make a visit to the hospital a cultural outing.

The JRMC building itself is beautiful with clean lines, superb color scheme and nice design touches that are appropriate and evoke the regional landscape and celebrate its beauty. I was impressed.

Last September I spent a lot of time in the Summerlin Hospital in Las Vegas. I sat there 15 days with an elderly parent in ICU.  That facility was relatively new, and like JRMC architecturally beautiful with sweeping curves and soft colors and stones of the Nevada desert (its home environment).  There, the walls were punctuated with beautiful, large photographs of the desert, it’s flora, fauna and geology.  The photographs served a purpose–they brought the outside in and gave respite for the mind. I was comforted by the art present around me.

I’m glad the JRMC Board had the foresight to take the extra steps to utilize original art. This enriches the cultural fabric of the Jamestown community/region while it also supports artists, and provides a counterpoint for visitors and patients who visit the facility.  After all, nobody likes going to the hospital – the visual (and intellectual) experience of viewing the art makes it much more palatable. The Arts Center looks forward to helping JRMC with the rotating artist gallery.  We hope it can be up and running sometime in late May.

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I Don’t Want To Go to the Circus

Posted on April 3, 2012 by The Arts Center

Non-profit arts centers, museums and such are constantly having to answer such questions. To survive, we have to have develop mission statements, complete grant proposals and conduct organizational assessments to justify our existence.  I’ve never calculated how many hours are used up “wordsmithing” to granters but its significant. I can only imagine how terrific it would be to use these hours to work with artists to develop exciting programs, teach children art and to share exhibits with the community.

The Circus, 1891, Georges Seurat (1859–1891)

Why comment on this? I guess I’m tired of having to to justify the value of what we do. Sadly, its just not enough to say the kids LOVE it.  How do we know? Proof…The Circus is in Jamestown. It conflicts with our Arts After School program.  Many kids will attend and miss art class. But yesterday, I listened to children telling their parents that they would rather come to The Arts Center than go to the Circus. Wow, score a point for the ARTS! Remember, kids that do art are better prepared to succeed. In today’s world we need individuals who can innovate and think broadly – arts training provides these skills.

You would be amazed at how much is happening in North Dakota to enhance learning with the Arts. Last week an Arts Education Summit was held in Jamestown.  Unbeknownst to the general public, the most significant arts administrators, curators and arts educators in the state gathered at the Buffalo Grill.  We learned of many significant projects, the North Dakota Museum of Arts Rural Arts Institute, The Plains Art Museum’s Center for Creativity, The North Dakota Council on the Arts SALT program, Bismarck State College’s plans for a new Arts Building and much more.  Some projects are new and some are expanding but all are competing for the same funds. The Arts Center has been a participant, a recipient and a leader in some of these programs. Our community, our schools and our youth have benefited from many of these programs. The gathering’s purpose was to share information and begin to shape a statewide plan for arts education.

We also learned of something called STEAM and I quote from the Council on the Arts Rebecca Engelman, Arts in Education Director’s description.

STEM, the acronym for Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math as a vision for education in ND. This new and innovative form of instruction is quickly gaining interest in education and economic circles as a way to meet the needs and requirements of our future workforce. But before we jump on the bandwagon, let’s make sure we do all our homework and consider the latest research and information on STEM. Experts in the fields of technology, design, education, and engineering suggest that adding the letter A for the arts creates an even more powerful combination for learning. In fact, STEAM has just been approved by the Korean Ministry of Education as an integral part of a creative, K-12 initiative for teaching science and math across the nation. With a little more imagination and risk, we have an opportunity to be on the front, rather than the end, of an educational model that benefits all the students of North Dakota.

If you feel the arts are important and necessary PLEASE tell your schools officials, your city, state and national politicians to continue to support and grow the ARTS.

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Missing The Arts Center’s Exhibits?

Posted on March 27, 2012 by The Arts Center

Need an exhibit fix? Can’t leave Jamestown? There are a few other options to see art.

Unison Bank livens up their space every month with a different local artist. This month its the Quilter’s Guild.  I found the information on their gallery panel interesting so I’m passing it to you.

The Jamestown Quilters Guild’s art is on display at Unison Bank for the month of April.

When women won the right to vote in 1921 technologies like electricity, gas, water lines, automobiles, phones and washing and sewing machines revolutionized the life. With new products came new materials and the ‘20’s and ‘30’s saw a renewed interest in making quilts. Newspapers were running quilting columns and quilters were able to see pattern and fabric suggestions at the same time.

Even during the Great Depression many quilts were still intricate and sophisticated. At the time quilt columns were the most popular feature in some major city newspapers.

Because materials for winning quilts were too expensive for many people, some people used printed feed and grain sacks.
Manufacturers of feed, flour, salt and sugar bags began using cheap printed fabrics for their sacks. Bags were made of colorful, geometric and floral patterns, as well as solid colors. To encourage interest in the reuse of sacks, manufacturers designed them to become particular projects. For example, sacks intended to become pillowcases were imprinted with floral embroidery motifs. Others were made with quilt blocks printed on them while others had pre-printed patterns for hand puppets or stuffed animals, dolls and applique.

More information on quilting is available at the Jamestown Quilt Guild meetings at 7 p.m. on the third Thursday of the month at the James River Senior Center. The meeting is open to the public.

Don’t forget the art and exhibits at the National Buffalo Museum and watch for information on student work at Jamestown College.

Still missing The Arts Center? Well, you won’t have to wait long – April showers bring May flowers and in May the newly reopened Arts Center will be blooming with Art.

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Supporting the Arts – Annual Wine and Cheese Tasting

Posted on March 21, 2012 by The Arts Center

What’s better than gathering with friends on a fine spring evening to enjoy a variety of wines and cheeses? Not much, except that it also supports programming at The Arts Center.  Here are the details:

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Never A Dull Moment!

Posted on February 27, 2012 by The Arts Center

The Arts Center's renovated facade. The facility will reopen in May 2012.

My bet is that 70% of Arts Center members and 95% of the Jamestown community have only partial knowledge of the extensive arts programming generated via the Arts Center. You may have been to a play, a performance, an exhibit or taken a class—but, do you realize how much is going on behind the scenes?

This week is busy but typical with the Annual Gala last Saturday, Arts After School every day with a new session starting on Monday – Friday, Ballroom Dancing class begins on Thursday, 2nd ACT Community Theatre hosts Neil Simon’s Barefoot in the Park on Thursday, Friday and Saturday and two sessions of Pottery Wheel class begin on Saturday.

Here is a list of the Arts Center’s ongoing activities and events:

Students share their Arts After School clay projects with parents and friends.

  • Arts After School: daily at the Arts Center for grades 3,4,5 and twice a week at Teen City/Youth for Christ for grades 6,7,8.
  • 2nd Saturday: visual arts classes for elementary students
  • Summer Camps: visual and drama classes for elementary students
  • Artists in the Schools: artists in various disciplines from Sept 12 – May 18 in all elementary schools
  • Gallery Exhibitions: rotating every 4-6 weeks featuring a range of artists
  • 2nd ACT (Community Theatre): performances each year
  • Art for Life: arts experiences for residents at Ave Maria Village and the Heritage Center
  • Performances: vocalists, musicians, and performing artists local and regional
  • Adult Classes: teaching ceramics, painting, drawing, stained glass, and more
  • Artful Happy Hour: social art experience for adults each month
  • SALT (Schools & Artists as Learning Teams): deepening curriculum through the arts
  • Touring Theatre: live professional theatre for all elementary students
  • Arts Classes for Teachers: credit and in-service hours for area teachers
  • Special Events: Wine & Cheese Tasting, Gala, Oktoberfest AND a very special project that will be “announced” in March!

We encourage you to get involved, truly–there is something for everybody.

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Volunteers – They Can’t be Thanked Enough

Posted on February 22, 2012 by The Arts Center

Marylin Salting of Jamestown preparing materials for a class project. Marylin helps the Arts Center very week.

The Arts Center is supported in many ways; grants, membership dollars, sponsorships, and donations but there are also the people who put in countless hours to help the organization operate. There are perennial volunteers which come every week, there are college students who come to satisfy credit requirements or to gain experience, there are special project volunteers who make events like this week’s Annual Gala successful.

Artist, Deane Fay of Gackle designed and built the movable gallery walls for the new Arts Center Gallery.

There is always a need for more volunteers.  Perhaps you have expertise in an art form and would like to teach a class, perhaps you are a carpenter and would like to help with building projects, maybe you like gardening and can help with the Art Park.  The Arts Center can always use your help! Needs will increase this spring as we prepare to move into the renovated facility. Moving, sorting, and cleaning will make the process so much more manageable with lots of helpers. If you like to organize people…we could also use help with volunteer coordination.  Just call 701-251-2496 to get involved.

Volunteers don’t just do the work ~ they make it work.
-Carol Pettit

To all the Arts Center Volunteers…THANK YOU! Your ongoing help makes the Arts Center a success!

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Valentines Day … Try These Artful Options…

Posted on February 13, 2012 by The Arts Center

Valentine’s day is tomorrow–Don’t cave to commercialism and save a trip to the dentist.

Gift an Art Class at the Jamestown Arts Center

Ballroom Dancing Class with Jackie Gately-Sather
Thursdays, March 1, 8, 15 • 7:15 – 8:30 pm • Top O’ the Stairs Dance, $40 member / $50 Others.  Learn four basic dances: Fox Trot, Swing, Waltz and Cha Cha. This class will help you learn and practice your dance moves, as well as build your confidence on the dance floor.
Introduction to Fused Glass – Make a Pendant with Jaci Trefz
Saturday, March 10, 9:00 am – 1:00 pm, Sunday, March 11, 2:00 pm – 4:00 pm. $35 members / $45 others. This informative, fun and rewarding 2-day introduction to the basics of Fused Glass Art will walk you through the basic processes. Including glass compatibility, studio safety, fusing temperatures and glass cutting. Students will create two fused glass pendants using a variety of glass. Prior experience not necessary.

Pottery Wheel – Jump Start with Tammy Jones
Three Sessions: Saturday, March 3, 10, & 24, 1:00 – 3:00 pm, $50 member / $60 others. It’s time to get your hands dirty! Join us for this intro to wheel thrown pottery classes. Learn to center clay and create cups, bowls and plates. Then trim and glaze your vessels for the kiln. No experience necessary. Class includes clay, glazes and kiln firing.

Call 701-251-2496 to register. These classes are for adults but there are also may offerings for kids also. Go to www.jamestownartscenter.org.

Minimalism...

Prepare A Colorful Meal

Food can be art, it can look like art, it can be an art to prepare or serve, it can even be an art to consume.  Spend a little extra time and create something special–just use your imagination.

Gift an Handmade Memento

This is great project for the whole family.  Look around and I’m sure you can find both traditional and non traditional art-making materials that can be used to make valentines.  Remember it doesn’t have to be pink, red and fuzzy.

Get funky and imaginative in your scavenging.

 

A picture collage.

Bouquet? Hand Gathered? Why Not?

An intimate arrangement of winter weeds.

 

Our mild winter has provided an abundance of dried leaves, grasses, reeds and colorful stems that can be gathered to make a beautiful arrangement.  So put your coat on, get some pruning shears, grab the dog and take a walk in the country. It will be pleasant winter outing that will get your heart beating and mind focusing on finding winter treasures.

In our area look for rosehips, willow twigs and grasses for rosy color.

 

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