ANAC Conference

We had so much fun...so much success...and so much rain in Aurora, Nebraska last week for the Association of Nebraska Art Clubs Conference!  My friend, and fellow member of The Art Society, Tina Simeon won Best of Show with her drawing of three young boys looking through the fence at their upcoming rides for the Mutton Busting contest (the sheep rodeo for kids, so popular  in county fairs around here).  Susan Hart, a friend from Cozad, won the Museum of Nebraska Art purchase award.  

View from classroom at The Leadership Center

The juried competition is a highlight of this event, and Paul Leveille had the difficult task of choosing 24 pieces of art for the show that will travel around the state throughout the year, as well as 24 honorable mentions from over 300 entries.  Paul drove all the way from his home in western Massachusetts to teach portraits in oil, watercolor, and pastel.  All those art supplies wouldn't fit in the limited luggage allowed on an airline!

Art is a Verb by Linda Jorgensen

I taught classes in altered books and collage, and am so pleased with the student results.  We worked on history, composition, criticism and techniques.  They got an overload of Patti Digh, and other people and things I love!  This painting shows the Patti influence. We were able to frame several collages by Saturday.  What a thrill to take something home, ready to hang! 

Now it's time to clean my studio so all those traveling supplies can fit back in!  This was an amazing growth experience for me.  It was overwhelmingly intimidating to be teaching my peers.  The situation required overtime planning and preparation, which led to success.  Can't wait to figure out what comes next!  

Guests Put an End to Procrastination

A year ago, I was so excited about my new 12 foot tall Christmas tree that I told my friends at the Ogallala Art Society they should plan to have the December 2010 meeting at my house so they could see my tree...and so they could appreciate how far I travel for the meetings with them!  It is 56 miles north to Ogallala, and some of them live 15 miles north of there.  Well, last month I started dreading my commitment.  The "studio" they wanted to see was far from being a "studio."  I could barely walk in the door to the guest room/place where the paint supplies are stored.  I still needed to get that big tree up and decorate for Christmas.  It was a twisted sort of relief when my son got the flu on the night before they were supposed to arrive.  I actually was sort of prepared at that time, but rescheduling for a week later was a blessing that allowed for a much cleaner house and that makes me happy.  Maybe it's because it doesn't happen often for me, but I just love the feeling of a clean house!

In the last 6 weeks, things have gotten done around here that should have been done 15 years ago!  My husband laid new flooring over the old peeling linoleum in the hall bath.  Drywall damage was repaired and painted, 45 year old carpet was hauled out of the basement and to the dump, and the remaining floor has been painted.  I even finished painting the concrete block wall in my "studio" which had been only partially painted for at least 8 years!  A swiveling stool I ordered for the studio is now usable after sitting in a box for two years.  In the last few months, the focus I had worked toward with my art had been put aside too many times with other commitments, but now I am inspired to set some new goals and get back at it.  I think the Art Society members left here a bit inspired, too. 

It's time for resolutions, and theme words.  Last year I decided on "willingness" in order to increase creative joy.  The year before, I chose the word "perseverance," to help me focus on continued, patient effort.  In the next week, besides altering 5 show choir dresses, wrapping and mailing Christmas gifts, accompanying the church concert, planning a college class for the spring semester, writing the church blog, and worrying about my son's scholarship applications, I hope to come up with the theme word for 2011.  Any ideas?  It'll be a big year.  My Governor's Mansion Exhibit will be held February 9-March 11, and I will be showing in the Meadowlark Gallery with my Cancer Survivor Painters in September.  I plan to take an online art journaling class in January, and get to the ANAC art camp at Halsey in September.  Maybe since my house is clean, I will be able to just sit for a bit, basking in the glow of Christmas lights, and think.  Then I can start painting!

Cowboy Artistry

Last Tuesday was a great day for an excursion into the Nebraska Sandhills, where one companion said she loved to watch the changing seasons.  We joked that the fall color is so evident on all the trees.... (Actually, there are almost no trees in the Sandhills, but the grasses definitely change with the seasons.)  Ten of us from The Art Society of Ogallala took a field trip to Arthur, a small cowboy town in ranch country, north of Ogallala.  Arthur County claims one person per square mile from the 2000 Census, and Arthur is the only town in the county!  The place is famous for the world's smallest courthouse, and the world's only church made from baled straw.  A brochure lists 18 current businesses.  We visited three.

We learned lots about leather working from Dennis Rose at Rose Saddlery, on the main street, "downtown".  He has some amazing industrial sewing machines and demonstrated for us on a beaded horse breast collar, commissioned for a young cowboy's birthday.  Dennis grew up in the Sandhills. He does beautiful leather tooling and has created 267 saddles,  as well as lots of horse equipment, purses, and biker clothing during the last 33 years.  He's designed a special saddle for handicapped riders with a high back support that folds to allow the rider to get into position.  Lots of his equipment was creatively fabricated to fit his needs, like a saddle frame mounted on a barber stool to pump it higher for ease in construction.

On the north edge of town, past the log cabin built by Buffalo Bill and some partners, we were treated to a demonstration of the hatter's craft by Jim Marshall of  Marshall Custom Hats.   I didn't realize the best felt cowboy hats are made from 100% beaver hair.  Varying amounts of rabbit hair are added at different price ranges.  We saw an antique conformeter--a rare contraption used to measure the idiosyncrasies of old British heads.  Custom hats really are made to fit different shapes and sizes of heads.  Jim steams the felt, shaping it on wooden forms, and flange boards,  presses with an ingenious Rhodes ironing machine, then actually sands the felt with sandpaper.   The inside sweatbands are sewn in by hand, and more shaping is done with steam and skilled hands.  In the last 10 years, Jim has created 1,059 special hats for rodeo queens, ranchers, cowboys, and even a birthday presentation hat for Jeb Bush, former governor of Florida, who has the biggest head Jim has ever fit.

Fried onion chips, and a drink at The Bunkhouse Bar & Grill rounded out our field trip.  This place also serves as the area's senior meal site!  The food and atmosphere were great:  a table of women playing cards, men coming in for a late afternoon beer...all eye-ing us "tourists."  Hunting trophies and antiques adorn the walls.  Pithy quotations and snapshots of the locals are everywhere.  But, I'll have to go back for more than the food...my one bar photo came out too blurry to include here.  Many apologies.