Applause please for Art at the Museum participants

As I wrote yesterday morning, we had a great day on the Lucas County Historical Society Museum campus Saturday for Art at the Museum II --- despite an early morning shower.

Good coffee is a work of art, too, so we were happy to have a crew from The Porch on hand from 8 until 10 a.m. to serve coffees, fresh scones and other morning treats to the artists, volunteers and anyone else who wandered in.

I used this photo because it includes Sharon Wilhite (right), whose display of photography was located in the Pioneer Cabin and who also did her best to photograph all of the artists on hand. Later on, her family helped some of the other exhibitors load up at the end of the day, much appreciated. 

I neglected to grab a photo of Sharon with her work, and missed a few other exhibitors, too, among them Sara Palmer, Nash Cox, Terry Cox, Jamie Wilson and Ange Altenhofen. During a flying trip home early in the afternoon, I unloaded pockets and left the camera on the kitchen table --- so no second chances to correct earlier failures.

In addition to The Porch, Chux served lunch in the Pioneer Barn over the noon hour and a food truck was located all day on the grounds --- so there was no reason for anyone to go away hungry.

Guests who entered the campus via the front door of the Stephens House were greeted first, on the front porch, by Chery Woolsey's painted gourd art --- amazingly detailed.

Ashley Bedford Carroll and associates were located in the front parlor.

In the back parlor, Sharla Anderson was weaving silver threads into mounts for some of the highly detailed pendants  that were part of her display of hand-crafted jewelry.

Kay Brown displayed her reverse applique work in the dining room.

And Kathy Willits was sharing that space with a display of her oil paintings.

Paula Coffey sculpts in clay and had several of her works on display in the kitchen. Her work is beautifully detailed and I'm afraid this photo doesn't do it justice at all.

Outside on the Stephens House Lawn, Susan Baer worked throughout the day on a watercolor of her view from the center of the museum campus.

Just down the hill, Meg Prange --- accompanied by Larry and in conversation here with Lee Scott --- displayed many pieces of her fabric art. The clothes line with leaping dog was my favorite among works exhibited Saturday.

Kathy Johnson of Osceola was hard at work in Otterbein Church where, with pews condensed for the occasion, there was sufficient room for a large display of her art.

Larry Squibb's display of found metal art was located in front of Puckerbrush School, and if this photo looks familiar it's because I used it yesterday.

Around the corner in the Pioneer Cabin, Wayne County's Dale Clark displayed his specialty --- authentic reproductions of the types of pottery indigenous people of the Woodland Era would have been using along the wooded banks of the Chariton River, White Breast, Cedar and other creeks, a thousand or more years ago.

These pots are created as their originators would have done it --- assembled from coils of clay, then smoothed, detailed and fired.

Dale also is owner/curator of the Harry LaRue collection of native artifacts, most of which were collected in Lucas County by the late Harry LaRue, and he very kindly brought along most of that collection so that Lucas Countyans of today could enjoy it for the day.

Tyler Smith was located in the Mine Gallery on the lower level of the Lewis Building and drew crowds with his offer to create caricatures for $5 a head.

Next door in the Swanson Gallery, Don Seams of Corydon displayed his extraordinarily detailed wood art.

And potter Elizabeth Budiselich, of Centerville, was located in the Blacksmith Shop. Her associate attempted to stay out of the photo, but it seemed like a good idea to have him stand up and be counted, too.

Marilyn Marsh insists that she is retired, but was convinced to bring along a couple of examples of her wildlife art for display in the Lewis Building's Perkins Room.

Chariton leather artist, harmonica player and story-teller Will Ghormley (left) was a big hit, also in the Perkins Room.

Will says that his display seems to attract folks with two interests --- guns on the one hand and tooled leather, on the other. One of his goals is to interest gun owners in fine tooled leather, but of course he creates many items other than classic holsters.

Jorja Kemp, of Ames, creates vivid art with a rarely used medium called alcohol ink. Her station in the Perkins room was popular not only with those who admired her work, but also with those anxious to experiment themselves with the medium.

Kathy Batterson's show and sale of fine jewelry was a popular stop in the Vredenburg Gallery.

Steve Scott also displayed his fine work in the Vredenburg Gallery, accompanied by his wife, Lee. The Scotts were engaged in a congenial debate about the mats used to frame his original oils. He likes the black mats; she doesn't.

Tim Shearer's images of familiar subjects were a sentimental favorite with those who visited his display, also in the Vredenburg Gallery.

In addition to a huge amount of gratitude for the artists who participated in Saturday's show, we're also very grateful to the musicians who provided live music in the Pioneer Barn during the day.

Daniel Scheetz got away from me after performing early in the day and I was without a camera when Casey Peasley performed late in the day.

Cindy Reyes led off the afternoon ...

... followed by Al Butler (left), joined here briefly for a duet by Tony Irving.

Again, many thanks to all who gave of their time and talents to help us pull this event off. Now, we've got to sit down and figure out how we can improve Art at the Museum III next year.