Exhibits and Displays – Page 2

Art Exhibit: “C is for Color” by Connie Miller

Posted on June 9, 2021 by Post Art Library

We’re glad to present Connie Miller‘s “C is for Color” exhibit in The Bramlage and Willcoxon Foundation Gallery inside Joplin Public Library from Saturday, June 12-August 31, 2021. Although enjoyed by people of all ages, “C is for Color” is an exhibit especially for children, as it’s hung at their eye-level and consists of a series of colorful acrylic paintings of animals–just in time for the Tails & Tales summer reading challenge! Starting Saturday, June 12, 2021 artist-provided take-home kits will be available in the Children’s Department on a first come, first serve basis while supplies last. For more information, contact Jill at 417-623-7953 x1041.

Artist’s Statement

Color is all around us, but not everyone sees color in the same way. One person might see a very loud red, while another person will see the same color as pink. Color comes into your eyes as light. All eyes accept the light and allow it to travel to the brain and be seen as color. Since some eyes accept more or less of the light, color will appear differently in each brain.

Studying the Color Wheel and how the colors work together will help you understand how color is used in Contemporary Art.

Colors can represent feelings and be associated with different feelings according to how each person has experiences that color. Cool colors are thought to be calming, but sometimes they can also feel like sadness, anxiety, or fear. Most people think warm colors represent feelings of love and kindness, but sometimes they can look like anger and danger.

Color choices are always uniquely your own. If you love the color green and you love your cat, it is perfectly acceptable to use a green paint to represent your cat. It is also okay if your cat doesn’t look like a cat, but just feels like a cat to you. The best color choices are the ones that feel right to you.

When I do artwork I begin by exploring colors, seeing how they work together. Some colors will make other colors seem brighter, while other colors will stand back and let the color next to it do all the work. The best way to experiment with color is to begin with one color, then choose another, and continue choosing colors until your space is covered. Finally, stand back and look at your art to see if it feels right to you. Each person will make color choices depending on how they have experienced color in their life.

Like any other creative activity, working with color requires practice. I’m still playing with colors, shapes, and forms and learning something new everyday. I hope you will be encouraged to experiement with colors to create Contemporary Art for yourself.

Connie Miller | forconniem@gmail.com | Connie Miller’s Art on Facebook

Photos: “C is for Color” exhibit in The Bramlage and Willcoxon Foundation Gallery inside Joplin Public Library.

Art Exhibit: The ABCs of Folklore and Slang

Posted on April 15, 2021 by Post Art Library

The ABCs of Folklore and Slang, an exhibit featuring 26 linocuts by artist Deby Gilley, is open now through Sunday, May 30, 2021 in The Bramlage and Willcoxon Foundation Gallery inside Joplin Public Library .

Inspired by positive feedback about the titles she gives her works, this series is based on an alphabetical sequence of key letters of the words within the titles. Gilley created these works, which reflect an Ozark heritage, using the relief-printmaking process.

“I am hopeful that my chosen images and titles offers a new and refreshing experience to the use of the slang and familiar sayings. Some of the images are people and animals that I know very well,” said Gilley.

Her book, The ABCs of Folklore and Slang Told in 26 Linocuts, was released in 2020. For more information, contact Post Art Library director Jill Sullivan at 417-623-7953 x1041 or jhsullivan@postartlibrary.org.

Display: BOOKBINDING by Sullivan Book Arts

Posted on October 2, 2020 by Post Art Library

This display features the steps and tools of bookbinding as practiced by Sullivan Book Arts, a bindery based out of Pittsburg, Kansas.

Olive Sullivan is obsessed with books. She is a writer as well as a bookbinder and recently opened her own Little Free Library. Her poetry collection, Wandering Bone, was published in 2017 (Meadowlark Books, Emporia). She began bookbinding with Sharen May in 2011 and is now training her own apprentice, Angel Abshire, in this art.

Sullivan Book Arts specializes in restoration, custom bookbinding, art books, and more. For more information, visit them HERE.

Bookbinding is on display inside Joplin Public Library now through November 15, 2020.

Click HERE to see a news feature about Sullivan Book Arts’ Bookbinding.

Above: *Bookbinding* by Sullivan Book Arts

Above: Restoration In-progrss
*Bookbinding* by Sullivan Book Arts

Exhibit: PLACES I HAVE BEEN by Paula Giltner

Posted on October 2, 2020 by Post Art Library

We’ve resumed art exhibits in the library!

Now through November 30, 2020 Paula Giltner’s Places I Have Been is on exhibit in The Bramlage and Willcoxon Foundation Gallery and the Local History Room inside Joplin Public Library.

Places I Have Been features watercolor and oil paintings that take viewers to Colorado, Wyoming, California, and several Missouri locations, including Joplin.

Giltner is an award-winning artist who is part of Local Color Art Gallery in Joplin, Missouri. For more information, visit HERE. Click HERE for a news feature about this exhibit.

Artist’s Statement

If only I could show paintings of all the places I have been! Although I’m someone who has had very few dreams of traveling, my life events have taken me all over the globe. I have been to 48 states in the US and to 9 foreign countries.

Watercolor was the first medium to challenge me artistically. Eventually I experimented with acrylic and finally oil. What’s my favorite? That’s like choosing between steak and lobster. It’s all good, but in different ways.

I find that local people enjoy seeing paintings of familiar places around the four states. I love to paint the landscape in all seasons along with the wildlife, domestic life and architecture. I think the world is a beautiful place and there’s no place like home.

Paula Giltner | jnpgiltner@hotmail.com

Above: “Colorado Waterfall” by Paula Giltner

Above: Places I Have Been Exhibition
The Bramlage and Willcoxon Foundation Gallery | Joplin Public Library

GRIND by Brett Dorrance

Posted on October 7, 2019 by Post Art Library

Brett Dorrance’s GRIND is comprised of a typographic sculpture and posters. Dorrance’s background knowledge of graphic design and 3D design is displayed in a pragmatic, modern, and uplifting way. He has a large interest in motivational messages and helping others from the bottom to the top. His desire is for the viewer to walk away with a sense of encouragement.

“We all go through a daily GRIND no matter what the circumstances are. I want that daily GRIND to be applied in a way that brings success and hope, not destruction or failure,” said Dorrance.

GRIND is on exhibit in The Bramlage and Willcoxon Foundation Gallery inside Joplin Public Library, 1901 East 20th Street, Joplin, MO now through January 5, 2019. An artist’s reception will be held in the gallery on Thursday, October 24, 2019 from 6-7:30pm.

For more information, contact Jill Sullivan at 417-623-7953 x1041.

Photography by Maxwell Heckman

Posted on October 7, 2019 by Post Art Library

Maxwell Heckman’s photography show juxtaposes two of his series: M.A.D: Mutually Assured Destruction, a black and white series which opposes nuclear war and weapons, and Morning in Joplin, a color landscape series.

In his application to show artwork in the library, Maxwell Heckman described himself as “a young, somewhat inexperienced photographer.” He went on to say his philosophy is artists must enjoy their work, be proud of their failures, and, above all, keep going.

In his practice, he wakes at 5am and walks about with his camera, taking photos, whether it’s 5 degrees or 106, rain or shine, good or poor lighting, etc. He keeps going, shooting as many frames as he can, enjoying the process.

Rather than viewing his artwork as good or bad – “peeks or valleys” – he sees it as a vehicle for improvement, as “always having the opportunity to get better.” That, he says, is why he’s an artist.

When working with Maxwell to determine which of his work to show in the library, I became intrigued with juxtaposing his gas mask series and landscapes. The stark contrast between the black and white gas mask photographs and the saturated color landscapes demonstrates Maxwell’s aptitude for exploring his medium while eliciting an indescribable connection between the two series.

Indeed, he might be young and somewhat inexperienced, but his work is experimental and promising.

Heckman’s photography is on display in the Genealogy, Local History, and Post Reading Room wing inside Joplin Public Library now through November 30th.

Route 66 – Highway to the Stars

Posted on June 5, 2019 by Post Art Library

Route 66 – Highway to the Stars, an educational exhibit created by local history detectives and authors William and Doris Martin, is showing now through July 31 in the Genealogy, Local History, and Post Reading Room wing of our library. The Martins discovered a connection between William’s mother’s family and astronomer Edwin Hubble’s mother’s family, who were living in Marshfield, Missouri many years ago.

When William’s 91-year-old aunt told them, “This story needs to be told,” they wrote and self-published a book entitled Dreams and Adventures: The Edwin Hubble Story (2015). It’s an inspiring, never-before-told story about the amazing astronomer for whom the Hubble Space Telescope is named.

After publication of their book, the Martins continued to research astronomy and space exploration. William began creating original storyboards about Edwin Hubble and many other astronomers, astronauts, observatories, and planetariums. Many of these people and places, as it turns out, have connections to Route 66, such as astronomer Harlow Shapley and astronaut Janet Kavandi.

Discover the dreams and adventures of Edwin Hubble, learn about Harlow Shapley – the man who determined our solar system’s place in the Milky Way – visit some planetariums and observatories, soar with astronauts, and reach for the stars as you travel along Route 66 – Highway to the Stars!

Sculpture Works in Wood

Posted on April 19, 2019 by Post Art Library

“Sculpture Works in Wood,” a solo exhibition by local artist M. Justin Hale, is on display in our Bramlage and Willcoxon Foundation Gallery, our display cases, and in the Post Reading Room inside Joplin Public Library now through September 30, 2019.

Hale sees anatomical references whenever he carves. Most of his professional life has been spent working in prosthetics. Leaving the prosthetics field in 1999, he now devotes his life to his artwork.

His work is inspired by the bent and twisting forms found in remnants of trees from a long and well lived life. Finding and releasing the stored energy of the wood into a new life as sculpture is a great experience.

For more information, contact Jill Sullivan at 417-623-7953 x1041 or jhsullivan@postartlibrary.org.

Library exhibitions and displays are curated by Post Art Library. Their mission is to enrich the community of Joplin by perpetuating Dr. Winfred L. and Elizabeth C. Post’s love of art, architecture, history, and history preservation through public access to arts-related library resources and services, educational programming, events, and exhibits. Visit www.postartlibrary.org for more information.

MSSU Senior Sneak Peek

Posted on March 12, 2019 by Post Art Library

MSSU Senior Sneak Peek, an art show comprised of artworks by recent or soon-to-be recent graduates of Missouri Southern State University’s Art Department, is on display in our Local History, Genealogy, and Post Reading Room gallery. A preview of the artists’ senior shows, Sneak Peek features art by Jocelyn Lechuga, Lydia Humphreys, McKenzie Wesley, Sydney Buffington, and Jacklyn Kidd.

Antique Photographs

Posted on February 19, 2019 by Post Art Library

Gone are the days of laborious photographic processes. Most of us use cellphones rather than cameras to take photos. No doubt – and more often than not – the photos we take remain stored on electronic devices or in virtual clouds instead of tangibly tucked away in albums gracing our shelves or frames decorating our walls. With modern technology, it’s understandably easy to forget about historic photographic processes, such as those used to make ambrotypes, CdVs, and tintypes. Fortunately, we still benefit from the results of these processes by way of antique photographs, such as those in Allen Shirley’s collection, a selection of which is showing now through March 2019 at Joplin Public Library.

Although the display is largely comprised of tintypes, a photograph made by a direct positive on a thin sheet of metal coated with a dark enamel, it includes a small selection of ambrotypes, a positive photograph on glass, and carte de visite photos, a type of small photograph patented in Paris. The photographs depict George and Martha Washington; Abraham and Mary Todd Lincoln; Edgar Allen Poe; Harriet Beecher Stowe; Frederick Douglass; Albert Einstein; Sitting Bull; Calamity Jane; Annie Oakley; the aftermath of Gettysburg and other Civil War era photographs; and more.