paintings

Repetition: Mixed Media Paintings by Amber Mintert

Repetition, an exhibit consisting of mixed media paintings by local artist Amber Mintert, is currently on display in The Bramlage and Willcoxon Foundation Gallery inside Joplin Public Library.

Amber is currently an Associate Professor of Art at Missouri Southern State University, but her life in the world of art started well before now. She grew up primarily in Bentonville, Arkansas and Ozark, Missouri in a creative home. She and her sister were always encouraged to sing, dance, draw, and explore their world. Amber’s sister was the performer, and she was the artist. Amber started watercolor lessons at the age of five, and never looked back.

Since that time, she has spent time drawing and painting, but also enjoys textiles and sewing. Most of her work is influenced by textile design, stitching, and fabric. She creates patterns and images that incorporate these elements, including actual stitching, on some of her work.

As time has passed, the events of her life have influenced her work with symbols representing people and places that have become a part of her own tapestry. Even when those symbols are only recognizable by her, they are placed in compositions filled with the patterns of fabrics and textiles she creates. Some of her work is also made up of observations and objects she finds amusing and calming in compositions that provide whimsy or contemplation.

Her personal life includes her art-teacher husband Fred, her three children, a daughter-in-law, and two grandchildren. Her family is close, and this is her primary focus in life. She and her family live on a small farm raising goats and chickens, and they love to travel both stateside and internationally. She is also very involved in her church life and works with children and missions.

Repetition is on display through December 31, 2023. For more information, contact the Post Art Library at 417-623-7953 x1041.

 

JRAC Exhibit: The Eyes Have It

The artists of Joplin Regional Artists Coalition (JRAC) were asked to consider creating an original work of art concerned with and focused on the eye. For time eternal, artists have explored this theme–as symbol, allegory, and as thoughtful contemplation regarding the world around us. Encompassing a variety of mediums, JRAC’s talented members have once again shown us the vast array of viewpoints that art allows.

The Eyes Have It will be exhibited in The Bramlage and Willcoxon Foundation Gallery inside Joplin Public Library November 1, 2022 – January 2, 2023.

 

     

1st Place, Midori No Honō by Emily Rose; 2nd Place, Seymour by Ginger Copeland

 

 

3rd Place, The King In All His Glory by Curt Penland

 

   

The Eyes Have It exhibit in The Bramlage and Willcoxon Foundation Gallery inside Joplin Public Library.

Abstract Paintings by Lori Marble

Favorite Children’s Books Reimagined: What Do You See?, an exhibit featuring abstract paintings by Lori Marble, will soon be at the Library!

Remember your favorite books from childhood? Perhaps you even have one or two on your bookshelf today? Now, picture them reimagined as abstract paintings. Artist Lori Marble, the now adult child of a librarian, lovingly remembers the books that shaped her childhood.

She asked the librarians at Joplin Public and Post Art Libraries about their favorite children’s books, read them, and painted them in an abstract, mixed-media style. She paints in an ambidextrous fashion, laying down large swatches of bold color using a palette knife in her left hand, while incorporating bold brush strokes and subtle details with her right. Her love of symbolism and pattern is evident in each work on paper.

The display is purposely hung at a child’s eye-view and will prompt each viewer to ask “What do you see?” This exhibit is presented by the Post Art Library in The Bramlage and Willcoxon Foundation Gallery inside Joplin Public Library. Free and open to the public.

For more information, contact Post Art Library Director Jill Sullivan at (417) 623-7953 x1041.

 

EXHIBIT INFO:

June 9 – August 31, 2022 | Opening reception: June 9, 2022, 6:30-7:30pm

 

Young Artists Gallery Exhibit

We’ve partnered with Joplin Public Library for the inaugural exhibit of their Young Artists Club! Open to children through age 12, the Young Artists Club meets monthly to learn new art techniques and make artwork. Exhibited here are their self-portraits, which they learned how to create in April.

Join us on Friday, May 13th from 4pm-5pm for the Young Artists Gallery closing reception, where you’ll have the opportunity to meet these young artists and celebrate their works, as well as enjoy light refreshments.

For more information about the Young Artists Club, visit Joplin Public Library’s Children’s Library or call 417-623-7953 x 1035.

Exhibit: PLACES I HAVE BEEN by Paula Giltner

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: “California 1” by Paula Giltner
Above: Places I Have Been Exhibition
The Bramlage and Willcoxon Foundation Gallery | Joplin Public Library

Words with Hiram Mesa

Throughout November, the Post Art Library is showing Hiram Mesa’s The Magic Mirror, which is comprised of mixed-media artworks, screen prints, jewelry, and wonderfully cut cabochons. Earlier today, I had the opportunity to ask Hiram some questions about his art.

Jill’s questions/comments are in bold,
whereas Hiram’s are not.

You’re making a name for yourself cutting stones. Could you tell me about what drew you to pursue lapidary work?
I was traveling with some friends through Colorado and New Mexico and we stopped at a rock shop. I noticed a nice piece of turquoise jewelry on display and I thought maybe I could do something like that. So I bought a rough, unfinished stone and I started buying Rock & Gem magazine and set about teaching myself lapidary work. Eventually I joined a gem and mineral club in Joplin and started borrowing some of their equipment and cutting stones. That was about 12 years ago.

Although you do buy some stones, you prefer digging for them. Where have you dug for stones?
Colorado, mostly. I’ve been to Canada, some places in Arkansas, and New Mexico.

What’s it like to dig for stones?
It’s the most amazing thing EVER!!! When you pull something out of the ground and it’s been there forever and no one has ever seen it and the light is shining on it—it’s very, very cool… I’d rather be digging for stones than doing just about anything else.

But tell me about the process. What types of tools do you use?
It’s actually a lot of work. It’s funny, I work harder on my vacations than when I’m working. I use shovels, pry bars, picks, chisels, brushes, things like that.

How do you know where to go?
This is a tricky question. I’ve read a lot of books and field guides so I have a pretty good understanding of how to read the geology. You have to know how to read the rock itself, the geology. There’s a host rock that most of the stones form in, so you have to know how to read the host rock and it will tell you where you need to be digging. But a lot of it is intuition and luck.

Some of your mixed-media art incorporates specular hematite. Could you tell me about specular hematite and why you like to use it?
Specular hematite forms in large masses. I take two of the stones and rub them together over a piece of paper and collect the flakes to use in my art. I love stones, so I feel the need to apply stones to my art. I like specular hematite because I like the way it feels.

You’ve mentioned that you’d rather be digging for stones than anything else. So how do you turn your attention away from that to your other art forms, such as metal work, jewelry fabrication, and mixed media?
The abstract images that I envision are more easily conveyed through paper and paint. Besides, I really enjoy painting.

What are some of your favorite mediums to use in your mixed-media pieces?
Markers, watercolors, fingernail polish, and acrylics.

Aside from the art that you make, what are some of your favorite forms of art and who are some of your favorite artists?
I like photography, poetry, music, watercolor, ceramics, and most all forms of art. In regards to my favorite artists, that’s tough. I like so many art forms and artists that if I answer this question I’ll just be thinking of the most famous and that’s not fair.

Thanks, Hiram, for answering questions about your art. Is there anything you’d like to add?
Thanks, Jill.

Left: “Seascape” by Hiram Mesa
Right: “Waterfalls from the Heavens” by Hiram Mesa