“I grew up with a fascination for collecting toys. When you look around, you find a lot of toy objects. I got to thinking about them as alive, and they were animate and they could talk and tell stories. I began to paint collections of them as toyscapes and gave them unworldly backgrounds.”
Author: Dan Acree
Jerry Tate
“I like to make things that people can touch,” said Jerry Tate. “I get in trouble at museums and have to keep my hands in my pockets.” Tate is a sculptor, and not your regular Michelangelo, either. He creates things unusual out of things most common. When finished, his craftsmanship and ingenuity produce conversation as well as art.
Kathy Sturch
“It’s more than just a person sitting there. It’s a personality. I like to paint beyond what you’re seeing visually and to perceive an inner quality. Painting figures to me is just like painting anything else. It’s part of nature. It’s full of life. People are full of life, and they tell a story in the way they talk, the way they sit, what they look like, and I love to paint the story.”
Cecelia Feld
The four-hundred pound, stainless steel roller occupies prime space on a large table in the center of Cecelia Feld’s studio in Bells. Sometimes art takes a little muscle to go with the inspiration.
Sarah Birdsong
Youth and stature are not deterrents to the high regard that fellow artists and older students show to Birdsong. Cassandra Harris, artist and fellow student said, “Sarah has actually taught me how to paint. In her portraits, she creates such depth. She did a drawing of me. I had never thought of myself that way. It was so beautiful I almost cried. Sarah paints the emotion of the personality.”
Krystall Barnes
And then there were the eggs. “For a long time I was drawing and painting eggs because eggs are so fragile, but they hold life, you know. Things like that really fascinate me, things that are delicate, but strong.”
Gnocchi
Served great as an entree (as it is prepared in Italy). The gnocchi is similar to dumplings, only with a little Italian zest to it.
The Art of Neon
Not so long ago, the nightscapes of many American cities were bright with brilliant electric signs and the rainbow hues of glowing neon. Actually, neon (Ne) is used for red and orange. The other noble gases on the Periodic Table of Elements, argon (Ar), helium (He), krypton (Kr), and xenon (Xe), are used for other colors along with phosphors and a bit of mercury (Hg). The sixth member of the nobility is radon (Rn), but it’s radioactive and not to be messed with.
It’s a Girl Thing
For Colleen Barnes, who hosts Enchanted Dress-Up Tea Parties and Glamour Girl parties at Simply Puzzled, her boutique at 2010 Loy Lake Road, “it’s a girl thing. When these little girls are all dressed up, they feel good, they feel beautiful, and their personalities come out. Some are silly, some are shy, but it’s a good thing—it builds confidence,” she said.
Cliff Prescott’s Big Fat Idea
“It’s an oversize, triple-thick lounge towel,” explained Cliff Prescott of Dallas and Lake Texoma. He is the man behind the big—no, make that fat—towel. “It’s big enough to stretch over a chaise lounge. The towels are one meter by two meters.” That’s three feet, three inches by six feet six inches, for those who don’t do metric. Most beach towels are about thirty-six inches by twenty-four inches, only slightly larger than a bath towel.