Congratulations to Farley Lewis for being the Artist of the Month at Fresh Gallery, during the month of September. Fresh Gallery. To learn more about Fresh Gallery click here See Farley's Website by clicking here.
Fiber Art by Judy Ferguson
To learn about local art events, please sign up for Springfield Regional Arts Council's Weekly arts calendar, please email Nicole Chilton, Director of Marketing & Development at Marketing@Springfieldarts.org or click here to access their website.
Meike Aton Gallery Open House: The Vibrancy of the Fall Colors fills us to sustain us through the coming winter days. I so adore the richness of these colors! Do you feel the same?
Judy Ferguson:
I had a successful hip replacement on May 29th. After spending 2 days in the hospital without any visitors, I was happy to get home. I am now almost 100% recovered with just minimal stiffness to work on. Currently my daughter has moved in with us to help us with our old age problems. This has been a great help to us. She has brought her Cockatiel. I babysit him during the day, and am entertained by his playlist of songs and whistles. I am enjoying the visit from my housekeeper who comes once a month to do all the things that I can no longer do. It is a great luxury and gives me more time for my artwork.
I am taking online painting and drawing lessons that give me more practice than I can keep up with. I just finished a beach scene painting to be an anniversary gift to my pastor and his wife. They had reservations to spend their anniversary at a Florida resort. It had to be canceled. So, I put them on the beach with the ocean and palm trees. I think they will like it.
I took time during my surgery recovery to finish every project that I had started. This included a baby quilt for my newest great granddaughter. I have a host of new projects lined up to start on and work toward a finish until life returns to normal. I finished a portrait of my cousin on a camel from one of his vacation pictures and sent it to him. He was extremely surprised by it. It is fun to make people happy.
I am missing everyone terribly. This has been a terrible time for all of us. I plan to make a trip to Indiana to see the new great granddaughter in October. Hopefully, we can all have a Christmas get together this year. Click here to see Judy's Blog
Steve McGuire:
Hi Studio 55,
I hope everyone is well and doing great. I have several pieces of art at various venues and a private residence.
• “Dark Storm" is at the Sky Gallery.
• The “Jungle” art is now at the Obelisk show.
• The “Butterfly Effect is now sold and is in Columbia MO.
• I’m also showing at the Springfield Brewing Co.
I’ve also been doing some portrait art .
Also i’ve been bike riding and doing some nature photography.
Best regards to all,
Steve McGuire
News about Studio 55 members:
"City Lights" © Judy Ferguson
Congratulations to Alicia Farris
Susie has been an internal medicine physician at Mercy since 1998
Susie said: "These paintings got accepted to the International Art Fair in Brussels and just left for Europe today!
"Beautiful Journey"
"Golden Elegance-RBG"
"Golden Elegance-MG" RBG and MG are dedicated to two great heroes of our time:
Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg & her husband Marty Ginsburg.
May we all learn from their Courage, Strength and Wisdom.."
For more information about Susie's art and story, please visit her website: by clicking here
All Rights Reserved on this website © Studio 55 Arts Guild 2019
Welcome to our Website!
Studio 55's monthly programs are on the 2nd Wednesday of the month at 1:00 p.m. in The Gallery at National Avenue Christian Church, 1515 S. National Ave. Springfield, MO.
Visitors are welcome, and we encourage you to join us for only $30 per year to support our projects, speakers, and other expenses. ArtTalks are also held at the Springfield Art Museum several time each year and are sponsored by Friends of the Springfield Art Museum (FOSAM), The Springfield Art Museum, and Studio 55 Arts Guild and are free and open to the public.
Claire Barber:
" During this time of isolation, I’ve been staying busy working on my little Fauxbotz and some gourd bells for Christmas gifts. I am especially thankful right now that I have my need to create, but am looking forward to a time when we can all gather once again. " See Clair's Website by clicking here
Alicia Farris was honored to receive the The Kashiwa Legacy Award for her painting, "Strength and Struggle" in the Adirondacks Exhibition of American Watercolors in Old Forge, NY. The exhibition was from August - Sept. 2020. She also received 2nd place overall in the members annual Big Splash exhibition of the St. Louis Watercolor Society (online) for her painting, "A Moment With A Friend". Alicia will be sending "The Blacksmith" to Wichita, KS, for the National Exhibition of the Kansas Watercolor Society which will take place November 2020 - January 2021. See Alicia's website by clicking here
© Steve McGuire
Congratulations to Susie Sharpe, MD for being chosen to exhibit in the International Contemporary Art Fair in Brussels on November 20, 22, 2020. For more information click here. Congratulations to Susie for her painting "Diversity that was accepted to the First Friday Art Contest at Coffee Ethhic 124 Park Central.Square.
To Access the Springfield Art Museum Website: click here
Congratulations to Linda Spencer
Linda said: "Excited to have “Orange Fiesta” place Best of Show at Fresh Gallery in Springfield, MO. Looking forward to participating in showing this series of work in January 2021 as a guest artist at Fresh. I’m grateful to have this acknowledgment of the new direction in my work. Thanks to Fresh for the win!" its bTo learn more about Linda see her website: click here.
Studio 55 Members who are members of Fresh Gallery: Cheryl Vowels, Farley Lewis, Mike Myers, Nancy Brown Dornan and Rebecca Lewis Smith.
Fresh Gallery is open 11 am- 6 pm Tuesday-Saturday and Mondays by Appointment.
Location: 401 North Boonville, Springfield, Mo 65806 To Access their Website click here
Congratulations to Ken Richardson:
Ken Richardson is currently working on a commission for Florida State University and the FAMU School of Engineering. A series of his “Big Heads” will reflect the ethnic diversity of their student population.
Small Talk Steel and acrylic 30” x 3” x 50”
Congratulations to Susan Loop
Who placed 3rd Place Overall in the 2020 Juried Show at Fresh Gallery
Audrey Bottrell Parks: Art & Brother Update!
I can't believe how much time has passed since we last saw each other in class! Life has been a whirlwind. I've been to Michigan twice to spend time with my brother and his wife to help with provide care and support.
Pancreatic cancer is a difficult cancer and there is no cure. I've gone through this already with someone I love 11 years ago. My brother has lost 50 lbs and he didn't have extra to lose. He is fighting hard and using adjunct therapies along with chemo in his battle. There have been many hurdles and complications along the way. Many tears shed as I drove 12 hours home.
I appreciate your thoughts, prayers and concerns! They are helping more than you could even know!
My insurance business is in full swing with Annual Enrollment until December 7th and keeping my mind occupied. I'm trying hard to have everything in good order so I can return again to Michigan as needed. I hope to take a few hours, sometime, to create as this is the best therapy for me!
It is my hope that you are all creating up a storm, learning new things online or with other instructors, or just exploring yourself! Send me photos of your creations. I would love to see what you've been up to as well!
Stay safe and healthy!
Warmly,
Audrey
Gary Tebbenkamp: "Gardening In the 2020 Zone"
The 1960's had the Twilight Zone on TV and we were entertained with many strange occurrences. Now, in 2020, we are experiencing a different "zone" with its own aura of strangeness .
We are thankful for the community garden at our church. There is a large plot of ground behind the church parking lot that is unusually free of the rocks we often see in this region, so it is great for gardening . In fact, the property had been part of a farm before the church purchased it over 50 years ago. We grow vegetables and share them with our congregation, but most of the harvest goes to the Crosslines food pantry.
This year our sweet corn crop was looking wonderful until we saw evidence of marauders. Partially eaten ears with tattered husks caused us to blame raccoons at first. But, the thieves turned out to be squirrels. They were having a "corn-vention" in our patch of corn and were not stopped by application of pepper spray or trapping (we caught and released three squirrels to other locations.) We ended up getting one week of decent harvest before the squirrels finished off nearly every ear of corn.
Rows of naked cornstalks reminded us that wildlife gets hungry too. A retired veterinarian friend turned gardener had an idea of what to do with the cornstalks. He contacted the Dickerson Park Zoo animal commisary and learned that organic cornstalks would be a unique treat for the elephants.
The next weekend we uprooted the still green and chemical free cornstalks and transported them to the commisary. Mr. Brian Lamkin, the zoo chef for all of the animals, was quite appreciative of the gift. He showed us where and how all the various foods were stored and prepared . He also escorted us to the elephant enclosure and we got to see zoo staff feed the elephants (though our cornstalks were not brought to them immediately that day). It was quite a memorable experience as we had turned squirrel lemons into elephant lemonade!
Congratulations to Shae Johnson:
"Woohoo! Found out today that three of my charcoal drawings juried in at the Fresh Gallery event! I am thrilled beyond belief! First time I ever did anything like this! (I entered three!)"
The Studio 55 Arts Guild programs have been cancelled due to COVID-19, please be safe and you will be updated as to when we will be able to have meetings and programs. For local news on Covid October 1, 2020 click here.
Click here for classes being offered by Studio 55 members.
We are very grateful to Dr. Mike Carlie, a long-time member and past Board member, for emailing a periodic informative newsletter "The Artist’s Palette". If you are you or someone you know is an artist or art lover and you believe would enjoy this publication, please contact Mike by clicking here. You do not need to be a member to receive this newsletter.
Mary Swenson:
"Fall 2019 arrived in Missouri to set-up a new home. My main focus then was to make room for a studio and wall space for my paintings--a gallery of sorts. For several years I was in studio classes at McHenry County Community College where I was taking credit classes along with other younger students. Art is an essential part of my life working or exploring many genres. Sometimes these can be regional representational landscapes or non-objective abstractions. In general I believe we look at our familiar surroundings and take most everything at face value, but it is questionable if we actually "see." All of these past months my focus has been on studying artist and implementing "at home workshops." I've used time to sketch and develop posters."
Studio 55 has an art exhibit of 39 pieces at the Springfield-Greene County Botanical Center. Art will be displayed until 9 am on Oct. 17, 2020. The following members are exhibiting: Joan Bowen, Carol Chappell, Felicia Ellis, Alicia Farris, Judy Ferguson, Mona Gist, Shae Johnson, Ann Kynion, Susan Loop, Nancy Niewald, Susie Sharpe, Andi Snethern, Mary Swenson, and Jane on display Waschick. For directions click here
Studio 55 Arts Guild
Contact email: studio55guild@gmail.com for more information and join us on Facebook here