Kerry Hirth

Between Starshine and Clay

On display in the South Gallery

October 3 - October 28, 2023

Artist Statement

Between Starshine and Clay celebrates the remarkable qualities of bats and their unique place in our daily lives and imagination.  Visual artist Kerry Hirth uses both music and color to create vibrant drawings that promote a deepening understanding of the value of bats.  Weaving the myth and magic of bats into the patterns produced by the instruments we use to track, hear, and see bats, her drawings explore the unfolding mystery of their place in nature, as new and astonishing facts about bats continually surface. They also probe how our connection with bats reveals qualities of our own nature, challenging our dominion over their lives.

Artist Bio

Kerry Hirth is a local artist and member of CAL. Her series of drawings on bats was exhibited at Mammoth Cave National Park to deepen awareness of bat extinction. She shows her work nationally and internationally, and she collaborates with musicians, including live demonstrations, music composition, and programs about the relationship between music, color, and our life experiences. Her work has been shaped by her unique academic background in music performance and philosophy. She creates private, public, and corporate commissioned artworks, including a permanent installation in the atrium of the Bond Life Sciences Center at MU. Learn more about her work and activities on her artist website www.kerryhirth.com.

Ok, Computer

On display in the Betty and Art Robins Group Gallery

September 5 - October 19

Exhibition dates: September 5 - October 19, 2023

Reception: September 8, 6 - 8 pm (free and open to the public)

In a new exciting take on our Interpretations Show, artists selected randomly generated titles for their artwork from an AI (Artificial Intelligence) Artwork Title Generator. Artists will then interpret and transform that title into their own unique artwork. Personalities and the inner workings of artists' minds will be on full display on our gallery walls.

OK, Computer is a juried show open to all artists 16+ years old, all media welcome.

Thank you to juror Matthew Ballou for the careful consideration when curating this show. Scroll to see his juror’s statement.

Congratulations to all ribbon winners!

1st place

Michelle Marcum, Hallucinogenic scene with glowing metamorphosis

Juror’s statement on this piece: Michelle Marcum incorporates natively digital techniques into very physical craft and presentation in this work. Every aspect of the piece is considered and integrated. The strong sense of design, brilliant coherence of color, and beautiful variation of materials come together to demonstrate the quintessential difference between something AI-generated and something human-made: the algorithm couldn’t make this work. Only a human being with experience, knowledge, and intelligence could coordinate it all. That, and the piece feels like a celebration!

2nd place

Lindsay Borges, Pristine Spoils

Juror’s statement on this piece: Lindsay Borges’s sculpture is a simulacrum of McDonald’s nuggets. It forms a humorous tableau focusing on the question of what is real and what is represented. We laugh but also know the golden nuggets in the art might be just about as real as the ones we snag at the drive-thru.

3rd place

Pam Gainor, Singular Maelstrom

Juror’s statement on this piece: Pam Gainor’s work combines painting and collage, and shows her willingness to break out of previous tendencies to explore fresh iconographic and symbolic pathways.

Honorable Mentions

Veronica Runge, The Transcendental Movement

Cynthia McCord, Warped Deceit

Juror Statement

Humans have an insatiable desire for things to appear. We want entertainment, resources, and tools to just be. We want fast food and fast fashion. We don’t want to see “how the sausage is made”. But shepherding ideas, translating experiences, and striving for evocative artifacts require more than style. They must be more than a surface appearance of history, investigation, and investment of time; they must actually involve those things.

People want easily digestible aesthetics. Inexperienced students in the arts often strive to achieve the appearance of style. They want the context of style without paying an investment of hard work. But form is never neutral, and how one arrives at a form is every bit as important as what the form appears to be at first glance. Without a robust background of intentional effort, an artwork can never embody the substance of meaning, only mimic the suggestion of it. 

The issue with AI-generated imagery and words is that they depict only the appearance of the process and the intimation of aesthetic choices. On its own, an AI work lacks the depth those formal qualities indicate. For those qualities to exist there must be genuine human intervention, a true human inflection.

That’s the problem with AI. Not that it exists; it can be a good tool. Instead, the problem is in believing that AI can be an end in itself. AI-generated images and words use billions upon billions of hours of human effort as raw material, then divorce those activities, investigations, and experiments, from their original intent. They produce the appearance of meaning, but without the true power that comes from an aesthetic structure functioning as proof of human life and engagement. AI allows people to instantly achieve something that looks like an artifact of human experience without having to deal with the messy reality that true experience entails. Algorithmically collating styles and subjects already invented by humans is not enough. Subjective human sensation is essential for the kind of communication that art offers. 

Human inventiveness and physical engagement taking precedence over auto-generated words is what I am seeing in this show. I see the subjectivity and touch of the artists coming through. Though inspired by AI-generated titles, these works move beyond the affectation of style and display real investigation. The AI phrases take on specific meanings BECAUSE they have been filtered through a unique human mind. That human aspect is reasserted by the physical reality of the works.

Lina Forrester

On display in Central Bank of Boone County Hallway

August 25 - October 13, 2023

Artist Statement

Hi, my name is Lina, and I like to scribble.

I’m a big advocate for the whole “l’art pour l’art” mentality, or “art for art’s sake.” Creating art simply for the process of creating it, to enjoy the feel of the pen or brush or Apple pencil, brings forth a different kind of honesty I’m not able to express with words. Intuitive art has given me the opportunity to learn more about myself and where I fit in with the rest of the world. For me, each piece comes down to one question: what am I feeling right now? I ask this question to determine what medium to use, what colors, and even what music to listen to while I work. This can lead to a variety of different pieces, each of them a window into who I am as a human being.

Artist Bio

Lina was born in Torrejón de Ardoz, Spain, and didn't have permanent roots until her family moved to Missouri when she was three. The karst topography and rich history found in our state appears often as a theme or subject in her work. Aside from art, she enjoys tinkering with old cameras, reading graphic novels, and playing video games. Her home is an often-cluttered hobbit hole, spilling over with art supplies and books, where she lives with her 10-year-old daughter, high-school sweetheart, three cats, and an ornery puppy named Luna.

Dave Walker + Hannah Smith

Interpretations: Dad + Daughter

On display in the South Gallery at the Columbia Art League

August 29 - September 23, 2023

Artist Statement

How might a father and daughter, artists from different generations, living in different communities, and using different mediums co-create a cohesive exhibit that highlights familial commonalities while also honoring distinct and unique artistic styles and choices? Art appreciators are invited to ponder this question as they walk through this exhibit.

Dave Walker and Hannah Smith, father, and daughter artists, have for over a decade been plotting how they might collaborate on an exhibit that would feature their art pieces together in one gallery space. The CAL Interpretations Show, a previous annual exhibit that paired artists and writers and displayed their interpreted works side by side, inspired Dave, a former participant, to consider how a similar show might also work between artists. He shared images with Hannah through email, inviting her to see if there were any pieces that looked similar to hers. They were surprised to find a few that paired nicely but then started to consider how they might push out of their comfort zones to intentionally seek inspiration from each other’s work. They started remotely sharing photos of finished and in-process works that might pair with the other’s work, gathering inspiration and encouragement from each other. They did not seek to replicate the other’s art, but more to capture the essence of each piece whether through size, color, composition, and/or subject.

The first iteration of this show was exhibited at the AC SEMO Gallery in Cape Girardeau, MO in March 2020. The show opened with a lively reception and artist talk and quietly closed within the next few days due to Covid restrictions. The original show featured 40 works, many of which have sold. This show features 18 pieces of art, nine pieces in acrylic and nine in fiber, the original piece hanging on the left and the interpretation piece hanging on the right. Individual pieces are for sale and do not have to be purchased as a set.

Artist Bio

Dave Walker

Dave began his fiber art journey constructing quilt tops and has always felt drawn to the colors, textures, and possibilities of fabric. He felt constricted by patterns designed by others and came up with the idea to use leftover quilting scraps to make landscapes. Over time, the process of cutting up, layering, and piecing fabric scraps evolved into works of art he calls “Fabricscapes”.  

Dave uses a “bond and sew” technique of raw edge machine appliqué, textile painting, and threadwork. Each art piece is completed using free-motion sewing that compliments the design and holds the collage together on a muslin backing.  All pieces are framed and matted for easy hanging and depict a story of travel, a record of time, or an impression from nature, sometimes real, but often pictured in his memory. 

Dave’s “Fabricscapes” have been featured in galleries throughout Missouri and can be found in patrons’ homes from Florida to Alaska. 

Dave is a retired Long Term Care Consultant and Nursing Home Administrator. He has a BSE in Art Education from Northeast Missouri State University (now known as Truman State University). He and his wife Julie have three grown children and reside in Columbia, MO. His work is available for purchase at Art off the Trail in Rocheport, MO; Serendipity Salon and Gallery in Columbia MO and Garriot Porter Art Studio in Fulton, MO.

Hannah Smith 

Currently based in St Louis, MO, Hannah received a BFA in Painting from Webster University in 2011, and an Art Education Certification from the University of Missouri St. Louis in 2014. Her paintings have been in galleries, art fairs, and private collections ever since. 

Hannah enjoys adding vibrant colors and a bit of whimsy to everyday spaces. Nature provides an unending source of inspiration. She starts painting intuitively and abstractly, then works to resolve the image by layering paint and drawing. She appreciates the beauty of flowers and never grows tired of pulling them from abstractions.

Wanting to share her love for creativity with others, in October 2016 Hannah released a coloring book for all ages titled Enchanted Ocean which is available on Amazon, Etsy, and select retailers. 

Joanne Berneche Memorial Exhibit

The Bingham Gallery at the University of Missouri is hosting the Joanne Berneche Memorial Exhibit of over 80 artworks. All sales of Joanne’s work will be handled through the Columbia Art League, where Joanne regularly exhibited her work until her death.

Exhibit Dates: August 28 - September 21

Reception: September 7th, 4:30-6:30

Joanne Zucco Berneche was a force of nature. She usually blew into a room clad in a vintage dress, fabulous costume jewelry, and her strong opinions. She was a Maximalist to beat all Maximalists, in her work, home, and personality. Catherine Armbrust, Kelsey Hammond, and Hannah Reeves—curators of this exhibition—all developed individual relationships with her over the years through their roles as gallery directors in Columbia, MO. When news of Joanne’s death (Feb 2023) reached them, they immediately sprang into action to acquire her work from the estate in order to host an exhibition to lovingly honor her memory. They know she would have given them plenty of feedback on the exhibit–she had a very clear vision of her own mode of presentation and show(wo)manship. But they also know she was aware of their appreciation for her and her work and hope that she would be pleased with the results. 

Joanne was born in 1938 and began creating at a young age. Her work was influenced by ancient sculptures, Renaissance masterpieces, and Modernist European artists. After marrying fellow artist Jerry Berneche in 1958, their work evolved side by side and created a beautiful visual conversation together. The pair were also intense collectors of everything imaginable–Mexican pottery, ornate crosses, glass objects d’art, books, DVDs, holiday decorations, costume jewelry, and more. Joanne loved a good estate sale! Though Joanne’s art materials tended to be limited in scope (acrylic, gouache, tempera, collage), her imaginative use of these media constructed fantastical spaces and eye-bending patterns. Her appropriated collaged images infused the work with comments on beauty, aging, temporality, and permanence.

This exhibition is divided into groupings to make aesthetic, material, and conceptual meaning with a sampling of her immense body of work. Featured first in the gallery are Joanne’s earliest works (beginning at age 14), along with a tribute book of portraits from Joanne’s home made by Kelsey Hammond. The title wall features a few of Joanne’s most recent works that were completed in the year before her death. As the viewer moves through the gallery, they are greeted by a multitude of collages, abstract landscape paintings, “quilt studies”, and more. There are threads of color and pattern similarities that repeat in Joanne’s work throughout the years; within the gallery, viewers can go on a scavenger hunt to find those simple shapes and icons that were important to Joanne’s creative processes. 

Jennifer Wiggs

Paper Frontier

8/1/23 - 8/26/23

Artist Statement

My latest digital work is created from shapes of paper that I photograph on a small stage, and then upload into the computer, where I can draw on them. Working between 2D and 3D has allowed both new ideas and old themes to be re-imagined. This work tends to be either figurative abstraction or purely abstract, exploring shape, line, and color, with an emphasis on spatial cues. The backdrops are my watercolor paintings, which have been a revelation; to see how the drawn or painted elements in them change in a 3D space. It’s a new context for the paintings. The figurative pieces allow me to access storytelling and themes from my youth. The abstract paper shapes suggest figures, allowing intuitive imagination. The language of abstraction is broad and for me, poetic. My artworks are metaphors for myself, for my inner thoughts, and for connections both conscious and unconscious. The process involves discovery of layers of meaning and invention.

Bare

On Display in the Betty and Art Robins Group Gallery at the Columbia Art League

July 25 - August 30

Reception: July 28, 6-8 pm

The tradition of the human figure in art continues to inspire and challenge artists today. Whether abstracted or realistic, we experience the figure in art both visually and physically. This figural show focuses on the unadorned human body, adding to the rich tradition of the nude figure in the history of art.

Congratulations to our ribbon winners!

1st place- Martha Daniels, Time in the Meadow

2nd place- Ken Nichols, Morning

3rd place - Heather Foote, Mother Earth

Honorable Mentions

Adrian Paladi, First Tattoo in Babylon

Robert Friedman, Personal Space

Nancy Katzman, The End

Derek Fox, Ashley

Gladys Swan, In the Moonlight

Juror: Jo Stealey

Juror’s Statement

Since the Renaissance, the Bare human figure has been a popular subject for visual work. Perhaps because the body is so familiar to us. After all, it is ubiquitous to being human. The figure can be portrayed anatomically but it can also be a vehicle to express any emotion. All of them are very familiar: Rigid, stern, formal or contorted; peaceful or angst-filled; bawdy or vulnerable. These approaches and more can be seen in this exhibition. There were more than 110 entries for the show which complicated the selection process since only about 60 works fit into the gallery. As a result, many wonderful works did not make it into the show.

Final selections for the show were based on several criteria: An inventive or unanticipated point of view; emotive qualities that further the ideas in the work; overall quality of design and execution; and appropriate use of materials and craftsmanship for the ideas in the work. 

Thanks to the Art League for hosting another wonderful exhibition. Thanks to all the artists for submitting your work and providing an opportunity to jury this show. I loved becoming familiar with artists I did not know and being surprised by the work of artists that have shown for years. Congratulations to all who submitted work and to those of you in the show. Creativity and making are our lifeline – how we make sense of our lives and our world. Keep making art!

Truck Schachtman

Fairy Garden

On display in Central Bank of Boone County

July 14 - August 25

Artist Statement

Fairy Garden is an exploration of childhood memories spent at my aunt’s house. As photographers, both my mother and aunt provided ample documentation of this time in my life. Looking back, I can barely remember these moments. Gaps forming and splintering across the memories I do have. This sense of soft nostalgia and remembrance are captured within these six canvases. Promising that while the memories we have may fade, they can never truly vanish. 

Artist Bio

Truck Schachtman has been making art forever. No seriously, like as long as they can remember. They are a painting major at Boston University and a Columbia Missouri native. Schachtman primarily works in oil, but also dabbles in gouache, charcoal, and graphite. 

Members' Summer Show 2023

On display in the betty and art robins group gallery at the columbia art league

June 13, 2023 - July 20,2023

Reception: Friday, June 23, 2023 6-8 PM

CAL is proud to be a local non-profit that’s been a part of the mid-Missouri art scene since 1959. Our Members’ Shows are exciting opportunities for CAL Members to display their art, and for our community to get to know our vibrant artist members. There is no theme, instead, this is an opportunity to show our community what we’ve been working on recently. Members’ shows are not juried, awards will be given out at the reception.

Congratulations to the Members' Summer Show ribbon winners!  Thank you to our judge, Joe Johnson, for careful consideration when awarding these accolades.  

1st place: Cheryl Hardy, And Just Like That

2nd place: Ira Papick, Condiment Table

3rd place: Kimberly Edwards, Interstate Nocturne  #1

Honorable Mentions

Alisha Morton, Ruby Throated Hummingbird 

Peggy Hurly, Beyond Strength

Ashlee Fuhr Selburg & John Selburg

Garden Party

On Display in the South Gallery at the Columbia Art League

June 13, 2023 - July 8, 2023

Ashlee Fuhr Selburg

Artist Statement

The natural world is the bedrock of my work, though it is the whimsical spirit of that world that I am interested in, and my drawings serve to represent that spirit.

Artist Bio

Ashlee Fuhr Selburg was born and raised in Southwest Missouri where she grew up skipping rocks, chasing fireflies, and exhausting any Beatrix Potter books she could get her hands on. Ashlee decided as a little girl that she would like to draw for the rest of her life, and consequently earned her BFA from the University of Missouri-Columbia. She is married to another artist and they are the proud parents of a three-year-old little boy. Ashlee still believes that she would like to draw for the rest of her life.

JOhn Selburg

Artist Bio

John Selburg was born and raised in Peoria, Illinois. He holds a BFA in Drawing, Sculpture, and Graphic Design from Bradley University (2006), and an MFA from the University of Missouri-Columbia (2009). He is Associate Professor of Studio Art and Gallery Director at William Woods University in addition to his studio practice and international exhibits. 

Martin Pope

On display in Central Bank of Boone County

May 22 - July 14, 2023

Artist Statement

I bought some paints during the 2020 lockdown, intending to teach myself to paint representational art.  I had written and drawn a comic strip for a while and had done some illustration work, and I thought maybe I could add painting to my marketable skill set.  But apparently, I was not actually interested in that, because the paints did nothing for a year except make me feel guilty.  

Then one day I decided to experiment with putting colors and shapes anywhere I wanted.  The result felt uniquely liberating.  All the visual art I had done up until that point was about achieving a specific aim. This was different.  This was the first time that I was attempting truly improvisational visual work.  I was astonished at how liberating it felt.  And how compelling.  

I generally pick some colors to work with before I start painting and that is the full extent of my preparation.  I don't plan anything compositional at all.  When I pick up a brush and fill it with color, I don't know what I'm going to do with it.  My only editorial rule has been to obey the impulse before I judge it.  In this way, the work is more akin to my previous work in the theatre. I'm concerned with the purity of improvisation and the truth of the moment.  Above all else, I try, in the context of this art, not to curate the experience, but allow it to happen as it will.  If a painting winds up looking agreeably pleasant or pretty, I'm happy about that, but it isn't the aim.  I'd rather have an ugly painting, honestly arrived at, than a beautiful one labored over in order to impress.

Artist Bio

Martin grew up in Columbia Missouri.  He started writing and producing plays when he was seventeen. During his senior year in high school, he directed his first play, “Life on the 6:55” at the University of Missouri.  He studied theatre at Truman State University, where he also learned to play guitar and was the songwriter and frontman for several local rock and roll bands.  

After college, Martin spent ten years in Hollywood, acting in numerous plays and low-budget movies.  He played the ghost of the week on the TV show “Haunted” and wrote for season two of Cartoon Network’s “Class of 3000.” While writing and directing plays for the Long Beach Shakespeare Company, Martin was approached by Dashiell Hammett’s family and contracted to write and direct the first theatrical adaptation of “The Maltese Falcon” ever produced.  

After returning to Missouri, Martin wrote and drew the webcomic “Vorto the Pirate.”

Martin began experimenting with nonobjective painting just after the covid lockdown and has exhibited at Teller's Gallery and Bar, Dogmaster Distillery, The American Club Association, The Barred Owl, The Dandy Lion Cafe, and MKLush Salon.  

Fun for All at Art in the Park

Art in the Park kicks off summer the first weekend in June at Stephens Lake Park in Columbia. Our two-day Art festival is a colorful, vibrant, and fun event that highlights artists from across the country. We celebrate and support artists and art lovers while gathering with our friends and family of all ages. 

Set in beautiful Stephens Lake Park, attendees can visit the artists’ village filled with approximately 100 artists who set up booths with handmade jewelry, woodwork, ceramics, paintings, drawings, pastel, fibers, photography, and more. Pop into a booth and have a chat with one of our artists and learn more about what they make. If you decide to bring home a memory in physical form or buy gifts for loved ones, either way you are supporting an artist in their craft and business. 

Visit our Makers’ Market under the big tent, to find 20+ artists who are getting the feel of exhibiting their handmade wares at a large festival. And then move towards our Veterans + Rising Artist Pavilion which showcases artworks made by those who have served in the US Military as well as our up-and-coming artists currently enrolled in high school or undergraduate studies.

Our Kids’ Activity Area is an experiential fun fest with kiddos contributing to large art projects as well as making a little something to bring home with them. We encourage our youngest guests to take a walk through our Young Collector’s Tent to get a one-on-one tour of the artwork that our artists make. Each artist donates a couple of pieces of art to sell for $5. Kids can then buy a piece of art and go meet the artist in their tent. The artists love to meet their little patrons and kids get to choose something on their own that they love. 

Art in the Park has been an institution in Columbia for 65 years, but we keep it innovative by infusing it with different components every year. For example, we are growing our interactive art installations at Art in the Park to show a different aspect of art making and participation in the arts. This brings color and vibrancy to the trees and pavilions as well as colorful backgrounds for photos while you walk around the festival. 

Art in the Park started in the first year of the Columbia Art League (CAL), in 1959. It began as a place where artists could display work while patrons would be able to interact with the artists. To this day this festival remains an integral piece of CAL's mission, promoting the appreciation of art as well as the creation of art; this is also the largest venue for CAL to engage the community with the arts.  

We believe that the Arts are essential to human development, that lives are transformed through the Arts, and that we find connection to others through the Arts, which helps give meaning to our lives. Click here for more information on volunteering: https://columbiaartleague.org/artinthepark/volunteers.

Tom Schulte

On display in our South Gallery

May 9 - June 10 2023

Artist Statement
I am currently painting with oils over copper relief. I work from photo images which I carve and rout into commercial rubber flooring. I then burnish copper foil into adhesive over the relief carving. I then patina the copper to get the desired color and effect. The copper is then sealed with clear lacquer, then I paint oil glazes over the sealed copper relief. Simply put I am oil painting over copper.
I like many am drawn to the landscape. I grew up in rural Missouri and after an absence of twenty-four years lived in Washington, Utah, and California. I returned to Missouri over twenty years ago and now I find myself still compelled to create art in the images of the things I see here. My work is a simplification, an interpretation if you will. My first degree was in Sculpture and like a sculptor I like the relief of the work combined with the texture of the patina on the copper. There is a certain unpredictability about the process that combines in my work that adds beauty and abstraction. I like the way that I feel in my heart of hearts when in nature I come upon something that reminds me that I am in the presence of something beyond my ability to make or even understand entirely. If I can invoke that fleeting feeling that comes, then I feel that I have succeeded.

Artist Bio
I gained my BFA from Brigham Young University in Provo, Utah, and a MFA from Claremont Graduate University in Claremont, California. My work is in private collections and public commissions.
I currently have artwork in collections across the US and Canada. I have public work at The University of Missouri Rolla, Honold Library, The Runge Nature Center, Jefferson City Missouri, and The Kilpatrick Building, Jefferson City Missouri. My work also hangs in the Utah State Capitol, Salt Lake City Utah.

Touch

On display in the Betty and Art Robins Group Gallery

May 2 - June 8

Reception: May 12, 6 - 8 pm (free and open to the public)

Texture can show up in artworks via medium, technique, subject matter, movement, perspective, and more. We work with people every day to NOT touch artwork in the gallery but we challenge you to make work that invites the viewer to reach out and touch. As always, artists get to choose what to make… SO! Will your work elicit the forbidden touch? Will you allow the viewer to touch your work? Or will you make your work enticing but NOT allow visitors to touch? You get to choose! 

Touch is a juried show open to all artists 16+ years old, all media welcome.

Thank you to juror Laura Ursprung Nerling, for careful consideration when creating this show.

Juror Statement

Touch refers to many aspects of art from its medium—the actual physicality and texture of an object, to the concept—the idea of touching, not touching, or the visual illusion of texture. In jurying Touch, I sought to bring the potential breadth of that long-taught formal element to a broader and more inclusive definition. I looked for images and objects that implied texture through technique, and thus represented an illusion to the idea of touch; or for artworks that invited the viewer to touch, to feel, and experience the physicality of texture; but I also wanted to incorporate artworks that explored the concept of what touch means, whether by inviting you to make your own mark through touch or prohibiting you from experiencing the physicalness of the object itself; and lastly, I was intrigued by objects and artworks that played with shifts in texture—thereby forcing the viewer to acknowledge the impact texture can have on the desire to feel.

Congratulations to all of the ribbon winners!

1st place: Maggie Jackman, "Tufted Lemons" & "Tufted Peaches"

2nd place: Richard Hoeppner, "Puzzle Car" & "Puzzle Truck"

3rd place: Erik Slatinsky, "One Cheek Meditation Seat"

Honorable mentions:

Michelle Marcum, "Fur Framed Zebracorn" & "Fur Framed Cheetacorn"

Diana Hallett, "Sequoia"

Andrew Ludwig, "Pitcher" & "Jar"

Alisha Morton, "Hands Off"

Salem Alhussaini

Sugar Cube

On DISPLAY in our south gallery

april 11 - April 22

Artist Statement

My practice centers itself around the experience of being alive and all the strange, mundane, absurd, and extraordinary experiences attached to existing. The work is influenced by the different actions and interactions of the people, locations, and perspectives that I surround myself with at the time. Everything is made through a generative process where one element informs the next, spreading an idea across multiple mediums, and slowly accumulating into larger and busier expressions. Growth, death, compassion, fear. Life. These are complex ideas and feelings in my practice that I find easier to accurately express in visuals instead of words.

My current body of work expresses the idea of expanding on simplifications and categorizations through the lens of human life. What makes a person a human, and what does it mean to be alive? Bodies, memories, feelings, the food we eat, the content we collect and consume, the words we say, or the things we leave behind: all components that are presented as visuals for the viewer to reflect on and create their own narratives and personal connections with.

Artist Bio

Salem Alhussaini is an interdisciplinary artist with a focus on ceramics. In 2022, he earned his BFA from the New York State College of Ceramics at Alfred University. His interests include (but are not limited to) turtles, the color blue, and stickers. Through the utilization of materials, found objects, and metaphors, his work expresses ideas relating to daily practices, art histories, and universal themes. When he’s not in the studio, you can find him scavenging in the woods or frequenting the nearest skatepark. 

Beast in Show Pop-Up

The Betty and Art Robins Group Gallery

April 11 - April 15

For ONE WEEK ONLY, fun animal-themed art will be on display. Beast in Show is a non-juried show that includes work from artists of all ages!

Reception: Friday, April 14, 2023 4:30-6:30

Fuffy and friendly, our pets are some of our most loyal companions. For our first pop-up show of the year, “Beast in Show”, we wanted to highlight artwork that focused on our animal best friends. Whether they have four legs or two, feathers or fur, they deserve a shout-out!

Colette Brumbaugh

Natural Journey

ON EXHIBIT AT CENTRAL BANK OF BOONE COUNTY FROM March 31 - May 5

Artist Statement

Growing up in Missouri, I developed a deep appreciation and love for the landscape and painting outdoors or plein air. It becomes a totally immersive experience for me in an attempt to capture the essence of the geological features with a spontaneous use of line, shape, texture, and color. It has been and will continue to be a lifelong pursuit. These paintings reflect my recent journey. 

Artist Bio

Colette Brumbaugh is a graduate of the Kansas City Art Institute with a Bachelor of Fine Art in Painting. Brumbaugh is a member and exhibitor with the Columbia Art League, Columbia Palette Group, and the Missouri Vallery Impressionist Society. Her work was chosen for the 2012 City of Columbia Commemorative Poster. She was the featured artist at the 2018 Missouri River Festival of the Arts. Paintings by Brumbaugh can be seen on permanent display at the Boone Hospital Center, Boone Medical Group, Capital Regional Hospital, and Central Bank. She has both her home and studio in Columbia, Missouri. 

4-H Photo Show

Mid-Missouri 4-H Photography & Art Project

On display in our South Gallery

March 28 - April 8

Participating in the mid-Missouri 4-H Photography & Art Project:

Hallsville Go-Getters 4-H club

Sturgeon Goalseekers

Adventurers 4-H Club

Back to the Beginning Club

The 4-H program is designed to teach young people important life skills and values that are necessary to lead a successful and rewarding life. 4-H strives to teach character-building skills such as trustworthiness, respect, responsibility, and citizenship. Youth members are also encouraged to participate in community service and public speaking, as well as many leadership position opportunities. 

 Members are loaned a DSLR camera if they don’t have access to one, allowing them to experiment before investing in a camera. Students shoot their photos in between training sessions, where they receive help in reviewing and editing their work. During these sessions, members learn how to use photo editing software and they have access to introductory photography videos on YouTube.

We at the mid-Missouri 4-H Photography and Art Project truly appreciate the opportunity to highlight the talent of our amazing youth members. Their work is also shown at local, county, and state fairs as well as the Boone Electric calendar.

Community Stories: CAL from the Intern's Eyes

Hello! This is Bella the Intern, here again, to reflect on my experience at the Columbia Art League so far. Since starting here in January, I have learned many things about the logistics of running an arts non-profit but have also gained insight into the arts community of Columbia.

Last month, I helped to lay out my first show! Of course, it was the most difficult show to lay out with over 130 artworks: Tiny Things. I love this show because of how small each piece is and the lower pricing is also great for a college student like myself! It was quite the experience to try and figure out where everything should go. As viewers, we tend to disregard the aspect of setting up a show, but there is an enormous amount of thought and planning that goes into it. My supervisor, Kelsey, told me something that stuck with me: however we lay out a show, there needs to be a story told. We could just put pieces together that look nice, but it creates a much more enriching experience if there is a cohesive narrative to follow throughout the show. Prioritizing the story over the aesthetic is something I will always keep in mind throughout my career.

Some of the final Tiny Things layout!

Another thing I have noticed, perhaps more interesting to you dear readers, is the lively nature of the artist community in Columbia. I started school at Mizzou in the fall semester of 2020. The Covid-19 pandemic was in full swing, my social anxiety and worries for my health were at a new high, and I had no friends from high school following me to this new thing we called “college.”

With society at large retreating into its own little niches to hide until the pandemic was over, I was stuck by myself, feeling too young and socially awkward to look beyond my little dorm room and see what Columbia had to offer. Eventually, some lovely friends came into my life, and it wasn’t so lonely, but I still felt stuck in my college student bubble. I realized that I would need to break out of that in order to make Columbia feel like home.

Since working at the Columbia Art League, I have met more people than I did my entire freshman year, and what exciting conversations I have had! As an art history student, I rarely get to talk to the artists who make the pieces I study (unless someone out there has Van Gogh’s contact information), so the opportunity to talk to artists about their work and other work they appreciate has added a new dimension to how I view art.

A picture I got at the Nibble Reception. Lots of people!

There are many times when I feel too anxious to approach new people, and I can still feel like a fish out of water, but working here has made me feel like I am a part of this community, rather than another fleeting four-year transplant from St. Louis. When we lay out gallery shows, we attempt to weave a story with the artwork, adding our own narratives to pieces that already have so much human quality to them. I hope that the rest of my time at the Columbia Art League is spent just like that; weaving my own story into the vibrant community that this place cultivates.

Community Thread

A Collaboration with True/False

On display in our South Gallery

FEB 28 - MAR 25

Traceable through history, originating within ancient civilizations of Egypt, China, North Africa and the Middle East, the art of quilting has been and remains still a vessel for storytelling. Language is the thread and culture is the needle that tells the tale. 

In American history, quilting began as simply sewing discarded materials together to create items of functionality: clothing and blankets for warmth. As a skill most traditionally developed and mastered by women, quilting has been, for many, the means for developing independence, identity, and a sense of accomplishment. It evolved from an effort of practicality to a way for women to generate income and become self-sufficient. Quiltmaking has for centuries now, been a catalyst for community, creating a network to share the heritage and tradition embedded in the practice, a tradition often passed from one generation to the next. 

Hanging in our South Gallery is “Community Thread”, an idea born from the brains of artists Carrie Elliott and Esther Stroh. Making a quilt of any size is an immense undertaking, and this 9 x 9-foot creation is no exception. 

Featured during this year’s True/False Film Festival, it made sense to center the quilt around the same theme as the film festival, “This is a Test”. The quilt squares were thought of as “test swatches” where different embroidery techniques could be explored: embroidery, batik, fabric painting, and applique. Carrie and Esther, who acted as lead artists on the project, steered community members through a series of four, free workshops hosted at the Columbia Art League, each focusing on one of the four embroidery techniques. The result was over 345 quilt squares. 

Now faced with the task of sewing every square together, Carrie and Esther, with the help of a friend, decided to split the squares into three even groups. They each sewed their squares into rows of 19, reconvening to then sew the rows together. The next step was to sandwich the quilt, meaning to attach a back side and add edging. The design on the back of the quilt was made using printmaking. It includes momentos from Ragtag Cinema such as their logo, the couches and chairs in their theatres, as well as film reels and tickets. The idea was to keep the back of the quilt simple, but more elevated than simply using fabric from the store. If you’re paying attention to the details when viewing the back of the quilt, you will see that some stamps overlap from one square to the next, perfectly aligned. That is no coincidence, rather the effort of Carrie who pieced the back together like a, “mad scientist cutting fabric and hoping for the best”.

An open call was made for volunteers to attend quilting bees (gatherings at which people quilt) at the Columbia Public Library and assist in the sandwhiching of the quilt. This is no swift process, in fact it took them two full days to hand stitch the back to the front. Attaching the edging of the quilt took about half a day to complete. 

This quilt is more than just a quilt. Stitched into it are trademarks of Columbia and tokens of personal significance. There are 684 squares total, no two exactly alike, ensuring that you will see something new each time you look at it. And because it is a True/False film festival collaboration, you will find many squares refer to the legacy of the fest, with names of films that have premiered in years past. 

“Community Thread” was a labor of love from start to finish. Carrie Elliott and Esther Stroh were able to capture the essence of Columbia in this quilt, an essence of communal spirit. History reveals that needle and thread have the potential to transcend any boundary of time, but it also tells us that the most essential part to any story is the person who tells it. We are very proud to have a piece of work hanging in our gallery that not only represents all that is good within our community, but one that was made by people ambitious enough to make that first stitch.

This quilt will hang in the South Gallery of the Columbia Art League until Wednesday, March 22nd, 2023. After that, it will go to the True/False permanent collection, to be put on display every year during the fest. Visit the gallery and see this incredible piece of art.