Bourbon County Arts Council 28th Annual Fine Arts Exhibit
The Bourbon County Arts Council will present their 28th Annual Fine Arts Exhibit, March 5th through 7th, at the Danny and Willa Ellis Family Fine Arts Center, on the Campus of Fort Scott Community College.
“The mission of the Bourbon County Arts Council is to foster, promote and increase the knowledge, appreciation and practice of the arts in our community,” said Deb Halsey, who is a board member and also co-chairing the Fine Arts Exhibit along with President Deb Anderson.
The Exhibit will be open to the public on Thursday and Friday, March 5th and 6th, from 12:00 pm to 7:00pm, and on Saturday, March 7th, from 9:00 am to 1:00 pm. A Reception will be held on Thursday evening from 7:00 pm to 9:00 pm, to honor this year’s Juror and artists; the public is invited to attend and enjoy the opportunity to meet and visit with them about the art. (Note: In previous years, the reception was held on Wednesday evenings. The change to Thursday was made in hopes of allowing a greater number of community members to attend.) The Bourbon County Arts Council will host the Chamber Coffee at 8:00am on Thursday, March 5th.
Artists will have their work on display and for sale in this multi-media exhibit, with categories including Ceramics, Drawing & Graphics, Fiber Arts, Glass, Jewelry, Mixed Media, Painting (oil and acrylic), Pastels, Photography,Printmaking, Sculpture, and Watercolor. A “themed” category was added to the Exhibit, with this year’s theme being “My Hometown”. An artist may create a piece in any of the above catogories, in relation to the theme. In recent years, artists from Kansas, Missouri, Minnesota, North Carolina, and Vancouver, British Columbia have participated in this show. This year, 55 artists have contributed 148 pieces of art. Local artists presenting at this year’s Exhibit include Elaine Buerge, Cheyanne Carpenter, Steve Floyd, Chance Fuhrman, Jane Gaines, Barbara Gibson, Deb Halsey, Bobbi Kemna, Cindy Lipe, Paul Milks, Connie Neil, Jezeriah Simpson, Bri Stokes,and Jean Strader.
James Oliver will serve as Juror for this year’s Exhibit. He holds his BFA from Denison University in Granville, OH, his MA from Easten Illinois University in Charleston, IL, and his MFA from Tulane University in New Orleans, LA. Mr. Oliver has acted as Pittsburg State University Assistant Professor of Painting and Drawing since 2001, and was Assistant Professor of Painting and Drawing at Denison University from 1997 t0 2001. James has taught courses at Pittsburg State University in Designed World, Intro to Art Studio, Drawing, Perspective Drawing, Color Theory and Application, Painting, Structural Anatomy and Figure Drawing, Special Topics of Plein Aire Painting, Portrait Painting and iPad for the Artist, and Graduate Drawing. He has participated in numerous Group Exhibitions, and his works have been featured in Solo Exhibitions in Deleware, Illinois, Missouri, New York, and Oklahoma. Mr. Oliver has affiliation to the College Arts Association, the Popular Culture/American Culture Association, and FATE(Foundation in Art:Theory and Education. Publications include American Art Collector and New American Paintings.
The Danny and Willa Ellis Family Fine Arts Center is located at 1208 Horton St., in Fort Scott, Kansas. There is no admission charge for this event, and all are encouraged to come and enjoy a wonderful collection of original artwork.
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