Heart of America Artists' Association recently received nonprofit status and is continuing its mission to provide education and community for artists in Northwest Arkansas.
The Siloam Springs-based organization will be kicking off its efforts with a Community Plein Air Paintout at Botanical Gardens of the Ozarks in Fayetteville from 1 to 5 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 18. The event will give community members a chance to be mentored by top plein air artists Todd Williams, organization president, and John Lasater, director of marketing and design.
En Plein Air
En Plein Air is a French term for “in the open air.” It refers to painting outdoors on location to capture the feel and natural lighting conditions of the setting.
Both Williams and Lasater are former DaySpring artists who have exhibited artwork across the country, and teach workshops throughout the U.S. and Europe. Organization board members will also be present at the workshop to provide advice and critiques. The workshop will be free, but participants will be responsible for the $7 entree fee into the garden.
Williams said the workshop will be a time to fellowship with other artists in the community and gain inspiration.
"That's part of our heart, to teach and really give back what's been given to us, because we felt very fortunate to have very fine, professional artists mentor us and so it's part of kind of paying it forward and wanting to encourage the next great artists here in Arkansas," he said.
Heart of America Artists' Association received its nonprofit status this year, but it has been hosting plein air events and salon exhibits in Northwest Arkansas since 2009, according to Williams. In 2013, the association partnered with the Illinois River Watershed Partnership to create the Illinois River Salon Exhibition, which ran for five years from 2013 to 2017. The organization made the transition from an association to a nonprofit last year as it began to gain membership and increase its mission to do more outreach with a wide variety of art mediums, said Lasater.
Ultimately, the association would like to open an art center in downtown Siloam Springs to provide educational opportunities and support to artists in all fields, including the visual arts but also other disciplines such as poetry and music, Williams said.
"Right now our organization has been focused on the visual arts but we can really see this as growing in the future," he said.
Another way that Heart of America Artists' Association will be kicking off its new nonprofit status is through an Arkansas Territory Bicentennial Art Exhibition. The organization is calling artists to help celebrate the milestone by entering paintings or drawings of all genres based on people, places or things from any of the 200-year history of the geographical area referred to as the Arkansas Territory of 1819, which includes all of Arkansas and most of Oklahoma.
The juried exhibit will include artwork worthy of becoming a permanent historical archive of the states of Arkansas and Oklahoma. It will first be displayed at John Brown University from March to May 2019, then at the Cane Hill Museum and Historic Arkansas Museum before moving on to other locations for the duration of 2019 and 202o. The exhibit will offer a $5,000 cash prize to the artist who wins best of show, as well as other prizes and awards, Williams said.
"We want everyone that can to participate and be part of this," Williams said. "We really believe the arts are going to have a great impact on our region and our culture in our region, and that is where our heart is and the purpose of the organization."
More information about the organization, including instructions on entering the Arkansas Territory Bicentennial Art Exhibit, is available online at heartofamericaartists.com.
General News on 10/17/2018