Heritage Center seeks local artists for art show

     Calling all artists…

     The Monticello Heritage and Cultural Center is seeking submissions from local artists of all mediums to display.

     Heritage Board member Bob Hendricks got the idea to showcase the talented work of local artists thanks to his stepmother, Rosie Hendricks.

     “I looked at her art and thought it’d be a great idea,” Bob said.

     Rosie recently had several of her paintings on display at a pop-up art gallery in downtown Dyersville. The concept was to display area artists’ work as a way to get people to tour vacant downtown buildings.

     “I’ve been painting a long time,” said Rosie. “Bob saw my work in Dyersville and thought this was something we could do here.”

     Rosie said art brings about a sense of culture to any community, especially fine art, which is what the Heritage Center is looking for.

     Interested artists are asked to submit five photos of samples of their artwork to the Heritage Center’s Facebook page by this Friday, March 13. The juried art show will narrow the submissions down to just 10 artists. Those selected are asked to pay $50, a donation to the Heritage Center, and will be given an 8-foot-by-6-foot space inside from which to proudly display their artwork. The work will be on display from March 22 through May 3.

     “‘Juried’ is just a screening process,” explained Ron Hendricks, Rosie’s husband. “It’s good for people to understand that.”

     Fine artwork could include: paintings, baskets, jewelry, pottery, multi-media, art quilts, photography, industrial art, etc. The Heritage Center is specifically looking for fine art versus arts and crafts pieces.

     “There are all different components to art,” explained Ron, “in terms of the subject, canvas, composition.”

     “They can display their art and the town gets a little culture,” said Rosie, whose work had been on display in area towns. She’s even sold several pieces as well. She received Best of Show at the Great Jones County fair for one of her multi-media paintings.

     Ron and Rosie travel to several art shows throughout the year, and enjoy seeing the different mediums artists use.

     In terms of the $50 donation, Rosie said many art galleries request that amount or more to display an artist’s work. This is simply a donation to keep the Heritage Center running and to help them advertise for the event.

     “A lot of our events have brought a lot of people in,” Bob said, “but they did not raise any money. Hopefully this spurs more events in the future.”

     Should the Heritage Center get an influx of artists’ submission, they will look at possibly hosting another art show in the fall.

     “By narrowing it down to 10 artists, that keeps it exclusive,” said Bob. “And it’s what we have room for.”

     Since the Heritage Center shared the event on their Facebook page a week ago, the response has been nothing but positive, and some artists have already submitted their samples for judging.

     “A handful of people have sent in their art, people of all ages,” said Bob.

     The Hendrickses said they’d like to see an event like this grow, noting that there’s not really anything like this in Monticello or Jones County.

     “From the community perspective,” said Ron, “they get a broader sense of art. It helps improve the culture of Monticello.”

     Rosie and Ron said, while on their travels, they’ve seen several communities with artwork on display in parks and throughout the downtowns.

     “You have to start somewhere,” said Rosie.

     Once the artists’ work is on display, Bob said the Heritage Center would like to offer the public the opportunity to hear directly from some of the artists themselves about their work.

     “We’ll have to see how our schedule works for public events,” he said.

     “It’s good for the youth to hear from real artists, to feed of off other artists,” added Ron.

     The Heritage Center will be open to the public regular hours during the art show: Sundays from 1-5 p.m., and Tuesdays from 6-8 p.m.