Even if you’ve never beeninto quilts, odds are you’ll becrazy about Pat Isaman, whowill quilt her way into yourheart during a special pres-entation Wednesday.
Isaman is a petite woman,but don’t let that fool you.She has a huge appetite forcolor and design — and herhangings show it. With cleargreen eyes that always seemto be sparkling with new pat-tern ideas, we have deemedthis artist e Crazy Quilter,and you have to hear abouther thought process foryourself.
I first visited Isaman’sworkspace when she cameon board with us as the newartist in residence. Althoughshe works quietly across thehall from my office, walkinginto her studio is like enter-ing a concert hall of singingcolors. Her “story board,” asI refer to it, has cut-outs ofdifferent designs, swirlinghere and curving there,pinned in different direc-tions to make individualsquares, creating quite a vi-sual to Isaman’s creativemadness.
“I just let the material dowhat it wants to, really,”Isaman says, staring into oneof her many unique designs.
“Sometimes I canexplain where Igot my inspiration— a spring day, agood mood — (and) othertimes, I just let the materialdo what it wants.”
Many of her pieces areembellished — manipulatedwith glue to affix shells orother ornate trinkets thatadd an eclectic look to thematerial. ese are not yourgrandma’s quilts. “But I willexplain a lot of the history ofquilting, which I find very in-teresting,” Isaman says.
Her hope is that, like her-self and most who know her,those who take the time totake in her special presenta-tion will walk away with agreater respect for the art ofquilting.
Quilting provides theartist with unlimited creativ-ity, Isaman says.
“I work with a flat piece ofcloth, much like a painter’scanvas. I can create as Ichoose,” she says. “In an art
quilt, the fab-rics, threads, paint,beads and other embell-ishments enable me to ex-periment and push mycreativity in new directions,keeping me excited aboutmy work, and never, everbored!”
Special thanksToday marks the start of
National Volunteer Week,and the Community ArtsCenter thanks all its volun-teers who made this year’sblockbuster exhibit, and thepast years’, a success. CACextends a heartfelt “thankyou” to the 85 volunteerswho invested more than1,100 hours this year to in-corporate visuala r t s ,
m u s i ca n dd r a m a
into the ex-hibit. ese
v o l u n t e e r scontinue to go
above and be-yond the call of
duty. Although all of our volun-
teers gave in their unique,individual ways to make thisexhibit extremely special, wemust offer two women spe-cial thanks: Cynthia Frey andMarti Dickerson. Cynthiaand Marti worked tirelesslyto coordinate our many vol-unteers’ schedules for eachof our last three blockbusterexhibits, managing thetroops daily to avoid chaos.We are deeply indebted toCynthia and Marti for theircontributions.
C8 SUNDAY, APRIL 15, 2012
ACCENT THE ADVOCATE-MESSENGER
WWW.AMNEWS.COM
By JENNIFER BRUMMETT
Special needs childrenthroughout the region aregearing up for their night toshine. e sixth annual“Hands at Touch theHeart” art show is pre-sented at the CommunityArts Center, with an artistreception set for ursday.
“While working with ourspecial (students), I am al-ways touched by the fantas-tic art work and thegenuine joy all these youngpeople get from seeingtheir art displayed. It helpsremind me to be joyful inall things, big and small, inlife,” said Donna Decker,co-president of “Handsat Touch the Heart” artshow.
Andrea Cass, president,began this exhibit in 2006.She said she wanted to offerspecial needs students theopportunity to expressthemselves. “is is truly
their night to shine,” Cassnoted, adding the exhibitcontinues to be at the Com-munity Arts Center throughthe generosity of CAC exec-utive director Mary BethTouchstone.
Cass, a painter in herown right, said, “As apainter, (I) saw earlythrough (my) own specialneeds daughter, Megan,that she loved to paint. eCommunity Arts Center’s
Main gallery is filled withwonderful art from wall towall. Each painting is trulyunique and is inspired bythese beautiful childrenand young adults.”
In the past few years,Cass and Melissa Caudillhave promised to keep theshow going, despite howhuge the undertaking is.
“It could not be donewithout the committed vol-unteers that really lovethese children and thisevent,” Cass said.
She added the show hasgrown beyond anything shecould have imagined. Casshopes it will continue for atleast a few more years.
“e reality is that thesechildren will never (excel)in sports or get any aca-demic accolades, so this istheir night to be recog-nized,” Cass explained. “Wethank our community forsupporting this event,which has come to be thesecond largest event for theArt Center. As BruceCaudill, a former partici-pant, said a few years ago,‘My art might be differentto you, but I hope when youlook at it you don’t think ofme as different.’”
Starry Night Studio re-turns with another one-of-a-kind piece, this time turninga local icon into collectiblepiece of art.
“New Look for Old Cen-tre” was created just for SNSby Laura Clay, our new edu-cation coordinator, also aCentre College graduate,who will lead the class Mon-day evening. “We wanted todevelop a painting that cele-brated Centre, and what bet-ter than Old Centre itself?”Clay says.
Clay points out there isusually some difficulty increating an architecturalpainting.
“I wanted to develop apiece that was easy to repli-cate, fun to paint but alsomaintained the essence ofOld Centre.”
e painting is almost acaricature of the building, alittle off-centered, accentedwith dark outlines and goldhighlights that give it a car-toon-like appeal. ExecutiveDirector Mary Beth Touch-stone points out, “I think if
you framed it in black, itwould be beautiful.”
Clay says she also keptcollege students in mind.
“I wanted to make some-thing that they would be en-couraged to hang on theirdorm room walls — some-thing fun and quirky. at’swhy I decided to use blackand gold as the colors.”
Clay says it will be a funevening, and thinks manywill walk away with their ownone-of-a-kind masterpieces.
Sneek peeksStarry Night Studios:
Coming up at CAC, “Put aBird On It,” a painting cre-ated by Brandon Long in-spired by the show“Portlandia,” will be featuredMay 15.
Lunch with the Arts: Film-maker Robbie Henson willshare his creative process be-hind creating award-win-ning films on May 16.
IF YOU GO
“Hands that Touch the Heart”By Danville Learning Disabili-
ties AssociationThrough April
Community Arts CenterArtist reception: 6-8 p.m.
ThursdayEach piece of artwork sells for$15. Of that, $10 goes to the
artist and $5 goes to the DLDAfor supplies. The students, whorange in age from 3 to 21, each
receive a certificate.
‘Hands ThatTouch the Heart’Special-needs art showgoes up for sixth year
Photo contributed
Tye, from Hogsett Elementary, works on artwork for the “Hands That Touch the Heart” exhibit.
An iconicundertakingOne-of-a-kind painting givesnew look to community icon
IF YOU GO Starry Night StudioTheme: “New Look for Old Centre”
7-9 p.m. Monday, CommunityArts Center, 401 E. Main St. Register online at www.communityartscenter.net
Not your grandma’s quiltNew-age quilter shares secretsduring Lunch with the Arts
IF YOU GO
Lunch with the Arts, featuringquilting with Pat IsamanNoon-1 p.m. Wednesday
at the Community Arts Center,401 E. Main St.
Cost is $10 for lunch; reserve by6 p.m. Monday night on line atwww.communityartscenter.netor by calling (859) 236-4054,or pay $5 at the door and bring
your own lunch.
From the Community Arts
CenterBobbie Curd
Contributing Columnist
From the Community Arts
CenterBobbie Curd
Contributing Columnist
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