Western Nebraska has some amazing artists

I think I’m mourning a little. For a few weeks, I was surrounded by some amazing, fantastic art that community artists and high school art students applied to gourds and donated to the North Platte Valley Museum for a fundraiser. I reveled in that diversity of creativity, visited my favorites in the museum gallery at closing time, fantasized about where I would put each one in my home.

This afternoon, all those gourds were auctioned off, and they were all scattered into new homes in the community. (Save one! I got one!! By Ty Armstrong!!!) We raised more than $4,000 for the museum with that auction.

Truly, we have some amazing artists in this area. Amazing in their generosity, to have put so much effort into the museum fundraiser. And just straight up amazing in their ability.

I’m behind on my blogging, but there’s one delayed post I want to bring to the fore this evening – one on the “Art in the Courtyard” event at Barn Anew Bed and Breakfast back in September.

This is the second year I’ve attended this event. It’s just a wonderful, picturesque setting for displaying the work of those amazing western Nebraska artists.

It’s also a benefit for the West Nebraska Arts Center.

In a shady glen within the viewshed of Scotts Bluff National Monument, the artists set up camp for the day.

Surrounding this shady glen are farm fields. Autumn is harvest time, and the farm equipment was rolling through the fields (downwind, thankfully).

A beautiful view of bean harvest

I have to feature one of the artists who made me laugh. Doug Hoevet. He gives new life to interesting bits of metal by turning them into sculpture. (He’s also one of the geniuses behind the Coolest. Bike racks. Ever.) Sometimes, Doug’s sculptural pieces have moving parts. I give you, the “worry goblet” and “worry scepter.” (Ha! Worry scepter! The perfect gift for that unsure-of-himself emperor.)

Sorry about the shadows messing up the picture. It was a shady glen, after all. Very challening for photographers like me with point-and-shoot cameras.

Doug wasn’t the only artist who made me laugh that day. A few beats after entering Ron Charles’ setup, I burst out laughing. Do you get the joke?

Copyright 2011 by Katie Bradshaw