The beauty of threes

By Hope Wallace

They say stuff runs in threes. That seems to be the case for the Wassenberg Art Center’s recent good fortunes. Today we hovered around waiting for the FedEx^® truck to deliver a very special package and indeed our pacing paid off. Over the lunch hour, in a heavily fortified plywood crate, Chief White Hawk of the Nez Perce Nation arrived. Well, not the actual chief in body, there might be some federal regulations against that, but another painting by David Humphreys Miller! This painting was donated by former Van Wert resident, John Casebere, who now lives in the state of Washington. White Hawk will join the large collection donated by Brent Stevens in the new Wassenberg Art Center located in the renovated Van Wert Armory this summer. We will have more on this growing and fascinating story soon. In the meantime, thank you to John Casebere, whose generosity has helped continue the growing movement of creative place-making in Van Wert.

As previously disclosed in a press release last week, the Wassenberg Art Center will be home to a large collection of David Humphreys Miller on a long term basis. This body of work will arrive this summer and is large enough to rotate and keep things fresh. Moving to the armory will allow us to house a full-time exhibit in addition to our regular 8-12 exhibits annually. A separate website will be developed and will catalog the prolific painters body of work and the lives of his subjects. We want to extend our appreciation to the Robert Brent Stevens and family for giving back to Van Wert in this monumental way. We appreciate your passion in our local history connectivity to the community.

We will soon be taking in art from high schools in an approximate 35-mile radius of Van Wert for our High School Invitational. If you are an educator, let your students know about this great opportunity to showcase their work. The opening reception is planned for April 20, 6–8 p.m. with cash award being distributed at 7 p.m. We look forward to seeing what the students have been working on all year. Please plan to attend the public reception and support the area’s hardworking, creative youth.

We are beginning to gear up for our 57^th Annual June Art Exhibit as well. Artists should be receiving their call-for-entries in the mail and the forms are available online through download on our website. Please give us a call or if you know an artist age 18 and over encourage them to submit to this time-honored tradition. As always a large celebration will be planned on June 8 to honor our area artists and the strong culture they help provide.

If you have any questions regarding the classes or programs and would like to sign up please call the Wassenberg Art Center at 419.238.6837, email info@wassenbergartcenter.org or register for classes online at wassenbergartcenter.org. Hours during exhibits are Tuesday through Sunday 1–5 p.m. The Wassenberg Art Center is located at 643 S. Washington St. in Van Wert.