36th annual Photography Exhibit to open

The 36th annual Wassenberg Art Center Photography Exhibit opens this Saturday, October 5, at 7 p.m. with a public opening reception. Hors d’oeuvres from some of Van Wert’s finest cooks will be served. Awards will be presented at 8 p.m.

Over 130 photos were chosen by jurors to be included in this show. We wish those whose work was accepted a huge congratulations. Wassenberg Art Center juried exhibits are considered quite competitive, so having entries accepted is an honor. Regular exhibit hours are Tuesday through Sunday, 1-5 p.m. The art center is closed on Monday. This exhibit will be on view through October 27 and many photographs are available for sale, framed and ready to go. We hope to see you there. Remember this exhibit is housed in our current facility, the Wassenberg home at 643 S. Washington St. in Van Wert. The 36th annual Wassenberg Photography Exhibit is brought to you by Citizens National Bank and The Van Wert County Foundation.

In contrast to the vibrant photos on the walls of the galleries, a dark, sobering moment occurred today. It will most likely stay with me forever.

We are getting the armory closer and closer to being a finished art center, ready to accept many different kinds of exhibits and events, including the long-term David Humphreys Miller Collection.

The Miller collection donated by Van Wert native Brent Stevens has created a virtual web of responses from many different walks of life on intersecting paths. This afternoon, I had an opportunity to view a pair of moccasins. Obviously, the moccasins had belonged to a child from a long time ago. Some of the beads were missing and the leather had lost its softness. They had been handed down through a family whose ancestor happened to have been attached to the 7th Cavalry Regiment assigned to the Lakota Pine Ridge area in South Dakota. The family states the moccasins were taken back to the soldier’s family as a trophy of sorts following the massacre at Wounded Knee. A trophy.

When taken back to Pine Ridge reservation for authentication, it was learned the moccasins were those typically worn by small girls. These tiny shoes where once worn by a little girl, one of the reported 18 children who were murdered that day. The story of Wounded Knee, as with many wars and battles, begins with misunderstanding, tense moments, distrust, an accidental firing, a series of human “oops” that escalate into bloody massacres.

Here in front of me was a painful, physical reminder more powerful than any textbook, documentary, or sensationalized film. Pain is unpleasant and upsetting; however, it might help teach tolerance and eventually maybe we will stop killing each other. Maybe. Someday.

Dewey Beard (also known as Chief Iron Hail), present at the Battle of Little Bighorn and a survivor of Wounded Knee, sat for David Humphreys Miller and will be one of the paintings featured in the new art center’s collection, “The Faces of Little Bighorn”. He is shown above  painted in full regalia and in a snapshot at left. Sitting with his brothers, White Lance and Joseph Horn Cloud, he’s the guy holding the peace pipe.

We hope the chain reaction continues, with more information coming to the Wassenberg Art Center so this painter and, more importantly, his subjects will be honored and our understanding will grow.

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