{"id":5921,"date":"2011-04-06T12:59:34","date_gmt":"2011-04-06T17:59:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/?p=5921"},"modified":"2011-04-06T12:59:34","modified_gmt":"2011-04-06T17:59:34","slug":"double-exhibit-opens-at-wassenberg","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/2011\/04\/06\/double-exhibit-opens-at-wassenberg\/","title":{"rendered":"Double exhibit opens at Wassenberg"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/strong><\/p>\n

By Hope Wallace<\/strong><\/p>\n

<\/strong><\/p>\n

If you visit the Wassenberg Art Center between now and May 7, you\u2019re in for a double treat — two unusual exhibits, \u201cIt\u2019s In the Cards\u201d and \u201cThe Art of Therapy\u201d opened on Sunday, April 3, with a reception that drew a large crowd of visitors.\u00a0 Live, original, acoustic guitar music was provided by Van Wert High School sophomore Treig Pierce and friends. The exhibits will run through May 7, 1-5 p.m. Tuesday through Sunday (closed Mondays).\u00a0 Admission is free.\u00a0 Vancrest Health Care Center is the sponsor.<\/p>\n

\"\"
Val Sluterbeck and Scott Kraemer make Artist Trading Cards at an art station in the Wassenberg\u2019s front gallery.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s In the Cards\u201d displays hundreds of Artist Trading Cards (ATCs), an art phenomenon that allows anyone to exchange baseball-card-sized original works of art.\u00a0 You\u2019ll be amazed at what people can do with a 2 1\/2 x 3 1\/2 inch card.\u00a0 Just about any kind of art can be used on an ATC, and anyone can make one!\u00a0 You can make your own ATC in the front gallery — paint, colored pencils, crayons, collage materials, pencils and markers are provided, along with a good supply of blank cards.\u00a0 Press hard, get messy, and color outside the lines!<\/p>\n

Our main gallery features \u201cThe Art of Therapy.\u201d\u00a0 It includes work by both local and out-of-state artists, with a broad line of abilities on display.\u00a0 Works by artists from Vancrest Health Care Center, Bittersweet, Inc., and other individuals are included.\u00a0 For most artists, art is a secondary language that persuades us to look at the world with fresh eyes, helping us to see we are all much more similar than different.\u00a0 These artists\u2019 challenges are diverse as is the outcome of their wonderful gifts.<\/p>\n

Bittersweet Farms in Whitehouse has been serving individuals with Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD) for over 25 years.\u00a0 Art is just one of the many programs at Bittersweet, and it is both beneficial and an aid to communication for these artists.<\/p>\n

The artists of Vancrest Health Care Center in Van Wert have provided 28 works in tempera using an unusual technique called MnemeTherapy\u2122.\u00a0 This therapy uses everyday pleasures such as singing, movement, painting and storytelling in combination; it benefits a wide range of people in numerous ways.<\/p>\n

Other works include art by Val Sluterbeck of Van Wert, photography by Will Hawkins of Van Wert, and drawings by Bruce Dellinger of Timberville, Virginia.<\/p>\n

The Wassenberg Art Center is located at 643 S. Washington Street in Van Wert, Ohio.\u00a0 Contact us at 419.238.6837, wassenberg@embarqmail.com, or visit the website at www.vanwert.com\/wassenberg.<\/p>\n

<\/strong><\/p>\n

<\/strong><\/p>\n

Herblock lampooned the mighty<\/strong><\/h2>\n

By Kay Sluterbeck<\/strong><\/p>\n

Photo caption:\u00a0 Cartoon by Herblock.<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cThe political cartoon is not a news story and not an oil portrait.\u00a0 It\u2019s essentially a means for poking fun, for puncturing pomposity.\u00a0 Cartooning is an irreverent form of expression, and one particularly suited for scoffing at the high and mighty.\u00a0 If the prime role of a free press is to serve as a critic of government, cartooning is often the cutting edge of that criticism.\u201d — Herbert Lawrence Block, commonly known as Herblock (1909-2001).<\/p>\n

No editorial cartoonist has made a more lasting impression on the nation than Herbert Block.\u00a0 Using humor to draw people in to read the cartoons and consider his opinions, he delivered strong messages and often awoke both<\/p>\n

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Cartoon by Herblock.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

the public and politicians to threats both from abroad and at home.<\/p>\n

His first cartoon was published in the Chicago Daily News around 1930, when a temporary summer job replacing the editorial page cartoonist quickly became a permanent one.\u00a0 During the course of his career he won three Pulitzer Prizes, the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the National Cartoonist Society Editorial Cartoon Award (twice), the Reuben Award, and the Gold Key Award (the National Cartoonists Society Hall of Fame).\u00a0 His editorial cartoons were the subject of exhibitions, books, and displays at the Library of Congress.\u00a0 He also received the Elijah Parish Lovejoy Award as well as an honorary Doctor of Laws degree from Colby College.<\/p>\n

He was on the forefront of every threat to liberty, peace, and justice.\u00a0 At a time when the American public and politicians were turned toward isolationism, Herblock brought the activities of Hitler, Mussolini and Franco to their attention, exposing the threats of Fascism in Europe.\u00a0 One of his simplest and most powerful cartoons showed a Nazi cap extinguishing the light of German civilization.<\/p>\n

The period from the late 1940s to the late 1950s became known as the Second Red Scare, a time characterized by heightened fears of communist influence and espionage.\u00a0 Senator Joseph McCarthy exploited these fears by causing thousands of Americans to be accused of being Communists or communist sympathizers.\u00a0 The term \u201cMcCarthyism\u201d came to represent accusations of disloyalty, subversion or treason without proper regard for evidence.\u00a0 Those accused — often on laughable reasons — had to go through aggressive investigations and questioning by both governmental and private groups.\u00a0 Even if evidence was inconclusive or questionable, hundreds of people lost their jobs, had their careers destroyed, or were even imprisoned.\u00a0 Most of these punishments came out of trial verdicts which were later overturned, laws that were eventually declared unconstitutional and other procedures which came into general disrepute.<\/p>\n

Herblock vigorously attacked McCarthyism, portraying McCarthy as an unshaven, belligerent caveman-type in a suit.\u00a0 His caricatures hit their mark.\u00a0 Columnist Walter Winchell commented to a friend that he had come upon Senator McCarthy shaving at midday, complaining that he had to shave twice a day on account of Herblock\u2019s cartoons.<\/p>\n

Richard Nixon had a similar reaction when the cartoonist attacked the political abuses and scandals of his administration.\u00a0 At one point Nixon said that he had to \u201cerase the Herblock image.\u201d\u00a0 Nixon canceled his subscription to the Washington Post after Herblock drew him crawling out of an open sewer.\u00a0 The cartoonist won his third Pulitzer Prize in 1979 for his cartoons about Nixon\u2019s activities.<\/p>\n

Herblock\u2019s style was clear, concise, and compelling, using few words to get his point across.\u00a0 A characteristic feature of his cartoons was a distinctive geometric border of 45 degree angles and parallel lines along two sides of the cartoon, making the cartoon appear to be drawn on the top surface of a block rather than sketched on a flat sheet of paper.<\/p>\n

For the better part of a century Herblock\u2019s work helped expose and ward off the effects of bigotry, war, political arrogance and social injustice, and he never stopped trying to bring these evils to public attention.\u00a0 His last cartoon was published on August 26, 2001.\u00a0 He died of pneumonia six weeks later at the age of 91.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Hope Wallace If you visit the Wassenberg Art Center between now and May 7, you\u2019re in for a double treat — two unusual exhibits, \u201cIt\u2019s In the Cards\u201d and \u201cThe Art of Therapy\u201d opened on Sunday, April 3, with a reception that drew a large crowd of visitors.\u00a0 Live, original, acoustic guitar music was […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[37],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5921","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-wassenberg"],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-08-04 00:36:48","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5921","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5921"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5921\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5921"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5921"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5921"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}