BROKEN BOW – The Arrow Artists Guild held the reception for their spring show on Saturday, May 20; 13 of the group’s artists displayed work ranging from painting to watercolor to mixed media.
Three of those 13 were on hand to discuss their work, their processes, and where the group and its spring work will go next: Sulin Best, President Mary Smith, and Patricia Coslor.
The show was initially judged by Broken Bow Elementary art teacher Ellen Kuhl on April 22, who awarded several of the pieces with Awards of Excellence; these will go on to the Association of Nebraska Art Clubs’ (ANAC) June 7 statewide show in Columbus.
Though Sulin Best won’t be attending this year’s ANAC show, she says that based on her experiences in the past, it is always a fruitful endeavor for growth artistically and socially.
“It’s really a good venue to find new friends. You get the feeling everybody’s in the same space and going in the same direction. You feel like you can talk to everyone freely. When you go to a meeting where everyone’s doing the same thing you do, you feel like you have friends already.”
Coslor, secretary of the Broken Bow club and transplant of 25 years, concurred. “When I got married and moved here 25 years ago, I didn’t know a soul, but I have met the most wonderful people through art here in Nebraska.”
Ten of the group’s works will be presented at the state competition, with others opting to keep their work close to home; Coslor explained that some of the group’s artists are wary of the gauntlet that is the ANAC show.
“There are some artists that don’t like to send their art off because it damages it. If you get selected for the ANAC show, you qualify for the traveling show and your work travels for a year all around the state.”
The show travels between locations with frequent, short stops: a week one place, two weeks the next, which could cause serious harm to artists’ labors of love. In preparation for ANAC, artists have gone so far as to use a 75-pound wooden box to move a single, delicate necklace.
Coslor says in her years of experience, a wooden shell hasn’t been the only hurdle for moving pieces around safely.
“One year, a judge chose a whole bunch of pastels, over half the show. When you carry them, you have to carry them flat instead of upright, because it’s chalk and it’ll settle.”
The show will remain up in the Broken Bow Public Library until June 5, at which point those careful preparations will be made for transportation to Columbus for the June 7 ANAC opening.
Though the spring show will be wrapping up, the Arrow Artists are showing no signs of slowing down. The group still meets every Thursday through Zoom, and Coslor says the guild is always open to growing not only its membership but more importantly the area’s interest in art.
“I would like to encourage everyone to get involved in their local art clubs, it doesn’t have to be ours, but we’d love it if it were.”
And with almost 10 of the state’s 40 ANAC clubs dotting the KCNI/KBBN listening area, finding a local club seems to be closer to a brush with fate than a stroke of luck.
