In the gallery

IT'S NEVER TOO HOT TO ENJOY GOOD ART!

July is HOT and so are the two exhibits being displayed in the Mary Bishop Memorial Art Gallery at the Crawfordsville Public Library from Thursday, June 30 until Friday, July 29.

Robert Clark, a photographer who began studying Photography in the late 1970's and never plans to stop, is the presenter of our HOT wall art this month. His work has been published in magazines, calendars, and books. He is also a stock photography contributor and has had several gallery shows. Robert enjoys presenting his work at Art Festivals like Penrod on the grounds of the Indianapolis Museum of Art and at many other exhibits east of the Mississippi River. Robert never tires of shooting locally and is continually learning of new opportunities to shoot interesting subjects. In fact, he has a long list of subjects he intends to shoot, all within a few hours of home. He does travel further, but if he gets into his "explore mode," it's amazing what he finds right around home.

Robert is currently working on a Photography Course geared to those seeking more information on how to improve the quality of their images. He invites you to visit his website at http://www.bclarkphotos.com/

Our second HOT display case exhibit is Laura McClain's needlework, which she began as a young girl during week long visits to her McClain grandparent's farm. Her grandmother Mary Jane had Laura embroidering pillow cases purchased at the Ben Franklyn store in Veedersburg, and working on various other sewing projects.

Laura was born and raised in Montgomery County. She is the daughter of Jay McClain and Martha Townsend Bell. She attended Waynetown Schools and graduated from North Montgomery High School. She earned her Bachelor's degree in Science in Landscape Architecture from Purdue University.

Through middle school, high school and college, Laura's interest in needlework waned because of her myriad other interests. It wasn't until after she was married that her interest returned. Her sister, Dr. Amy Becker, introduced her to cross stitch and she started working on a small project called The Four Seasons depicting a football, basketball, baseball and golf ball for her husband's office.

Laura's next project was a collection of international Santas. Her intention was to cross stitch a Santa or other Christmas themed piece for her daughter Chelsea each year. This did not happen, however, because each successive piece became more detailed and took longer to complete. Santa and his reindeer (free standing) took a year to complete and the Nativity took 3 years. Whew!

Many of Laura's cross stitch pieces are actually wearable art. She went in this direction because custom framing was hard on a stay-at-home mom's budget and more people were able to see her work as others wore it.

Currently Laura is working on a winter scene in the Thomas Kincaid style.