A Delightfully Creative Duet! The Art of Don & Helen Weisflog

Don and Helen Weisflog, our delightfully creative duet, met and married in Kenosha, Wisconsin in 1972 and had one child, Amy. Don, a born artist and teacher, graduated from the University of Wisconsin at Milwaukee with M.S and M.F.A degrees. His undergraduate degree came from La Crosse State University in La Crosse, Wisconsin. Don Weisflog, who passed away in 2006, after booking this exhibit with his wife Helen, spoke of his art as a way of life, not just a profession. Most of the great artists were born teachers. While not thinking of himself as a great artist, but as a good artist always trying to improve, Don was also filled with the passion to teach. One cannot teach a student unless he/she is open to and interested in learning about the material presented. With proper direction, the student is capable of motivating him/herself to learn and create within and without of the rules of the discipline. Don felt a person learned best when they became deeply involved in a subject. Involvement follows interest and is related to an understanding of real life, he said. During his teaching career at Ivy Tech, Lafayette and Anderson, IN, Anderson University, Anderson, IN, Carthage College, Kenosha, WI, Shorewood Opportunity School, Milwaukee, WI and the University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee, WI, Don made a great effort to relate whatever course he was teaching to his student and his/her development as an individual. Facts are important, he went on to say, but going beyond the facts to create in the students an enthusiasm for the course work as it relates to life development, is much more important. Interest is generated when information filters through a student's thinking process. Don inspired this interest by asking a multitude of questions geared to wring out a student's own ideas about the presentation. A professor's job is to open and expand the minds of students who then use this information to construct stronger and more understandable criteria for their own lives. Gaining self-confidence in themselves and in what they create will help provide them an opportunity to comfortably share their unique perspective with the world. Stillwater, Oklahoma born Helen Ann Spangler Weisflog moved to St. Paul, Minnesota when she was six months old. She attended grade school, high school and three years of study at Macalester College in St. Paul before moving to Kenosha, Wisconsin where she graduated from Carthage College with an English degree and met and married husband Don. In 1975, they moved to Anderson, Indiana where Don began teaching Art at Anderson University. Helen spent her time taking care of their daughter Amy, volunteering for Brownies, Girls Scouts and directing Girl Scout Camp. At the same time she owned and managed a catering business, did interior design and helped Don with large art projects and installations. Sounds like a pretty busy schedule, doesn't it? In 1985, Don and Helen moved to Colfax, Indiana where Don held several positions, including one as the lead designer of Old Indiana Fun Park. Helen was the secretary for Old Indiana and several Lafayette companies. Helen's artwork began with acrylics in 1974, watercolor in 1985 and paper pulp art forms in 2002. Still progressing toward whatever looks interesting; Helen has developed a new interest in altered photographs printed on canvas. When Helen asked Don about her own artwork, he said he would be happy to teach her techniques, but never ideas. He taught her, as he taught all his students, friends and colleagues, by asking questions that drew out her own artistic ideas. Softly guiding her thinking by exposing her to his own deep love of art and the beauty he saw in everything and everyone, Don then left her alone to express herself in her own way. Now that you know a bit more about this DELIGHTFULLY CREATIVE DUET, you will definitely want to visit the Library's Mary Bishop Memorial Art Gallery from Saturday, May 26 until Friday, June 29 to enjoy in depth the eclectically beautiful creations of Don and Helen Weisflog.

Upcoming Carnegie Museum exhibit!

Tuttle Middle School students have been on site at the Carnegie Museum to help prepare the inaugural exhibit in the temporary Exhibition Gallery. It is a collaboration between Tuttle Middle School, Crawfordsville Electric Light & Power, the Montgomery County Historical Society, and the Carnegie. "Exploring the Shocking World of Electricity" will include the history of electricity and CEL&P. Visit the Carnegie Museum home page to see some pictures.

Carnegie Museum volunteer callout

If you would like information about volunteering at our new Carnegie Museum, we will have an information night on May 17, from 3 - 5 pm, at the public library. There will also be a tour of the Carnegie Museum and refreshments. For more information, please contact Kat Burkhart (362-2242, carnegie@cdpl.lib.in.us)

In the Gallery this month!

North Montgomery School Corporation's Bratton Initiative & Art Teacher Exhibit Result in Scintillating Library Exhibit

In striving for excellence, the North Montgomery Community School Corporation has initiated fifteen bold, forward looking reform initiatives named for Montgomery County resident William E. Bratton, famed member of the Louisiana Purchase Lewis and Clark Discovery Expedition, and later first official superintendent of Montgomery County's Public Schools. These initiatives are meant to further enhance the well-rounded educational experience now in place in the North Montgomery Community School system. One of these fifteen initiatives involves hosting a district-wide art contest and exhibit, showcasing the artistic adventures of students and art teachers from the North Montgomery County Elementary Schools, Middle School and High School. Over two-hundred images, resulting from this positive collaborative experience, may be found in the Library's Mary Bishop Memorial Art Gallery during the entire month of May. Viewing this outstanding gathering of creativity, from grades K-12, is an absolute must for those yearning for a fresh, warm sunshiny spring experience. Do come often and stay long. You won't want to miss a thing!

As one of the promoters of this unique North Montgomery Student Display, Sugar Creek Elementary School Art Teacher, Kim Goebel, will be exhibiting her personal art work in Gallery Two of the display. As a youngster growing up, Kim never knew she had a talent for art until as a senior in high school she took the only art class offered in the Dickson, Tennessee School System. Earlier, Kim's older sister Teresa, had taken the class and became quite talented, so Kim figured if her sister could do it, so could she. That was the humble beginning of a lifetime career of challenging herself to learn more and more about any art medium that attracted her fancy. In 1980 Kim graduated with an Art Degree from Austin Peay State University in Clarksville, TN, in spite of the fact that one of her first art teachers, looking at a piece of her work, told her she had no talent for art and should choose another career! At the time of her graduation, teaching positions were hard to find, so Kim took a job at Vanderbilt University Law Library. Her first teaching position, after moving to Indiana, was at Thorntown Elementary School. When an Art Teacher position opened at the North Montgomery School District, Kim jumped at the chance and applied. She has been teaching art in grades K-5 for twenty-one years and absolutely LOVES it, telling her students how lucky she feels to get paid for having so much fun! In her personal art, Kim enjoys using pastel, watercolor, colored pencil and acrylics on paper or fabric for her quilted wall-hangings. Her real passion is painting animals, most especially her own pets. Working primarily from photos, Kim continues to strive for striking realism in every piece of her work. As her artistic vision widens, Kim transfers her artistic skills to the art of quilting, joyfully working to create large pieces, at very little expense, which she is unable to do in any other medium. Her spectacular art quilt wall-hangings incorporate the plethora of light; bright colors necessary to convey the realism for which she strives. Horses are another of Kim's passions. Gratefully, by teaching horseback riding classes in the summer, Kim is able to not only indulge her own passion, but impart that passion to both adults and children in her beginning and intermediate horseback riding classes. This beautiful, eclectically talented woman graciously glows with the pleasure of having two jobs which bring her so much pleasure! Kim's work hangs in many private collections across the United States. Many of the pieces displayed in this exhibition have been borrowed from those collectors. Kim enjoys the challenge of doing commissioned art pieces and is always happy to work out a quote for anyone interested in owning a painting. She may be reached at 364-9527.