Featuring the work of Lacey Lee & Jennifer White

and the music of Chad McKinney

Thursday, February 9th, 7-9pm

The BrickHouse, Madison

Lacey Lee

Emmeline Elliott

Two regional artists will have their paintings featured at this month’s Double Header art show.

Abstract painters Jennifer White of Sioux Falls and Lacey Lee of Brookings are participating in the Madison Area Arts Council event held Feb. 9 from 7 to 9 p.m. at The BrickHouse Community Arts Center, 106 S.E. 2nd St. Music will be performed by Chad McKinney. The one night event is free and open to the public.

White has been creating artwork for years. She had an interest in drawing in high school and – with the encouragement of her teacher Mr. E. Johnson – moved into ceramics, which she continued to pursue in college. She now considers painting her art form of choice, primarily working with oil on canvas.

Jennifer White

In the summer of 2010, White turned to painting as a means of coping with the struggles her family faced during the recession.

“We had to move to a different state and that’s when the urge to create art took over. I had no control over what was happening to me. I was lost, and my sweet husband bought me some paint and canvas and told me to paint. So that’s what I did,” White said.

Some of her paintings reflect that experience, such as her work titled “Ice Cube Degenerate.”

Jennifer White

“This piece lets the illusion of control slowly disappear like an ice cube melting on a hot rock. That is a feeling most people can relate to,” White said.

White usually works on canvas, but she also paints on nontraditional mediums such as windows, doors, plates, bed sheets and even a satellite dish. She uses materials like sand, wood, cloth, metal, glue and toilet paper to create textures or a sense of depth in her paintings.

“It is that love of clay that feeds the urge to paint something you want to touch. The chunky goodness of dry oil paint on canvas is literal depth,” White said.

Lee is making her second appearance at a Double Header event with this month’s art show. She graduated from the University of South Dakota with a Bachelor of Fine Arts with an emphasis in painting in 2008. She earned her teaching certification in 2011 from South Dakota State University.

Lacey White

Lee said her recent work has become more expressive. She likes to bring humor and sarcasm to her pieces by adding silly features to her characters.

Lee has commissioned a number of private pieces as a freelance artist, including a five-piece medical series for Avera Weskota Memorial Medical Center in Wessington Springs and was featured in Sioux Falls Woman magazine.

Lacey Lee

MAAC meetings are held the first Thursday of every month at 6 p.m. at The BrickHouse Community Arts Center. Visit us on Facebook for more community art news and events.

Our next Double Header is scheduled for Thursday February 9th, with Lacey Lee, Jennifer White, and the music of Chad McKinney, check it out, and help us pack the house in appreciation and support of our guest artists, nobody likes coming to an empty house.

For more on the latest regional arts news, events, and awareness, follow us on Facebook and Twitter.

Join us on Wednesday evening as our legendary Double Header series continues with a showing of regional artists Angela Meyer and Kevin Bierbaum, and a solo acoustic performance from Madison native Tom Weismantel of Hippocampus and White Waves.

The BrickHouse Community Arts Center, 7-9pm, Downtown Madison, Refreshments are always served, Everyone welcomed.

Lacey Lee

Our famed Double Header returns again Thursday, February 9th, with three incredible talents and personalities, which is sure to make for another memorable evening at The BrickHouse.

Regional painters Lacey Lee and Jennifer White have taken the arts community by storm this past year, with their standout abstracted work and jaw-dropping talent. Lacey will make her second appearance with us, having last shown in April, and Jennifer will be joining us for her first showing in Madison.

Jennifer White

Regional musician and acclaimed song-writer Chad McKinney of ‘Wumpus’ and ‘Petrified Man’, will be sharing with us an intimate acoustic set. Chad is joining us for the second time, as Wumpus played during our past White Night Festival in June, and well, we jumped at the opportunity to get him back.

All Double Headers are free to attend, open to all ages, and refreshments are always served, we’ll see you there!

Some of the most valuable treasures in South Dakota are hidden beneath the surface.

Barbara Johnson has unearthed many of them in her travels around the state. The humanities scholar has studied stained glass architecture in the state for two years. Her abilities will soon be showcased – along with the beautiful stained glass art of South Dakota.

“We really have quite a treasure trove of stained glass in South Dakota and it’s been really fun looking at it,” she said.

Johnson’s stained glass expertise – first acquired through a South Dakota Humanities Council grant project she started in 2010 – will be the centerpiece for an upcoming South Dakota Public Broadcasting Production that’s expected to draw interest from all corners of the state.

“History through Stained Glass,” a one-hour documentary (with accompanying web material) will examine the history and stories behind stained glass in South Dakota.

SDPB received a major grant for the project at the South Dakota Humanities Council board meeting in November 2011. Filming will occur in different towns across the state in 2012. The production will be released in late 2012/early 2013.

“SDPB is so honored to be working with Dr. Barbara Johnson,” said SDPB television producer Stephanie Rissler, who is producing the documentary.

Johnson, of Aberdeen, began studying stained glass after receiving an SDHC grant in April of 2010 to develop a Liturgical Arts database at Augustana College.

Her interest in stained glass was originally piqued several years ago when she attended a discussion at a church in Red Cloud, Neb. While listening to the speakers, Johnson noticed the beautiful stained glass adorning the walls of the church.

Johnson, who has a Ph.D in literature, then wrote an academic paper on the history of the glass for the Willa Cather Foundation, the organization that hosted the discussion. Her work was well-received, and she has continued to pursue stained glass history since then.

Rissler first met Johnson at the 100th anniversary rededication ceremony of the State Capitol in Pierre. Rissler was working on a production at that ceremony, while Johnson was speaking about stained glass. Rissler was impressed with Johnson’s speech, which eventually set the stage for a collaborative project.

“Our paths crossed again this past summer and the end result was a Dakota Life segment on Barbara’s work,” Rissler said. “The response from that Dakota Life segment was so positive we knew we needed to share more of the history behind these beautiful pieces of art. From there, our creative minds began working together to figure out a way to bring more of the stories behind South Dakota’s stained glass to our viewers.”

The documentary will showcase footage of the many stained glass pieces in buildings across the state. It will also tell the stories behind the stained glasses, which Johnson believes are an important part of the history of South Dakota.

The stained glass pieces peppered throughout various buildings in South Dakota make up a collage of work that has gone largely undiscovered, said Johnson. “South Dakota is like an art gallery on the prairies,” she said.

A premier event will be held to showcase the film after it has been completed. Johnson expects viewers to be taken in by the appealing stained glass contained within the walls of South Dakota buildings.

“When you walk into some place where there’s stained glass, you open the door and you never know what you’re going to see. And usually you’re totally amazed because it’s so beautiful,” she said.

From the South Dakota Humanities Council.

Note: Barbara Johnson was a guest Chautauqua Series presenter of the Madison Area Arts Council, and spent several weekends in Madison researching the stained glass of our community as part of grant from the South Dakota Humanities Council.

Hank Harris and Jami Lynn

Wumpus

Emmeline Elliott

Weismantel, a 2004 Madison High School graduate, will play a live solo performance Jan. 18 from 7 to 9 p.m. at The BrickHouse Community Arts Center, 106 S.E. 2nd St. The work of regional abstract artists Kevin Bierbaum and Angela Meyer will be displayed at the one-night event hosted by the Madison Area Arts Council. The Double Header art show is free and open to the public, and refreshments will be served.

Weismantel, who now lives in Sioux Falls, has played instruments since middle school, focusing on the guitar, bass and analogue synthesizer. He has been writing and recording music for several years.

“I’m really looking forward to a nice night of art appreciation in my hometown. Art in all forms is important to me, and I’m very excited for the opportunity to promote art in Madison,” Weismantel said.

Local music fans may recognize him as part of the White Waves band. Before that, he played with Welcome to the Cinema for three years. As a solo act, Weistmantel has worked under the name Hippocampus for about 10 years.

“As far as solo performing goes, I have vowed to do my best to replicate the original mood I was in while creating each song as much as I can. I think this is key to good performance,” Weismantel said.

Weismantel will play a number of songs at the Double Header art show. He wrote most of the songs to be played with a full band, but has redone many of them as acoustic covers for solo performance.

Love and emotion is a recurring theme in Weismantel’s songs. Weismantel, who is a pharmacist, said the song “Medicine” is about the metaphor of love as a necessary medicine for everyone. He wrote about falling in love in his song “Shelves,” and “Tired When I’m Sleeping” is about accepting loneliness as a part of life.

Sioux Falls artist Kevin Bierbaum relates to everyday experiences as what inspires his paintings. He said a slight sense of coldness and tragedy is conveyed by his work.

Kevin Bierbaum

Bierbaum is exhibiting pieces at the Double Header art show that explore vertical shapes and composition. His materials include multiple types of paint, oil, acrylic, latex and spray paint.

Angela Meyer

MAAC meetings are held the first Thursday of every month at 6 p.m. at The BrickHouse Community Arts Center. Check out MAAC on Facebook and Twitter for more community art news and events.