ArtMatters Newsletter September 2021
Art Wander 2021
Mark your calendar for the 2021 Edge of the Big Woods Art Wander in Carver County – September 24, 25, and 26th! 36 artists will be showing and selling their art at 15 studios located throughout Carver County. We are looking forward to our 9th year of this amazing display of the talents of local and regional artists.
Potters, painters, printers, jewelers, glass and fiber artists look forward to showing and demonstrating their work in unique “working studio” environments.
Learn more on the ACCC website or visit ArtWander.com.
Visual Art News
Our very popular Members Show opens Sept. 22 and will continue through December. We celebrate our local artists and their amazing talents in all areas of art. Carver County is home to a great number of creative and inspiring photographers, painters, writers, poets, sculptors, potters, jewelers, and glass artists… it’s hard to name them all. Come and appreciate their work throughout the fall and winter holidays.
Show Dates: September 22nd – December 29th, 2021
Artist’s Reception: Thursday, October 7th, 2021, 6:30 – 8:30 PM at the ACCC Arts Center Gallery and Chaska Community Center Theater.
Join us to meet the artists, bring a friend or two, and celebrate our local artists!
Literary News Bad Moon Rising – October 12
Get your Halloween vibe going at an event for prose and poetry writers offering readings centered around spooky stories, paranormal experiences, and those just-plain-weird happenings. Readings are limited to 5 minutes per author – but don’t leave us hanging on the edge of our seats, please! No pre-registration is needed. Sign up at the event to read. The public and spirit world are invited!
Details: October 12th, 7:00-8:30 pm at the Chaska Community Center, 1661 Park Ridge Dr., Chaska
Bad Moon Rising Open Reading
Writer’s Appreciation Reception – November 2
Did you know that authors/writers have our own holiday? November 1st is National Author’s Day, as well as the start of National Novel Writing Month! To celebrate writers of all kinds the ACCC Literary Committee is hosting a reception to acknowledge our creative talents. Mark your calendars again for Tuesday, November 2, 2021, more details will follow.
If you have any questions please contact any member of the Literary Committee of the ACCC at literary@artsofcarvercounty.org, or the ACCC office/Gift Shop at 952-443-3200.
Music News – New Song Collective
We will be having The New Song Collective on October 7th and December 9th at the Chaska Community Center Theater. This is a gathering of Songwriters and Musicians performing original music. Plan to join us for some amazing local talent and check out the Gift Shop while you are here. More details to follow.
Christmas Music Show
On December 11th The Brueske’s will be doing a Christmas Music Show from 7 to 8:30 pm at the Chaska Community Center Theater. Watch our website for more details as the date gets closer.
Education Fall Classes
We are excited to offer many new classes taught by an assortment of wonderful artists, at the Chaska Community Center.
New classes include: Acrylic painting, AOA Introduction to Watercolors, AOA Step by Step Watercolor – Poppies & Cone Flowers, AOA Step by Step Watercolor – Trumpet Lillies, and Pumpkins, Art Explosion – Sensory Art Class, Block Printing – Holiday Card Making, and Color Fused Heart Pendant. Many of our classes can accommodate people with special needs. Come meet new friends while learning new ways to express yourself!
To register for classes, please visit the Chaska Community Center website for more details.
Art Tourism
The Barn Quilts of Carver County, MN is supporting art tourism during the weekend of Art Wander.
After publishing the Art Wander information through our social media channels, a private tour group, with guests from across the state, requested to include a number of studio stops as part of their overall tour on Saturday, September 25th. We look forward to offering continued tourism, exposure, and visibility to all artists within Carver County!
Contact Janet Fahey, Art Tourism, arttourism@artsofcarvercounty.org to learn more.
Artist Spotlight – Susan Coultrap-McQuin
Susan Coultrap-McQuin is a poet, retired educator, world traveler, and native prairie gardener. She is also a past ACCC Board Member and Volunteer. She continues to be active with our ACCC Literary Group!
Susan loves the challenge of writing poems that invite readers to see the world in new ways — from the smallest leaf to the largest cities. Her poems have appeared in journals such as the Talking Stick, The Moccasin, Songs of Eretz Poetry Review, and in recent pandemic anthologies, including Capsule Stories Isolation Edition, The ACCC Pandemic Arts Journal, and This Was 2020. She also finds time to help organize the annual poetry contest for the Arts Consortium of Carver County.
Susan is also pleased to announce the October publication of a new chapbook, What We Bring Home, by the Poetry Box Press, currently in pre-publication. In What We Bring Home, Susan reflects on what she has learned about herself and the world by venturing beyond American shores, first as a young Peace Corps Volunteer in the Philippines during the Vietnam War and years later as a tourist in Thailand, Cambodia, Laos, and Vietnam.
Her elegantly crafted poems invite the reader to travel with her, to see anew the sights of Southeast Asia, and to confront the ambiguous truths of cross-cultural interactions. In image-rich poetry, Coultrap-McQuin ponders how history and culture have shaped her views and experiences. Like the souvenirs we bring home, these poems speak to the heart of who we are and why we venture to distant shores. For more information on the book and purchasing it please visit: thepoetrybox.com/bookstore/what-we-bring-home.
What We Bring Home By Susan Coultrap-McQuinn
Arts Center – Shop & Volunteer – See What’s New!
Thank you for choosing to SHOP at the ACCC Arts Center Gift Shop and Gallery. We appreciate your support and we look forward to seeing you soon!
We’d like to thank the volunteers who work in the ACCC Arts Center and allow us to keep our Gift Shop doors open Wednesday-Friday 11-6 and Saturday 9-4. We invite you to consider volunteering at the Arts Center. It’s a great way to learn more about the ACCC and see what’s for sale as our inventory is constantly being updated. We offer complete training, no retail sales experience necessary. Simply complete the Volunteer Form on our website and we will get you in touch with a trainer.
Consider becoming a volunteer and working with our other artists and volunteers!
Any ACCC Member with artwork in our Gift Shop or in an Exhibit who works 6+ hours in the Arts Center Gift Shop in a given month will earn an extra 10% commission on the sale of their work for that month. See our How to Submit Art page for our Gift Shop or the Exhibitions at the Arts Center page for future shows.
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ArtMatters Newsletter August 2021
