My cousin, Eric Rhoads. The air was quite electric as folks streamed in and out
of the Steuben Art Scene on Sunday. I knew I wanted to attend after the concert
by the Trine University Wind Ensemble at the T. Furth. The concert, too, was
full of attendees on Sunday’s warm afternoon. Dr. Brad Jopek really showed us
his talent in bringing quality music to our lives with “Music from the Silver
Screen.”
After chatting with students and parents of students, I
meandered over to the Steuben Arts Scene open house. Much to my surprise the
corner square was alive and well! It has been great fun watching this new
enterprise take shape over the past couple of years. We have needed this in our
town for many years, and now that it is here, we are so excited to be a part of
it.
If you ever thought of working on your art, whatever form
that may include, this is your home base. Classes of every sort are available,
and now that the secret is out, they fill up fast. Last summer when the twins
were visiting, I enrolled them in art classes, and they loved it.
On Sunday folks chatted about art, sampled lovely
appetizers, and even took an art class! I was drawn into the talk given by Doug
Runyon. Doug was set up in the corner surrounded by books and paintings. At the
appropriate time he shared his love of art through the works of photographer,
Frank Hohenberger. Frank spent 44 years of his life, 1904-1948, taking photos
of folks in Brown County. During that time artists were traveling to Brown
County to paint the landscape. One of those first artists was T.C. Steele.
Frank decided he wanted to see what was going on in Brown County so he packed
up and went to see for himself. Needless to say, he never returned, but made
his career photographing the folks, not the landscape.
Doug gave an amazing talk bringing to life Frank’s work.
Doug talked about how difficult it was to get to Brown County at the time. I
was fascinated by his talk remembering all that I had learned during my year
long study of T.C. Steele for the bicentennial. Being an artist at that time
meant dragging all of the heavy equipment out to the people and gaining their
trust for their work.
Because I like to connect the dots, I also brought into
my own conversation the work of Gene Stratton Porter who carried her own
equipment to the woods to photograph nature and eventually paint the flora and
fauna of Indiana.
As I did connect the dots between Steele, and Porter, and
Hohenberger, I caught myself wondering where my cousin, Eric Rhoads, fit into
this equation. Following Doug’s presentation I had to chat with him. I
introduced myself and thanked him for the wonderful talk. I did not know of the
work of Hohenberger, so I loved learning as much as I could. I chatted with
Doug about T.C. Steele and told him how Steele was my bicentennial character
that I brought to life. That work premiered in Indianapolis and then down in
the studio in Brown County. Studying Steele and that period of history was so
informative to me. It was the backdrop for Sunday’s lecture.
I told Doug that my cousin, Eric Rhoads, was the
publisher and editor of Plein Air Magazine. By the look on his face, I could
tell he was quite interested. As we talked about my cousin, Doug honored me by
telling me he thought Rick was the biggest influencer of bringing back the
plein air movement. Rick has dedicated his life to plein air painting by his
own work and by taking groups to Cuba, Africa, New Zealand, Russia…just to name
a few places. His goal was to have a million painters. Not only does he produce
a magazine, but he does a daily podcast inviting folks from around the world to
join him and promote this artistic movement.
I am thrilled at the success of the Steuben Arts Scene.
It was brought to life by the vision of Vicki Thompson who wanted to expand art
to the folks in our part of Indiana. After Sunday’s full house, I will say that
she is doing just that.
If you are interested in taking any type of class, stop
in and register! We are fortunate here in northern Indiana.
Congratulations, Steuben Arts Scene. We are so glad you
are here!
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