Though the Connecting Artists group has been in existence for eighteen years, I have not heard of them until interviewing some of their members, and their talent makes me wish I had known about them sooner. In 1998, Jo VanderWoude organized the group and put an ad in the Press & Dakotan, calling for beginning to experienced visual artists. Fourteen people attended their first meeting in the Chamber of Commerce meeting room.

Member Judy Mace explains the first gathering, saying “There were so many interesting people at that first meeting.” There was an array of artists from around the nearby area with interests that touched in pottery, painting, calligraphy, stained glass and porcelain.

Admitting my inexperience with art, I asked what does “visual arts” include? They explained that visual arts include art venues such as painting, drawing, sculpture, photography, wood carving and jewelry making.

Now with about twenty members, their group created a logo and their mission statement reads “we are an art organization dedicated to the support, connecting and encouragement of beginning through professional visual artists ages 18 and up.”

The Connecting Artists group continues to meet once per month and if you would like to learn some art techniques or be around people interested in artwork, they welcome area artists to join the other adult men and women in their meetings. They have a press release in the paper prior to each meeting but have a standing meeting on the last Thursday of every month, unless it falls during a holiday. Meetings are held at 7:00 PM at the G.A.R. hall, also known as the Yankton Area Arts headquarters, located at 508 Douglas Ave in Yankton. There are annual dues for the members of the club.

The meetings rotate between a program or activity and a “show and tell” to present something that you’re working on if you wish to participate. The “show and tell” segment gives you an opportunity to hear feedback from members of the group on your piece. I met up with four talented members of the Connecting Artists club to interview them about their passion.

Cheryl Halsey

Cheryl Halsey from Springfield, South Dakota, has worked for the South Dakota Arts Council as an artist in residence since 1988. She is dedicated to art, as she puts it, she “lives and breathes art.” Her artwork can be seen throughout various hospitals and clinics in Sioux Falls.

Several years ago, Halsey helped the Children’s Care & School create an interactive lobby and has artwork displayed at the Children’s Pre-Operative and Post-Operative area at the

Sioux Falls Surgical Center. Her artwork can be seen in the lobby, reception area and ten exam rooms at the McKennan Children’s Clinic in the Doctor’s Plaza. Over twenty artists have artwork displayed at the Sanford Children’s hospital where eight of her paintings are displayed. Five of those paintings were reproduced at a Sanford Children’s Clinic in China.

Halsey took part in a fundraiser this past fall for the Sioux Falls Jazz & Blues Society, called the “25 Guitar Art Project” to celebrate their 25th anniversary. Artists throughout South Dakota designed artwork on 25 white Fender Stratocaster guitars which will be displayed to the public until the JazzFest in July 2016 and will later be auctioned off.

Jessi Koch

Jessi Koch grew up in Yankton with her mom and brother. She always enjoyed drawing as a child and always signed up for art classes in the summer while growing up. She moved away from Yankton for about two months, returning back to her hometown with husband Chad Koch. She was invited to the Connecting Artist group to speak and became a member soon after.

Koch likes to draw portraits the most but she has always had a love for cartooning. Having known her for many years, I remember her always having the knack to vividly draw anyone to life on a plain sheet of paper. “When I was a kid I always wanted to be a cartoonist,” she explained.

Koch was recently asked to do a coloring book for South Dakota Magazine and the Yankton Chamber of Commerce and she will be starting to teach art classes this summer on her own. Though she admires the rest of the Connecting Artists group, she does admire the style and story of the cartoonist Robert Crumb, who, as a child longed to become a cartoonist when he grew up.

Judy Mace

Judy Mace grew up in a large family on a farm by Fordyce, NE. Reflecting back, she states, “I was always allowed to create art at home even though I had chores.” She attended Mount Marty College where she studied art. She left college, married husband Rodney and they traveled for many years while he served in the military. She also managed some time to study pottery at UNO in Nebraska before they settled down in Tyndall, SD. For the last nineteen years, she has been managing the Art & Antique Gallery located on Main Street. Here she has an art studio and custom framing business and also teaches individual privately scheduled lessons.

Mace enjoys working in watercolor, oil and acrylic paint. Though she doesn’t work with pottery anymore, she still supports pottery artists. She most enjoys work by the Impressionists, which she was trained in. “The way my artwork has turned out lately is from studies in color,” she explains.

Mary Jane Mathrole

Mary Jane Mathrole’s first introduction to art was by her first grade teacher. Her teacher took one section of the jet black chalkboard and created a drawing on it, changing it once a week. Mathrole grew up with her three siblings on a farm near Wakonda, SD. She explained how she belonged to 4-H as a child and they were always doing projects such as metal etching, basket making, copper tooling. “That was my outlet for learning a variety and getting to try a variety of things,” she reflects.

While Mathrole and husband John lived in Missouri, their son was born. She took advantage of a nearby class on watercolor painting for $5 for a 6-week class and precious time to herself. Her husband, also an artist, understood the need for her outlet. Over the next several years of raising a family, she partook in some sewing, knitting and crochet.

Mathrole’s passion for art blossomed when they moved to South Carolina. She was only two hours away from Gary’s Art-O-Rama, an artist’s dream venue for workshops and supplies and she took in several workshops during their annual trade show.

“I’ve had the opportunity to observe a variety of artists at work. I’m still at the playing stage,” she laughs. She likes all forms of visual art, but now working with graphite pencils, she admires graphite artists that can make 3-dimensional art, adding that this is her goal someday.

Jane Stimpson

Jane Stimpson was born and raised on a farm south of Wagner, SD with her seven brothers and sisters. She always drew as a little girl, often drawing the models out of the catalogs they received in the mail. She laughs, “If I couldn’t find paper I would draw pictures in the dirt.”

She didn’t have a chance to go to college, but in High School, she knew that she admired the work of Rembrandt. “I remember the first book I saw with Rembrandt’s painting and thought ‘That’s what I want to do,’” she explains. Though she didn’t have art teachers in school, she let her artistic talent out while drawing dissection diagrams in biology and scenery for school plays.

Stimpson and husband Jim were away from Yankton for many years while he worked for an elevator. After he passed away she decided to come back to Yankton. Though she mainly paints portraits she will paint anything, now working on a 5 generation picture. She has previously done some book illustrations and she painted different wall murals for each wing of the Bethel Home in Madison, SD while she worked there.

Connecting Artist Show

Friday, May 6 will be a Gallery Reception from 5:00-7:00 PM with a Gallery Talk at 5:30 PM where members of Connecting Artists and Yankton Woodcarvers will be present to discuss their art.

They believe that the community enjoys having artistic events. They explained to me the Yankton Area Arts booth at Riverboat Days in Yankton last year, which provided a free community painting activity. They set up a huge circular canvas where people could paint using the provided paints and brushes. Several people came back to paint again and many parents painted alongside their children. “Everybody had so much fun,” Koch said.

Mace explained, “Our group is a supporting organization, supporting children’s art activities and community art activities. There is always going to be a need for this because children are going to need art.”

Mathrole added to the importance of children in arts, “This is a very, very good thing for the community to be aware of, that there is a place that they can get their children involved.”

The Connecting Artists would like to see their group grow, expanding to include a younger generation and a wider variety of presentations. Varying over time, Koch explained that art and its trends “are like fashion.”

Not to exclude the many other talented and dedicated members of the Connecting Artists group, other members include: Chris Adam, Jane Bobzin, Nancy Clay, Karen Erickson, TJ Evans, Paul Harnes, Sue Hill, Roger Huntley, Jean Johnson, Pam Koch, Scott Luken, Rodney Mace, Fred Roper, Mary Roper, Benda Tjeerdsma and Charleen Ward.

You can find out more information about the Connecting Artists group through the Yankton Area Arts center at G.A.R. Hall, on their ‘Connecting Artists’ Facebook page, or by attending one of their monthly meetings.

After looking at some of the pictures created by some of the group’s talented members, it became clear to me that life without art would be pretty dull and boring. It’s great to know that we have people in our community with the passion to keep art alive around us.