“I’m real happy to be down here,” featured artist Dale Hartley said of Friday’s “Old Friends” Artist Reception at the Emporia Arts Center. “It’s a real exciting area of town. Years ago, I worked at the Granada Theatre next door, helping restore it.”
Hartley continued, “Don invited me to do this show together. We’ve been friends since the mid-1970s; we met at the ESU Art Department.”
“Dale and I had been talking about this for years,” featured artist Don Meyer said. “I asked the gallery and they thought it was a good idea.”
Meyer added, “I did artist in residence work for ten years at arts centers, schools, jucos. I was very active in the artists in education program then. I think it’s coming back, a little at a time. For the last fifteen years, I’ve been happily gardening and painting.”
Friday night’s reception for “Old Friends” A Collaborative Exhibition by Don Meyer and Dale Hartley, was held during the May Emporia First Friday Art Walk. Emporia Arts Center shared that “Old Friends” brings together the vibrant abstract paintings of Don Meyer and the textured ceramic works of Dale Hartley in a beautiful celebration of friendship and creativity. Their shared love for the Flint Hills shines through in every piece, blending bold color with expressive form. The show is an opportunity to experience the powerful dialogue between paint and clay–an inspiring tribute to lifelong collection and artistic collaboration.
“I’ve been looking forward to this show for over a year,” Emporia First Friday Art Walk founder Kaila Mock said, “and now that I’m seeing Dale and Don’s work together, it’s even better than I imagined. Sarah [Bartlett] did a nice job with the layout, making it all flow. I encourage people from Emporia and beyond to come to this show.”
In this cooperative show, Meyer and Hartley combine their friendship with their individual artistic points of view. Meyer is an abstract painter, whose artistic sensibilities are influenced by living in the Flint Hills. He studied under Richard Slimon at ESU.
Hartley is also a rural Flint Hills artist who builds her vessels by hand from slabs along with other techniques. The idea of time plays into her pieces as does the land that surrounds her every day. The combined thought of both artists emphasizes the natural world in which we all live.
“I love the shapes and movement,” Susan Mai said. “The pieces are sensual and the colors move with them.”
“Old Friends” will be on display through the month of May in the Trusler Gallery at the Emporia Arts Center, 815 Commercial St. Gallery hours are 10:00 a.m. through 6:00 p.m. Tuesday through Friday and 10:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. on Saturday. Contact them at 620-343-6473 and visit both the website (www.emporiaksarts.org) and social media pages for more information.
Coming in June will be watercolorist Gary O’Doniel. He often paints from the bed of his truck en plein air, or “to be in the open air.” O’Doniel captures the beauty and varying states of the Flint Hills. He also incorporates walnut ink, which he makes from the walnut wood on his land.