A Garden Party! by Ann Quinn

The Best


This spring Kathy Berls asked if I’d like to help with a garden party get- together involving lunch and crafts at the gallery. Always up for pretending I’m back in kindergarten, I said sure! What fun we had today! A small group of eight had a wonderful lunch, thanks to Kathy (salad, sandwiches, fruit tart, and her famous chocolate pie for dessert)...and a little wine, too (I never had that in kindergarten!) We each had a clay pot to decorate and a garden hat to embellish, using a huge table of every add-on imaginable: feathers, paint, bees, bugs, nests, birds, butterflies, ribbon, raffia, glue, fabric, chalkboard paint…well, you get the idea…With lots of talking we all set to work ...what fun! You can see the results: creative pots, (there was a take-home plant to put in each pot), and a best hat contest, which we narrowed down to three winners…they were all too original! To accentuate the hats, we all painted our fingernails to match! Even Kathy got over her “I don’t do crafts” and made a pot and a hat worthy of prizes! And Barb Tobiska created a hat to match her summer green outfit! We all agreed that we should have a garden party again…perhaps embellishing birdhouses? Look for details later…

Posing Pretty!


Going to Pot(s)!

Hats! The Whole Gang

Aurora Artists Guild Exhibit

For the month of July, we are pleased to welcome the members of the Aurora Artists Guild to our Art Center for their annual member's exhibit. The show is colorful and diverse, showing the wide range offered by this group of approximately 75 members. The opening reception, held on July 10 was fun and well attended. You could tell this group enjoys each other and is very supportive of everyone's work. Under the good organizational direction of chairman Andi Sahlen, the show was installed with ease and the reception was a fun event. Andi often exhibits her beautiful digital photos in other LAC Exhibits. Her husband, Dan Fyles is the featured artist during the show, exhibiting a collection of his fanciful mixed media paintings on the community wall downstairs. Be sure to stop by to see the exhibit before it closes on August 5.

July Member's Breakfast - A Fun Party!

Well, no-one's ever said that the members of the Lakewood Arts Council don't know how to have fun! The recent member's breakfast was no exception as members and their guests gathered for a delicious breakfast provided by the LAC Board. People were greeted at the door by LAC Vice President June Davis and Board Member Warner Reeser. Their warm welcome set the tone for a fun and friendly morning of lively conversation, event updates and the always popular games. One game tested everyone's powers of observation - Leslie Bitgood proved the best at solving such challenging questions as "Name as many things as you can find in the classroom that are green" (everything from a green sponge to a green roofed birdhouse) and "How many things can you find that start with the letter B" (this included everything from Barbara to boobs!). New friends were made and old ones renewed. We're looking forward to our next gathering on Saturday, July 23 - a garden themed party and luncheon. We plan to decorate garden hats, paint colorful pots...and even paint our fingernails an assortment of wild colors. Plan to join us!

And the Winners Are......

The names of the winners for our Lucky Winner contest have been announced! This turned out to be a great fund-raiser for the Lakewood Arts Council - we owe a big THANK YOU to all of you who gave a $5 donation to try your luck at winning the painting of your choice. Our thanks also to all the artists who donated an outstanding collection of works for the contest. The competition was really high for each painting - several got many tickets in the hope they would be the winner.

SO....here are the lucky people:
Shizuko Barbara Hanson's acrylic piece, "Endangered Species" went to Jane Dorsey
Gene Smith's pastel, "Fresh Baked" went to Mary Lou Akers
Kathy Berls' oil, "Sunflowers" went to Joan Olsen
Barbara Mantei's watercolor, "Day Lilies" went to Randy Kee
Lynnette Kupferer's colored pencil, "Budding" went to Jan Casper
Cindy Haase's pastel, "Red Rocks" went to Sharon Holben
Arlene Krogstad's watercolor, "Sangimini, Italy" went to Sharon Greier
Loraine Miller's watercolor, "Garden Buddies" went to Karen Hoff

LAC Garden Tour 2011 by Ann Quinn

It was another successful year for the garden tour! If you’re like me, you always look forward to the opportunity to see what others have done with their yards, get new ideas about plants, and have fun talking with other like-minded garden lovers! This year was no different. I was to handle tickets at the Miller Street garden in the afternoon, so I started out right before 8:30 a.m. (when the air was delightfully chilly) to visit all the other locations! Several of the gardens were a distance apart from the others, but having done my homework, I had a planned route ready.


Karen Hoff welcoming the visitors to the Golden garden

Golden Garden

My first stop was the calm, serene garden in Golden. A large yard in the cool morning tempted me to sit a while with a cup of coffee under those tremendous trees –and how many big, beautiful clematis did they really have? Observations at additional gardens taught me a great deal about what I needed to try in my own yard. The “secret garden” tucked in a corner behind a large tree in the Marshall Street yard was a great idea. I definitely need one at my house to get away from the world occasionally! The sculptor’s garden on W. 35th was an inspiration with the many separate areas (water, curved tree grove, play area, workshop, and patio) creating a “fun to discover” garden on a large lot. The numerous pieces of large, modern sculpture created by garden owner Kevin Robb made this garden especially memorable.

Marshall Street Garden

Marshall Street Garden

Marshall Street Garden

Marshall Street Garden

Robb Garden

Robb Garden

Robb Garden

Robb Garden

The Miller Street garden where I spent the afternoon was relatively young at six years in the making, but already the basic structure of the layout had been determined to take advantage of sun and shade. Compost piles and an efficient work area were set up near the terraced vegetable garden, and the centerpiece was a small stream/pond, professionally designed by owner Dave Garton. Especially fun were the vegetable plants mixed in with the more traditional annuals and perennials (corn in the front yard!)

Miller Garden

Miller Garden

My rushed schedule meant that I was unable to have lunch at the gallery, but I know it was well-attended, with great food from all the cooking volunteers as well as conversation from the attendees! I look forward to next year’s event!

Co-Op Gallery gets a face lift!

The main floor of the LAC Art Center was a busy place over the weekend. Co-Op members brought in new work to be displayed...but first, lots of patching and painting was done. Matching that white paint was no easy task, but a close shade was mixed from a small sample by the folks at Ace Hardware. It was good thick paint and a rough, stucco roller was used to fill all the holes from past hangings - which had become a distraction from the wonderful artwork on display. With Kathy wielding the roller and Charlie doing the detail work with a brush, the place got a nice fresh look. After drying overnight, the walls were ready for hanging. As usual, the furniture was rearranged to display the stained glass and three dimensional work to its best advantage. And..if you haven't been in recently, you'll notice the used book shelves have been moved out into the main gallery and the classroom opened up. Everything is labled with new i.d. tags identifying the Co-Op work. So come on in and see the results - there is lots of new artwork to view!

Lakewood Arts Week..Fun, Fun!

Lynnette and Cindy A. being creative!

Lynnette working on mosaics

Well, we sure had a fun time this week! The City of Lakewood designated May 31-June 5 as Lakewood's Arts Week - an event they hope will become an annual occurrence from now on. Under the skilled direction of Lakewood's Cultural Arts Specialist Lorene Joos, a committee composed of representatives from most of Lakewood's cultural organizations had met for over a year to plan this special celebration. Arts Week was kicked off with an open house on the plaza in front of the Lakewood Cultural Center. We had a booth on site with LAC members Lynnette Kupferer and Cindy Ahrenkiel on hand to meet the public and to provide art demonstrations. Both were busy throughout the afternoon - Lynnette worked on a small mosaic and let some of the young visitors "help" glue down the glass. Cindy worked on her oil painting and told people all about LAC. Other members stopped by during the event. Pictured are Marje & Glen Walsh chatting with Ann Quinn. The event concluded with a wildly popular performance by our own Borscht Brothers, Bruce Geller & Jay Halpern. The afternoon was lots of fun thanks to wonderful help from the City of Lakewood staff - and of course the volunteer participation by our members! We got to meet many new people from the community as well as learn more about the other arts groups located throughout the City.

Cindy A. chatting with a visitor

Marge and Glen Walsh visiting with Ann Quinn


The Borscht Brothers entertaining the crowd