Photo courtesy of the State Museum of Pennsylvania /
Ebensburg native Brandon Hirt’s piece “You’ve Got a Friend in PA” is featured in the State Museum of Pennsylvania’s Art of the State exhibit.

A Bedford County woodworker has received the State Museum Art Docents’ Choice Award during the Art of the State: Pennsylvania 2023 exhibit.

George Radeschi’s piece, simply named #188, was inspired by the ancient art of Egypt, Greece and Native America. No stains or dyes are used; instead, he works with a combination of light and dark woods, cut in different ways to show off varying grains and wood colors.

“I love working with wood,” Radeschi said in his artist statement. He makes his turnings, bowls and cutting boards/serving trays with woods from all over the world, including rosewood, goncalo alves and bubinga from Brazil and zebra wood from Africa.

“The oak, maple, ash, hickory and walnut I use come from my property,” Radeschi said. “I cut down the trees, cut them on a sawmill and stack them to dry.”

Photo courtesy of the State Museum of Pennsylvania /
Bedford County native George Radeschi’s “#188” won the museum’s Docents’ Choice Award and is featured in the Art of the State exhibit.

A piece by photographer Brandon Hirt of Ebensburg is also included in the Art of the State exhibit. The Art Institute of Colorado graduate’s photo, “You’ve Got a Friend in PA,” features old Volkswagen Beetles under trees on a fall day.

“My luminous landscapes are a way for me to find beauty in our region in the oddest spots,” he said in a statement. “We are filled with tremendous scenery in Western PA, even if some of it might be rust.”

Art of the State is an annual juried exhibition that has showcased the work of Pennsylvania’s artists at The State Museum of Pennsylvania since 1968.

“This year’s Art of the State exhibition continues a 56-year tradition of diversity,” said State Museum Director Angelica Docog. “The artists find inspirations from diverse backgrounds, and each has a unique style. While some artists are deeply rooted in Pennsylvania traditions, others bring inspiration from around the world. Some artists have decades of experience and others are new or returning to creative pursuits. Despite these varied perspectives, all artists seek to engage with viewers. We look forward to sharing these artists’ stories with our visitors.”

Winners were chosen from 86 finalists selected from 1,850 entries representing 29 Pennsylvania counties. Selection jurors reviewed and scored all of the submitted works. Those with the highest ratings in each category are featured in the exhibition. The awards juror then determines the first place, second place and third place winners in each of the categories.

Art of State runs through Jan. 7 at The State Museum of Pennsylvania, adjacent to the State Capitol in Harrisburg.

The museum, at 300 N. St., Harrisburg, is open from 9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Wednesday through Saturday and noon to 4:30 p.m. on Sunday. Admission is $7 for adults, $6 for adults 65 years old and older, $5 for children ages 1-11 and free to active military and their immediate family with a military ID. Retired military personnel are also admitted free with a valid ID.

Planetarium shows are $3 extra.

Metered parking spaces and city parking garages are available within a three-block radius of the museum.

For more information, visit statemuseumpa.org/artofthestate/.

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POPLAR BLUFF, Mo. (KFVS) – A Heartland artist is making her hometown brighter, one project at a time.

Mattilyn Stacy recently finished her new mural, titled “Familiar Wonders,” at the Poplar Bluff Library.

The Poplar Bluff native said she drew inspiration right from her backyard.

“I kind of wanted something that matched the theme of Missouri and native animals and wildlife and a lot of the inspiration came from things I had seen in my hometown around Missouri,” said Stacy.

Stacy said she also wanted the wall to draw kids’ attention.

“Bright colors, I wanted wildlife but I wanted it to be a little more imaginative vivid colors, the moths on the side are this big,” she explained.

The mural is in the Library’s Sensory Garden.

Library Director Shannon Midyett said it was the perfect spot.

“Public art and public libraries share a lot of common goals,” Midyett said. “They both strive to provide a place that sparks imagination and inspire creativity, they both serve as a meeting place and gathering point, and they both build and connect community.”

Stacy said she is grateful to be able to leave her mark on her hometown.

“The fact that it will be here for years and years with my name on it,” she said.

Copyright 2023 KFVS. All rights reserved.

As soon as Stillwater native Chuck Black saw the single pintail duck land in a small pothole in the Red Rock Lakes National Wildlife Refuge in southern Montana, he knew he had hit the jackpot.

Black, a wildlife artist, and his wife, Erica, had been tracking the drake over the course of two days during the spring of 2020. The pintail was one of the five eligible waterfowl species for the 2023 Federal Duck Stamp Art Contest, and Black thought the encounter was his best chance to videotape and photograph the duck as reference for a painting.

On their last day in the refuge, the couple rose before sunrise and quietly trekked to the site. “We lay prone on the shore, wrapped in a camouflage blanket, with our camera gear,” he said. “Sure enough, right on schedule, he dropped in and landed just 10 yards out from us. We got to observe him and video and photograph him as he waited for a hen, which was nesting nearby, to arrive. We were lucky. I knew right away, as soon as we left the pond that day, that I had come up with something.”

That something turned into an oil painting of the pintail duck and a cluster of cattails that won the coveted spot on the federal duck stamp scheduled to be issued sometime in late June 2024.

Black, 37, of Belgrade, Mont., watched the livestream of the judging on YouTube and said he started hyperventilating when he realized his painting had received the highest score. The competition included 199 entries.

“The final entry in the contest was a really good design,” he said. “We knew what score I was given, but then we had to wait all the way until the end. I felt like I was having a panic attack when I saw the score come up, and it was a couple of points below mine.

“It was unbelievable, and it still feels that way,” he said. “I don’t think my phone has stopped ringing. I’m still trying to come to grips.”

Videos, photos, sketches

It was the 10th time Black had entered the prestigious national contest and first time he made it to the final round of judging. He submitted his first entry in 2009.

“When I first started entering, I was really ambitious,” said Black, who won state duck stamp contests in California in 2015 and Colorado in 2013. “In more recent years, I’ve had to focus on a more practical use of my time to make my art into a career. I can’t devote that much time into something that most likely won’t happen, but this year, I had the right photos and videos, and I just knew I had to try with that.”

Video of waterfowl works better than a photo when capturing reference materials for his artwork, he said. “I think I get more out of the bird’s behavior,” he said. “It’s helpful at capturing the way the light hits it as it rotates and things like that.”

He turns to photos when he begins the sketching process. “Composition is a big thing, so I try to come up with all sorts of ideas using these materials I’ve gathered to figure out what composition is the most appealing.”

A panel of five art, waterfowl and stamp authorities judges each competition, which is run by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. The judges give each entry a score by holding up a card with a number. Judges evaluate entries based on a number of different categories, including accuracy of the waterfowl and habitat; composition; inclusion of any mandatory elements or published theme, and suitability to be made into a stamp.

“It’s hard to tell what the judges might be looking for because they change every year,” he said. “But anatomy, proper morphology of the bird, is always emphasized.”

After several weeks playing with different compositions, Black spent three solid weeks painting the pintail duck. “I worked from the time I got up in the morning until the time I went to bed,” he said. “It’s a pretty solid few weeks once I do get started on it.”

He shipped the painting to the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service headquarters in Falls Church, Va., on Aug. 13, two days before the postmark deadline for entries. “I usually hang on to it right up until the required deadline,” he said. “I always leave time for small corrections, tweaks. Some years are more stressful than others. There have been some years where I felt like I screwed up something at the end and had a panic attack.”

This year’s panic attack didn’t come until after the painting was in the mail. That’s when Black realized he forgot to make a couple of changes he had planned on doing at the end: adding an iris to the pintail’s eyeball and fixing a line at the bottom of the duck’s bill.

“I had taken a photograph before I shipped it, and I looked at it on the computer, and all these little things kept coming back,” he said. “It was, ‘Oh no! I didn’t revisit the eyeball’ … I still don’t think my bird was perfect, but I suppose it was just enough that they didn’t dock me on that.”

Inspired by family, teachers — and the Hautmans

The duck stamp, which sells for $25, is required by all waterfowl hunters. Established in 1934, the program has raised more than $1.2 billion to conserve more than 6 million acres of habitat, according to the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service.

Winners of the contest don’t earn a cash prize, but they keep the rights to their work and can sell it to collectors.

Many artists have gained critical acclaim with their entries, including Minnesota brothers Joe, Bob and Jim Hautman, who have won 15 times. Joe Hautman’s painting of three tundra swans flying over a wetland won the 2022 contest; it was his sixth winning entry.

The brothers were immortalized in the movie “Fargo,” when Marge Gunderson’s artist husband laments his poor chances of winning a duck stamp contest because “the Hautmans” have entered it, too.

Black’s love of the outdoors and wildlife started at a young age. His parents, Dennis and Kathy Black, took him and his older brother, Tom, on long camping and canoeing trips in Canada’s Quetico Provincial Park, north of the Boundary Waters Canoe Area, twice a year.

“We’d canoe in for seven or eight days,” Black said. “It’s a profound and moving place to explore. That’s really where I grew my love for not just being outside, but really being in the backcountry and experiencing what it’s like to be out there for days on end. I just became addicted to it. Through the years, I’ve just tried to structure my life and utilize all the time that I have available to just keep me in and around the outdoors in any way. I really consider it to be where I find my peace.”

Dennis Black also took the boys hunting in North Dakota, and that’s where Chuck Black remembers seeing his first duck stamp. “As a kid, I was very interested in sketching and drawing,” he said. “That was around the time when the Hautman brothers started winning the contest, and they got a lot of notoriety. I would see their paintings at the art gallery at the St. Croix Mall. I’ll always remember that because I would get my hair cut at the place next door, and I’d get to go there afterwards. I remember walking in and it was always Terry Redlin and the Hautmans. I’ve been really obsessed with it since I was a little kid.”

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Black, who graduated from Stillwater Area High School in 2005, credits his art teachers at Stillwater Middle School and the high school, especially Chris Windmiller and Sheila Elie, with helping ignite his interest in art.

“They were so encouraging,” he said. “I remember sitting in Mrs. Elie’s class and thinking, ‘Well, maybe I could pursue this’ because she and a lot of the other students were so supportive,” he said.

‘Stay true to what you love’

Black went to the University of North Dakota and graduated with a bachelor’s degree in wildlife biology. He worked at a number of jobs at the state and federal level, including at the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources, Great Smoky Mountains National Park, Theodore Roosevelt National Park, Colorado Parks and Wildlife and the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service in Fergus Falls, before moving to Montana in 2015.

He had worked a seasonal job with the Montana Department of Fish, Wildlife and Parks, and knew it would be a good place for him to pursue a full-time career in wildlife art.

“A big part of the decision in moving here was just the access,” he said. “There’s so much that you can do between Yellowstone and the Forest Service lands and the mountains.”

He and his wife, Erica, were married in 2022. The couple have a camper on their pickup truck and spend a lot of time outdoors doing research for his paintings.

“It’s vital to my growth as an artist,” he said. “But at the same time, I really do enjoy just taking in the moment and trying to really maximize my experience when I’m out, so sometimes … I’ll just go out with my cellphone and take pictures.”

Black said he stopped doing custom work a few years ago after he got to the point where he had enough people who wanted to purchase his art. “That was always the goal: To paint what I really wanted to paint. It took a long time, but I feel like I’m there now. It feels really great just to paint what’s on my mind.”

Much of Black’s latest work involves paintings depicting barns and cabins. “I’m interested in their relationship with the wild — how they pertain to the way we connect with the wild and how that intertwines,” he said.

Now that he’s a federal duck stamp winner, he reckons he’ll enter again sometime. “I definitely have the motivation to try entering again,” he said.

Dennis and Kathy Black say they are thrilled their son has achieved national recognition for his artwork.

“Like all parents, you worry about your children and their livelihood,” Dennis Black said. “With Charles, we never doubted his ability as an artist, but it’s not easy making a living in the art world. We’re proud of the fact that we never discouraged him from following his dreams and passion.”

Chuck Black said he is proud he stuck with creating the art that he loves.

“I got a lot of pushback in college art classes, but, really, when you’re doing something that you’re passionate about, other people can recognize that, and they can get behind it,” he said. “A lot of my own personal growth in art was just because I stuck with what I really loved and wanted to create around it.”

“Here’s my advice: Stay true to what you love,” he said. “It’s really easy to get influenced by outside opinions. As an artist, to have the perspective of what’s important to you, is really what creates your own unique voice, and that’s what draws people to liking certain artwork.”

It felt like a block party, but it was really history in celebration. At the far corner of a Compton strip mall, more than 40 people gathered around a parking area as Curtis Jackson III (Not to be confused with rapper 50 Cent, whose name is also Curtis Jackson III) and his 3-year-old son helmed the music booth. High-energy beats swinging with rhythm and rhyme rolled out of two speakers set on a plastic folding table as the sun got ready to set. Teens, couples, and families with toddlers in tow all came out on a Friday night to witness the opening of “Sounds of the City,” Compton Art & History Museum’s third exhibition in a little less than six months.

Compared with the pace of Los Angeles’ larger cultural institutions, which can take years from concept to exhibition, the museum’s pace moves at a brisk clip. But for co-founders Abigail Lopez-Byrd and her husband, Marquell Byrd, there is a lot of catching up to do.

A Compton native, Lopez-Byrd acutely felt the lack of opportunities and access to art when she left the city to pursue her art degree from UC Santa Cruz. “I felt very, very unprepared being an art major. I hadn’t been exposed to things my peers had. I didn’t have access to the same materials. From that moment on, there was always something in me that wished I had something like [this museum] growing up.” The couple founded Color Compton, a nonprofit that works with the city’s youth to build a sense of themselves through history and art, in November 2019.

Years later, even as the couple worked long hours at Color Compton, they saw how important it was for the city’s youth and residents to have a physical space to create and learn together. On field trips with Color Compton youth, they would often talk about Compton’s rich history and creativity—the vacant buildings of Compton transformed by the artist collective Communicative Arts Academy in the 1960s and 1970s or Elliott Pinkney’s murals — but there was no place kids could actually see proof of it. Artistic experiments (or “living sculptures”) by CCA artists have all disappeared and the buildings turned into shopping plazas or apartment buildings. Pinkney’s murals are disappearing, in need of maintenance. “It would be a lot of just archives and conversations,” says Lopez-Byrd.

The Compton Art & History Museum in Compton, California, is photographed on Monday, September 18, 2023 where the current exhibition on display is “Sounds of the City”. (Christina House / Los Angeles Times)

(Christina House/Los Angeles Times)

After having these conversations with Compton youth and residents who felt removed from exhibitions in larger institutions, the couple proposed building a museum to the Color Compton board. Despite a shoestring budget, the two forged ahead, bolstered by a sense of purpose. “It really was faith,” says Byrd. “We didn’t — still don’t — really have the necessary funding to operate.” But opportunities opened up anyway.

An expiring lease at the insurance and notary shop below Color Compton, close to City Hall and the library, gave them a location. To renovate the venue, the couple and their staff rolled their sleeves up and did as much of the work as they could themselves. They installed their own flooring. Consulting with friends, family and watching YouTube videos, they learned to build exhibit walls cleverly outfitted with wheels so every exhibition could change configurations quickly. Construction started in January, and the museum opened in February. It has since drawn locals, but also visitors from as far away as Scotland.

The museum has given the city’s young residents something to take pride in and even aspire to. Twenty-two-year-old Eli Young is a part of Color Compton’s archiving fellowship, which teaches youth the importance of preserving and telling their stories through photography. An aspiring art gallery owner, Young says the museum helps Compton show itself in a different light and inspires people “who might not think they can do these things.”

Marquell Byrd, left, and Abigail Lopez-Byrd, founders of Compton Art & History Museum in Compton, California, are photographed on Monday, September 18, 2023, where the current exhibition on display is “Sounds of the City”. The couple is focusing their efforts on getting the museum off the ground and aims to create a place of community. (Christina House / Los Angeles Times)

(Christina House/Los Angeles Times)

Stories like Young’s are what motivates the husband-and-wife team to keep up the pace, which is why in less than half a year’s time, the museum has opened “Sounds of the City” a compact exhibition that touts the city’s catalytic contributions to the now multibillion-dollar hip-hop industry.

Gold and platinum plaques contributed by the Baka Boyz and Alonzo Williams, a central figure in West Coast hip-hop, share space with outfits worn by Westside Boogie and Williams in performances and events. Black-and-white photographs of Tupac Shakur, Eazy-E, and Snoop Dogg by West Coast hip-hop photographer Mike Miller are situated with relaxed, at-home images of Dr. Dre and concert images by Compton photographer 100kdai. Art by locals Mr. Wash, Anthony Lee Pittman, Vera Hughes, and wall graffiti by Yedidyah Butterfly give viewers a taste of the kaleidoscopic inspirations that all converge in Compton.

“Sounds of the City” follows more art-focused exhibitions like “Sons Like Me,” a solo exhibition by Pittman that explores representations of Black men in American society, and “Scenes of Liberation,” which highlights art from a Black and Brown artist’s gaze featuring works by Brittney S. Price, Rosalind McGary, Saidah Gray and Tayllor Johnson.

The Compton Art & History Museum in Compton, California, is photographed on Monday, September 18, 2023 where the current exhibition on display is “Sounds of the City” including a piece by artist Vera Hughes, right. (Christina House / Los Angeles Times)

(Christina House/Los Angeles Times)

At first, many were drawn to this latest exhibition by simple curiosity. “I love my city. I’ve repped my city hard,” says third-generation Compton resident Victoria Gichohi, who came to see whether the new museum could capture the Compton she knew — and she says it has. On the museum’s walls, Gichohi says she not only saw art and artifacts but echoes of her everyday life, from her brother’s internship at Compton Entertainment Chamber of Commerce to her love for Kendrick Lamar.

With their 4-year-old and 10-year-old in tow, Guadalupe and Yoshawn Smith, who live in South Central and work in downtown Los Angeles and Compton respectively, say they felt it was important for their children to see reflections of themselves in a museum. “There really isn’t anything for the community in the community,” says Guadalupe. “We usually have to wait such a long time or travel far to see something like this,” adds Yoshawn. “Having it curated by people from the community also makes it a different experience.”

One day, the Compton Art & History Museum hopes to expand into a multi-level space with a floor spotlighting local history, another that showcases artists and entertainers from the region, and another to hold rotating exhibitions. Until then, its founders hope that this place — a beginning — lets people know by its existence that their story matters.

HOT SPRINGS, S.D. – How does the way we are raised impact our self-expression? This Native Americans’ Day, Monday, October 9, Wind Cave explores this question within the theme “Culture Through Art: A Celebration of Native American Expression.”

There are multiple activities throughout the day, starting in the Visitor Center auditorium at 9 a.m. with a welcome from park Superintendent Leigh Welling and National Park Service (NPS) Native American Affairs Liaison, Dorothy FireCloud. An enrolled member of the Rosebud Sioux Tribe, FireCloud is the first person to hold her position within the NPS, working on a national stage to support the agency’s commitment to tribal relations and policy implementation. 

At 9:30 a.m., Jhon Goes in Center, an Oglala Lakota metalsmith who played a seminal role in the revival and adaptation of plains metalwork, will give a presentation entitled, “Another America and a Regional Landscape.” This talk highlights the Black Hills as a pivotal cultural and creative landscape for Indigenous peoples. 

Following Goes in Center, at 10:30 a.m., award-winning fashion designer Tosa Two Heart will discuss her journey in design and the aesthetic influences of her contemporary clothing designs in a talk titled, “Lakota Storytelling Through Fashion Design.” 

The dedication of the sculpture “Cȟaŋgléška-Wakȟaŋ”, or “Sacred Hoop,” will occur at 11:30 a.m. with artist Kelly Looking Horse telling the story of its creation and the philosophical influences of each part. The sculpture is over 20 feet tall and reaches from the lower exhibit level of the park’s Visitors Center up into the skylight. 

Activities move outside at 1:30 p.m. with world-renowned hoop dancers Starr Chief Eagle and Jasmine Bell. Chief Eagle and Bell will lead demonstrations, accompanied by a live drum, and invite participation from the audience to help understand the art of the hoop dance. 

At 3:30 pm, Emmy Her Many Horses, a Sicangu Lakota author, musician, and actress, will conclude the talks with a presentation entitled, “Classical, Traditional, Ancestral: What Makes it Native?” In this discussion, Her Many Horses confronts her personal experience within a university music program and its tension with her own culturally-based systems of knowing. 

Throughout the day, Native American artists will be available at booths, allowing visitors to learn about the continuum of Native American cultural expression and to purchase art from local artists. A food truck with Native American selections will also be available.  

The Native Americans’ Day Celebration demonstrations are free and appropriate for all ages. Funding for this event is provided by the Black Hills Parks and Forests Association, a non-profit partner with Wind Cave National Park. 

For more information, call the park at (605) 745-4600. 

This week a major new addition at UC Davis will be unveiled to the public. 

The newly expanded Gorman Museum of Native American Art — which is celebrating its 50th year in operation — is one of only a small number of museums in the United States that is focused on telling the story of Native Americans through art. Along with a grand opening ceremony Saturday from noon to 4 p.m., there will be music, dance and other performances, along with works by 20 artists who are all members of California tribes. 

CapRadio Insight host Vicki Gonzalez spoke with Veronica Passalacqua, museum executive director and curator, and Hulleah Tsinhnahjinnie, museum director and professor in the Department of Native American Studies about the expansion and celebration. 

Interview Highlights

This Q&A has been edited for length, clarity and flow.

On the importance and significance of the new gallery expansion

Tsinhnahjinnie: The Gorman started from humble beginnings, but it’s always been strong in what we like to term “visual sovereignty.” And visual sovereignty is basically taking control of one’s own image. That’s a very important part of the Gorman Museum, that artists are free to express themselves and to explain themselves, rather than being interpreted by someone who has no idea about their tribe, or where they come from.

On how long the museum has been looking to expand

Passalacqua: Pretty much from the beginning, we had our eyes on a larger space. But really, it was 10 years ago, at our 40th anniversary party, that donors and sponsors really started pushing the university leadership to help us to get to this place where we are now. With COVID and everything, we’ve been under construction and planning for a solid five years, really, to get the build. The gallery space is about four times as large. The whole building, though, is about 11,000 square feet. So it was really exciting that not only do we have space to present more works, and more galleries, but that we could move all the collections and everything we have into the building.

On how it feels to finally have the grand opening this weekend

Passalacqua: Exhausting (laughing). No, we are so excited, because you know, just being able to show these shows with contemporary work, with the collections, and having it really being able to expand our narrative on what we’re able to share with our visitors. We’re going to have a shop as well that we’re very excited about. We’re partnering with the arboretum on the campus and we even have parking. So all of this is a very exciting time. 

On what people can expect this weekend

Passalacqua: When they arrive, certainly from Saturday, for our big party day, they’re going to be met with all kinds of things outside the building before they even get inside. So we’re really excited to have a huge festival that includes artists, vendors and artist-led activities. We have five California Native artists that our visitors can sit down and create with and make things. So Saturday is going to be a big day. 

When you come in the museum, the shop will have a number of very contemporary, fun, native sourced materials. Then of course, you walk in the museum. And the first thing you’ll see is the contemporary California Native American show. We have about 20 artists in that exhibition, with pieces that are in the collection or on loan from the artists or on loan from some private collections.