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Two students at Caldwell Community College and Technical Institute are finding success with their artistic talent.
Michael Arnold discovered a hidden talent and a new career when the demolition company he worked for went out of business. He enrolled at CCC&TI to pursue a GED and signed up for a welding class as well.
“We spent several weeks welding straight lines, and I wanted to try something different,” he said. “So I started welding scrap pieces together just to see what I could make out of them.”
The Granite Falls native created metal sculptures of a horse, a praying mantis, a stork, a reading man, a tree and a 90-pound dragon fly in just a few months. He has sold several pieces and won CCC&TI's Spring Fling Recycled Art Contest with a mask he created out of scrap metal.
Arnold said he is thankful for the encouragement he received from his instructors in the basic skills department. “I especially want to thank Gary Hudson, my welding instructor, and Shirley Connor for pushing me to complete my GED,” he said.
Art student Tracie Hise submitted one of her paintings to the Art at the X exhibition hosted by the Art Department at Xavier University in Cincinnati. “Domestic Bliss No. 1” was one of 56 accepted pieces accepted out of 358 entered by artists from across the United States and Canada.
Hise moved to Hickory from Grand Rapids, Mich., a few years ago and decided to continue her formal art education at CCC&TI. The stay-at-home mom is a first-year student, and she said that she is “truly humbled (that) one of my pieces was selected. As an artist, I strive to get my concepts out there for the public to interpret.”
Greene sculpture displayed at HMA
The work of another Caldwell County artist is on display in the Hickory Museum of Art, and this exhibit is especially timely.
Lenoir sculptor Sylvia Greene's piece, “Vision II” reflects on the events of Sept. 11. It is displayed in the HMA's garden.
The sculpture was created in 2001 and entered in the 16th annual Sculpture Celebration that year. (The 24th annual Sculpture Celebration was held this weekend in Lenoir). It was actually completed three days before the terrorist attack on the World Trade Center.
However, Greene said, while working on the piece, she felt as if something were about to happen. “There was a chain of events to take place during this period of time that would not be understood until three days later,” she said.
The creation works as an expression of the sad and terrible event, and Greene hopes that viewing it will bring a feeling of peace. The blue figure beside the bathtub symbolizes the lives lost in the terror attack.
A cloth is tied around the head of the figure as a type of blindfold. Greene said this shows that no one could see what the world was about to experience. Finally, broken pieces of mirror line the 70-year-old bath tub, which Greene said can be seen as a reflection of life.
Admission to the HMA, in the SALT Block, at 243 Third Ave. N.E., in Hickory is free. For more information, call 828-327-8576 or go to www.HickoryArt.org.
Library donations wanted
Remember to bring your tax-deductible donations of books, music, videos, DVDs, audio books, current magazines and even puzzles to the Lenoir Library, a branch of the Caldwell County Public Library, at 120 Hospital Avenue. Items may be added to the collection, offered in annual sale, from 9 a.m.-noon Sept. 26, or offered in an ongoing book sale. All funds raised will be used to help support the county's libraries and their programs.
Student donates produce to ministry
A 12-year-old with a green thumb had such an abundant harvest in August that she decided to take the extra bounty to the Greater Hickory Cooperative Christian Ministry for its food pantry program.
Barbara McAnulty is a seventh-grader at Northview Middle School in Hickory. She is a natural to serve as the current president of the Catawba County 4-H Garden Club with the success of her 10- by 12-foot garden plot this summer.
Barbara and her mother took basketsful of peas, green beans, tomatoes, and cucumbers to the ministry after learning about Ample Harvest. The Hewitt, N.J., organization is an outgrowth of the West Milford Community Garden and encourages backyard gardeners to donate excess produce to food pantries
Food pantries are matched to ZIP codes to provide growers with convenient locations on the Web site AmpleHarvest.org. The Christian ministry in Hickory recently registered with the organization and has since reaped more than 100 pounds of fresh and organic produce donated by local growers.
“It's nice that food that might have gone to waste sitting on my counter is going to good use,” Barbara said. To make a donation, call the ministry at 828-327-0979, ext. 224.
Betty Stone is a freelance writer living in Granite Falls in Caldwell County. Contact her at caldwellnews@hotmail.com.
