Begalka: Carousel horses found around town
Most horses look the part, of course. But not these.
The stable of fiberglass, carousel horses grazing along the streets of Woodstock are part of a fundraiser for Main Stay Therapeutic Riding Program in Richmond.
All told, 27 custom-painted horses will be on display through Labor Day. Most will be auctioned off Sept. 26 at Donley’s Village Hall Banquets, 8512 S. Union Road in Union.
A few, including artist Nancy Steinmeyer’s “Jigsaw,” are taken or bought.
Make a donation of $7,500 or more to Main Stay, and the horse is yours. A $2,500 donation earns you a plaque on one of the horses. Proceeds will be used to reconstruct and insulate the riding barn off Keystone Road, making it more serviceable year-round.
More than 1,000 children and adults have been served by Main Stay, a Richmond-based program that uses equine-related therapy to help people with disabilities.
“We came up with the carousel horse idea because of the whimsy and joy they conjure up,” said Ann Henslee, project chairwoman and Main Stay community outreach director. “Main Stay generates many of the same feelings. It offers momentary freedom for disabled children.”
Steinmeyer has three horses in the show, decorated using a special type of acrylic paint and fueled by plenty of coffee.
“My days started at 4 a.m. and I’d work to 7 at night, and I did that for 10 weeks,” she said. “It’s all I did.”
The 22 participating artists received a stipend of $1,000 a horse, out of which they had to buy supplies. So money was not the driving factor. Rather it was an opportunity to create a unique form of art and exhibit it in a public setting.
“You kind of get the feeling that more people will be interested in art and pay some more attention to art,” Steinmeyer said. “I learned some new things, too. And I like learning new things.”
To view the horses, access an interactive map with their locations, read about the artists and vote for your favorite horse, visit www.hodc.info. For information, visit www.mstrp.org or call 815-653-9374.
Summer is in the air
Is summer really here? Temperatures aside, it arrives this weekend – just in time for the Starline Gallery’s Summer Solstice Art Show at 306 W. Front St. in Harvard.
Show organizer Gabriel Karaganis said about a dozen artists, plus gallery artists Karaganis, Laura Brown and Catherine DeCraene, will exhibit their work from 7 to 11 p.m. Friday and 3 to 10 p.m. Saturday. Live music is planned for both nights.
‘Airspace’ has landed
Seventeen of the 57 framed photos from the May 30 “Uncontrolled Airspace” exhibit at Galt Airport in Greenwood are on display through the second week of July at Conscious Cup Coffee Roasters, 625 D. Cog Circle in Crystal Lake.
Photographer Steven Mark, a 53-year-old computer programmer from Gurnee, set about chronicling life at the Greenwood airport in February 2008. This throwback photographer spent a year, broken up into 47 weekend shoots using large, 4-by-5-inch format.
Originally for a class project at the College of Lake County, he now intends to create a coffee table book.
• Kurt Begalka can be reached at 815-526-4432 or kbegalka@nwherald.com.
