Artists fill local shops

<p>Democrat photo/Michelle Brooks</p><p>Watercolor artist Dianne Kilgore Baum shared her inspirational cards and decorations with her hometown June 23 during the California Progress Inc. Art Crawl.</p>

Democrat photo/Michelle Brooks

Watercolor artist Dianne Kilgore Baum shared her inspirational cards and decorations with her hometown June 23 during the California Progress Inc. Art Crawl.

A first-time art crawl sponsored by the California Progress Inc. June 23 brought Dianne Kilgore Baum back to her hometown with artwork in tow.

She frequently returns from her Aurora home to visit her mother, eight siblings and extended family. But the event featuring nine other Missouri artists was a chance for her to share her creativity with the California community.

In Springfield, she is featured in a co-op gallery. At the art crawl, her table of inspirational cards and wall art watercolors was set up at The Ruffled Hem.

"I've always done something artistic," Baum said. "Even as a child, I wasn't playing with paper dolls, I was creating them."

Her work has a Christian theme. Her vision is art is relational - between the Creator and the artist and then between the artist and the viewer.

"My faith is in my art; it's an opportunity to share my faith without being pushy."

Across Oak Street, High Point resident Kyle Wilhelm and Layne Edgington, Versailles, both industrial art teachers at Versailles, showed their segmented woodwork at Sweet Buy and Buy.

Paul Krautman, Cedar Hill, set up his lathe next to Grind Coffee demonstrating how a block of cherry wood becomes a baby rattle.

A mainstay at the Ozark Ham and Turkey Festival, Ann Grotjan was demonstrating her clay work at the Winding Road Gifts shop, where her wares have a permanent shelf.

"This is a great idea," she said of the art crawl.

Uptown, her husband, Lloyd, displayed his photography at the Finke Theater, as well as performing his music in an afternoon concert. After a break from shows, Lloyd Grotjan said he has several lined up the rest of this year.

"If you're creative and make something and don't show it, it's kind of pointless," he said.

Area pastor Deb Galey demonstrated how she works with polymer clay to create unique pieces of jewelry and decoration at the Moniteau County Historical Society. She had a display of Missouri State Fair blue ribbon and best of show winners, as well as pieces for sale.

In addition to viewing Suzanne Taggart's glass and metal jewelry and art, visitors to Sweet Chipotle got a "sneak peak" at the future banquet room.

Catering company owners Patrick and VanDee Miller have reclaimed some of the cabinets and wall coverings of the former feather factory building to be used in the interior renovation. Tables and chairs to seat about 350 arrived just days before the event.

"We appreciate the enthusiams we've felt from the community," she said. "We wanted to give them a chance to see how far we've come."

Other stops during the event included Jean Turner's oil paintings at Ann Perry's Law Firm, Hillis Taylor's pets and people paintings at Doreen's Victorian Tea Room and Dennis Holliday's pen and ink art at Baer Brothers.

For many visitors, the favorite stop was the Moniteau County Courthouse, where 21 original paintings by former art instructor Beryl White were on display, along with 10 by his students.

White was born in Kansas, where he began winning awards for his art at age 10. He studied art at University of Kansas and the Chouinard Art Institute, Los Angeles, California. Then, he designed submarine interiors before living as a professional artist in Southern California for 28 years.

He moved to the city of California in 1978, following the death of his father, to help take care of his mother. His parents had opened a broom factory here in 1956 in what is today the VFW building. In 1965, they bought the Rombach building at 401 N. High St., where they operated a broom and upholstery shop until 1971.

White opened an art studio in the family's commercial space across from the Finke Theatre within a month of relocating here. For the next 23 years, he taught many local students while creating his own work in that space.

He also was active in the Moniteau County Historical Society, started the Moniteau Art Guild and helped organize the California Nutrition Center, where his portrait hangs.