Goshen Area artists

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“My artistic medium ranges from painting to craf

“My artistic medium ranges from painting to crafting. I get interested in certain art and it’s like I use up my creativity there and then I move on to something else or I’ll combine it with the next medium I move to. My favorite is anything vibrant or uplifting. I think there’s enough darkness in the world that we need some brightness. I started out in music and even while being a musician I would do a lot of painting and found that really calming and a good outlet for stress.

Growing up I didn’t get money for chores or anything like that so anytime that I wanted money I would craft something to sell. And that’s just the way I was brought up. It’s always been in my life and my mom was a huge role model for that part. I always think back to that and that was really what started my creative journey.

One thing that I love about Goshen is that there are so many artists. I come from South Bend where it felt like art was a hidden thing. And when I moved to Goshen I realized there were so many artists and so many people that would share their knowledge and its almost like the artists here help each other step up and step up and step up and its really amazing. I love the art community here.”

Debi Cooper

Facebook: Djcreations333

Today is a day to honor Martin Luther King, Jr, re

Today is a day to honor Martin Luther King, Jr, remember his legacy, and support those who continue to fight against injustice.

“I have been a singer and an actor for most of m

“I have been a singer and an actor for most of my life so I’ve worn many different hats as a creative. I have been focusing lately on my music. I love singing songs from the Great American Songbook but I’ve been expanding that recently and finding female writers who wrote during that time period but weren’t as publicized over the years. That’s been my latest passion. Great American Songbook, Broadway Style singing, and a deep love for American Jazz have been my focus.

When I first was cast City Lights Theater Company's Into The Woods, it opened me up to different forms of music, because at the time I was doing classical, then I realized ‘Oh! Broadway can be like this.’ And I fell in love with Sondheim, obviously, and it really opened my mind as a person, not just a singer or an actor. So that was a pivotal moment. I was cast as the first Asian-American actor that played Little Red Riding Hood in that production and that was a pretty big deal too which I never thought anything about it at the time but now as a parent realizing how representation is important, it’s even more meaningful to me now. So that was a turning point as a young adult and as an artist, seeing how a show- its lyrics, its story, its purpose, telling these moral stories and opening ones eyes, it really changed me as an artist too and what I really believe in and what I want to perform.

Goshen has been a wonderful home as an artist. It’s not easy making a living as an artist and I’ve had to adapt a lot over the years. The success of my and @Rafael Chávez Moreno’s last album is a testament to this community during the virtual world we’re living in. I’m so glad that we’re here, not just for myself but also because my husband I can afford to live here and give our daughter an arts education that is unparalleled. The arts education, performing arts education, and visual arts education available here are like what you can find in the best of the best communities and we get to do it right here because it’s affordable so that’s probably the most important thing right now in my mind and in my heart.”
Carrie Lee Bland Kendall

“My medium’s always been music. I moved to the

“My medium’s always been music. I moved to the Goshen area 5 years ago. I’ve been involved in various projects going on here in Goshen. My music kinda leans towards Motown music, soul music, acoustic-driven, kinda like Stevie Wonder, Bill Withers. I have a band here in Goshen, Synchrony. We’ve been involved a lot in Goshen. I have another band project called the Chris Collat Project which can be comprised of many different musicians here in the Goshen area. I also do a lot of solo work. Goshen Brewing Company was the first business to take a chance on allowing me to play on their patio when I moved here. Within a week of moving here, I had a show to play.

I completed an album about a year or two before I moved here. It took about a year to put that together. It went really well. Also right now I’m working on a project with musicians all over the world, really, started a collaboration virtually. All these musicians were sitting at home, not touring anymore, and they needed something to do and I actually worked on an album with all these folks which I’m hoping to release later on this year.

I’ve always felt supported since I moved here, musically for sure. There’s always been a listening ear in the crowd and that listening ear has told other listening ears to come see me at a future show. The businesses here have been so supportive and I’ve always been appreciative of them. Not only do they appreciate you but they let you know specifically what they like about your music. It took a little while to get connected with the right people when I moved here, in terms of musicians, but now I’ve got a great network I can connect with for pretty much any show that comes at me. There’s so much talent here, not just musically but all art and I love collaborating across mediums.”

Chris Collat
Facebook: https://bit.ly/2MXpfVP
Website: https://bit.ly/2XzHbrx

“Currently I’m at Waterford Elementary School

“Currently I’m at Waterford Elementary School here in the Goshen Community Schools system, and I teach grades K through five.
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We do pretty much everything that I can get my hands on: painting, drying, ceramics, watercolor. I try to do some fiber arts, mostly weaving, with some older grades. I’m always up for trying new things - if I see something that might work with wire, let’s try that.
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We have this thing called Related Arts Night here at Waterford. The music teacher has a concert, and I have two pieces of artwork for all 500 students in the building. I want them to see the pride of exhibiting their work and being proud of their work. I want them to be proud of having their work shown regardless of what they feel their abilities are. That student is an artist in their own right, and maybe their strength isn’t in painting, but they can make something three-dimensional. I want them to feel that success.
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We’ve got so much to offer. This is where I want my children to be raised because I feel they have more opportunities here to broaden their horizons. I hope that for every child who goes through my classroom, that they feel this is home for them and they can do what they set their mind to doing.”

👋 Name: Jama Brookmyer Graber
🎨 Medium: Art educator

“I use egg tempera, which is one of the oldest p

“I use egg tempera, which is one of the oldest painting mediums. It’s egg yolk mixed with ground rocks, colorful minerals. It goes back to ancient Egypt and is extremely durable and long lasting. It’s the traditional medium for Byzantine icons. Egg tempera also dries very quickly, and that’s important for the process. There are dozens of layers in the painting and glazes of different colors, and different highlights and shadows. And those are all layered - it’s not blended like oil paints or like post-Renaissance painting.
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I also use gold. It never tarnishes. It represents Heaven and light. Gold is also a precious metal, and kind of has a value in itself. I love that way that gold interacts with the viewer. It captures the light and reflects it around.
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I paint in the traditional Byzantine style, which evolved organically from ancient Roman and Greek painting into early Christian art. It kind of evolved to fit the needs of Christianity, I guess as a way to instruct. Very few people were literate, so you could present stories and saints visually, but it’s also more than that. It’s also an encounter. It’s a way to personally encounter these saints and these holy people and these events.
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I grew up in the greater Goshen community. It’s kind of always been home. I guess I really didn’t think too much about Goshen growing up here. But then when I was in college - just coming back for the summers and maybe becoming an adult - I was able to just experience the town on my own rather than kind of in my parents’ shadow. I was able to get out and get to know people and get to know the community. In the time since I was in high school 20 years ago, Goshen has changed a lot and in a lot of really good ways to encourage the arts, I think.”

👋 Name: Brian Whirledge
🎨 Medium: Painting
💻 Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/WhirledgeIcons/
⌨️ Website: https://www.brianwhirledge.com/

“To paraphrase Piet Mondrian, I am always inspir

“To paraphrase Piet Mondrian, I am always inspired by the exciting interplay between color and line. That interplay is what some people call beauty. The subject matter, like the dancing birds, gives people permission to look at the image and really dive into it a little bit. And then they discover, ‘Oh! This is kind of fun.’ I really want my piece to be happy to look at. I want people to enjoy it for what it is, even though it’s a flat piece of canvas.
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I paint with acrylic paint. I’ve been doing research about what pigments last the longest, what pigments actually do. I’ve gone down the scientific route a little bit and I’m not a scientist at all. So that always looks like a messy hellhole going down into that realm, because I don’t know what I’m doing and I don’t really understand what I’m studying. (laughs) But I’ve used that information to make my paintings quote-unquote ‘better.’ My goal is to mess with people’s perception when they look at a painting. Even though they don’t know that I’m messing with them, I want them to look at my painting and say, ‘There’s something oddly satisfying about looking at this piece.’
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Goshen itself has been really welcoming of artists. The supporting cast around Goshen for the arts has been huge. Getting this horde of people together to show off their wares in various ways has been huge. The Goshen Arts Council thinking of us artists, the city of Goshen thinking of us, trying to find ways to use arts in most events - I think Goshen is mindful of how artists can be used to make the city a better place, and that’s always a fantastic thing.”

👋 Name: Mark Daniels
🎨 Medium: Painting and Drawing
💻 Facebook: Art by Mark Daniels
⌨️ Website: https://artbymarkd.square.site/
🐦 Twitter: https://twitter.com/markdanielsarts

“My main medium is willow basketry, which is cla

“My main medium is willow basketry, which is classified as folk art. It can be traced back to my great-grandfather who came to the Dakota territories in 1874. In the prairie, willow was pretty much the only wood source there was for a while until people started planting trees. Willow wasn’t just for basketry. My grandfather learned how to weave, but that was around the time that metal buckets started coming out. So why would you spend hours weaving when you could just go and spend a hard-earned nickel on a bucket?
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When my father was 10 years old, my great-grandfather said, ‘You’re old enough to learn this,’ and taught him. My father got busy with school and life and didn’t pick it up again until he was almost retired. That was about 1976, which was also when I became curious and learned how to do it.
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Let’s face it, there’s a lot of baskets out there. You can go to any thrift store and see a whole box of baskets for a dollar apiece. And it just breaks my heart because every single one of those baskets was made by hand by someone, because there is no such thing as a machine-made basket. That’s the point I try to drive home: It’s not easy. It’s an art form. Even if it’s not an art form, it’s a highly valuable skill, especially in certain countries that don’t have access to metal or plastics.
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I love Goshen, and Goshen has always been the most wonderful supporter of arts of all kinds. People realize the work that goes into any kind of art, whether it be performance or craft or whatever, and are not balking at the price you put on things. And if they do, that’s fine. They don’t have to buy it.”

👋 Name: Viki Graber
🎨 Medium: Willow Basketry
💻 Facebook: Confluence of Willows

“Performance art is my medium. I can’t play an

“Performance art is my medium. I can’t play an instrument. I don’t sing anymore, though I’ve been in a lot of musicals and plays over the years. I really enjoy improv and just performance and performance art. I’ve really embraced, like, odd and weird things the past couple of years. Things that are ‘one time’: You have to be a part of that experience as an audience member, and you’ll never see anything like it again. That’s what I enjoy. It’s kind of hard during COVID, of course.
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It’s been a joy to appreciate the fact that I can improvise with people all over the globe. I’ve played in a show in the UK, I’ve played in Chicago, I’ve played in Austin, Texas - and I haven’t left my house.
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For improv, specifically GoProv, I’ve always talked about ensemble. There are specific performers that I’m most proud of. Alex Kilmer and Dreagon Moss: They were freshmen in high school, maybe in eighth grade, when they came to a camp. Dreagon spent a couple years doing workshops with us. Alex played with us through parts of his college career. More so than any personal accomplishments, I’m proud of the fact that we’ve built something that is a true ensemble for the community and of the community.
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From the artist side of things in Goshen, I think it’s been wonderful to collaborate and to have support from other artists. I can reach out to Scott Lehman or Anna p.s. and say, ‘Hey, we want to collaborate,’ and get a yes if they’re available. From an audience standpoint, I think it’s hard to draw from outside our community, and the folks in our community have had so many options that we couldn’t necessarily sell out shows. We just don’t have the population to fill each of the venues. However, the shows we were doing were rewarding.”

👋 Name: Steve Freeto
🎭 Medium: Performance Art
📖 Purchase Steve's Improv Book:https://bit.ly/34hHifn
💻 Facebook: GoProv Productions
⌨️ Website: https://bit.ly/3mhlRB3
🐦 Twitter: @goprov