JRAC Celebrates 20 Years
The opening will by held August 10 and will feature Mary Ann Rivers who performed at the first Coffee House in 1992 and Robert Pattengale who has performed many times for Sunday openings. Traditional refreshments will be served by the Arts Council. Micah Middaugh has created and printed t-shirts with a two color woodcut design. These will be for sale.
JRAC started in May, 1998 when the East Jordan District Library moved to its new building. Fran Pletz, a library board member with an interest in the arts, suggested the old building be used as art center noting that nearest Art Centers were in Petoskey and Cheboygan. The charter membership totaled 115 individuals, families, and businesses with Pletz serving as the first president.
This early group included all the arts from live theatre to the gallery experience and has continued in the same manner. The first invitational exhibit for area artists in 1990 was conceived by Lori Bolt with 27 artists participating. Bolt will represent this first invitational. Producing live original plays with children was popular with Lenore Bechtel as director. The Holiday Art Fair was started by Pat Tinney in 1990 as a fund raiser for a scholarship to be given to a high school student. Cathie Bowerman was the first recipient in 1993 and will have new works in this exhibit.
The Committee, Howard Ellis, Sylvia Walworth, Peggy Midener, Nancy Carey and Jane Diller, on behalf of the Board of Directors, regrets that not all fine artist who have exhibited in the past can be represented in this retrospective. Likewise, space and time limit our ability to represent all the live performances that we have enjoyed over the years. Our thanks and appreciation are extended to each and every creative person to all the artist, actors, musicians, writers, and dancers who have agreed to be showcased through our organization, and to all the volunteers who have helped bring the arts to life in our communities through the Jordan River Arts council over the past twenty years.
