Interesting Website

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Paint My Photo link

CCAG September Artist of the Month: Ethan Nelson

 

Ethan Nelson, a senior in high school who is attending dual credit classes at Western Nebraska Community College, is the Cheyenne County Art Guild "Artist of the Month" for September.

Nelson began his career of drawing and painting at an early age. One of his earliest artistic accomplishments is the Nebraska Fence Post Christmas Art Contest in 2002 where, at age 5, he won his first award.

Nelson joined the Cheyenne County Art Guild at age 10 in 2007 with the thought of improving his art techniques and learning about the business of marketing visual art. That same year, he and his older brother, Jake, founded their own business and launched Nelsonart, which specializes in original art notecards and limited edition prints. In 2012, Nelson signed his first book contract to illustrate "Bless Your Hearts, The North Platte Canteen" by author and historian, Charlotte Endorf.

Nelson's most recent art awards for 2013-2014 include: Cheyenne County Art Guild Best of Show, Association of Nebraska Art Clubs Certificate of Excellence, Image Art Show Best of Show – youth division, Hixson-Lied Young Artist Award, Cheyenne County Fair Grand Champion and the Congressional Art Contest, second place with artwork on display in Congressman Adrian Smith's Washington office. Nelson also has had artwork accepted for the Western Nebraska Community College 2014 "Emerging Voices" publication.

His artwork is on display this month at the Cheyenne County Rec Center and the Sidney Public Library.

To see more about Ethan, check out his Facebook page:  Nelsonart 

Ethan Nelson: Sidney Sun Telegraph Article

The following article, written by Dawn Graves, appeared in the Sidney Sun Telegraph on Sept 5, 2014 


Ethan Nelson: Not your average kid

Dalton teen honored with congressional award

September 5, 2014 | Vol. 141, No. 174  | View PDF

Dawn Graves

Ethan Nelson, a 17-year-old Dalton resident, has accomplished much to be proud of.

As an entrepreneur, an accomplished artist, a published illustrator and recipient of multiple awards for various accomplishments, one might presume that Nelson was snobbish and egotistical.

In fact, he's a humble, soft-spoken young man, grateful for the opportunities in life.

Home-schooled by his mother, Ellen, since the eighth grade, Ethan is now a high school senior. He gives a lot of credit to his parents for their support.

"They definitely encouraged me to do things," he said, "do things beyond my comfort zone."

Nelson has more than just a high school education under his belt, having attended WNCC in Scottsbluff and Sidney. His grades earned him a place on the Dean's List last year, as well as a spot on the President's List this year for his 4.0 grade-point average.

His efforts qualified him to be a Questbridge College Prep Scholar.

He considers his time at WNCC to have been very beneficial, especially as it prepared him for the summer classes he just completed at Harvard.

Yes, Harvard – the ivy-league university in Cambridge, Mass.

"WNCC is a really great – almost under-appreciated – college, because it's just so influential in the Panhandle," he said. "So many careers come out of there.

"All the professors there are just really motivated and really want to help the students out and get them jobs, get them internships," Nelson said. "It's just a really great place to go to college."

WNCC is also the college through which Nelson applied for and was awarded $1,500 by NASA to build robots.

Nelson's college experience has provided him with other opportunities he may not have had otherwise.

In flash animation class at WNCC, Nelson built an app – a game he named "Tower Defense." Later, he read about an app contest in the newspaper – the House Student App Challenge for Nebraska's Third Congressional District.

According to Congressman Adrian Smith's press release, the nationwide competition is "designed to promote innovation and engagement in science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) among high school students."

"I submitted my little game," Nelson said, "and turned out I got first place."

Nelson's app is featured on the U.S. House of Representatives' website, and will be displayed in a U.S. Capitol exhibit. Nelson was recognized by Smith for his accomplishment.

This was not the first time Nelson was recognized by the congressman.

Earlier this year, Nelson was awarded both the Congressional Award Bronze Medal and won second place in the 2014 Third District Congressional Art Competition.

Winning the Congressional Award for Youth Initiative, Service and Achievement is no easy task.

A participant sets goals in four areas: voluntary public service, personal development, physical fitness and expedition/exploration, and dedicates a certain amount of hours to each activity to progress through different levels. To achieve bronze medal status, for example, Nelson had to complete at least 100 hours of voluntary public service over the course of seven months. Each activity requires the completion of a specific number of hours.

Nelson was able to meet with Smith at his Scottsbluff office to receive his medal.

"That was really exciting, to meet him and get the award," he said. "I was kind of nervous, too."

Another meeting with Smith occurred after Nelson won second place in the Congressional Art contest for his photograph entitled "Aviator," which is a multiple-exposure composition of a pilot's silhouette overlaid with an image of sunlit clouds.

"My mom saw the Congressional Art Contest online, so I submitted this one," Nelson said, pointing to the framed photograph. "I had taken it, I think, a few years earlier. And it turns out that Mr. Smith really likes flying."

The piece now hangs in Smith's office in Washington, D.C.

That contest is just one of many occasions when Nelson has won awards for his art. Other recent awards include Cheyenne County Art Guild Best of Show, the Hixson-Lied Award for Young Artists and Best of Show Youth Division at the Image Art Show.

To top it all off, Nelson has just been chosen as the Cheyenne County Art Guild's Artist of the Month for September.

It appears that Nelson could be accepted at his choice of any college after high school, but he hasn't quite made up his mind.

"I'm not completely sure yet," he said, "but I do have a few colleges picked that I'm looking at."

His choice in a college depends on a couple factors.

He would consider a school that is, he says, "well-rounded and has a lot of different programs, a lot of different types of students," as opposed to a college that only specializes in one discipline. He wants to be able to change his mind, if necessary.

Outside of academic pursuits, Nelson is deeply involved in 4-H. He believes it has brought him many opportunities to explore different vocational and avocational pursuits he may not otherwise have had access to.

"I can't really say enough how 4-H had really prepared me," he said. "It's just such a great program."

One of the benefits of Nelson's involvement with 4-H is the confidence and skills he gained to start his own business, Nelsonart, with his older brother Jake. Nelson markets and sells notecards and prints of their art, and has sometimes used the venture as a fundraiser for worthy recipients, such as the Sidney Public Library.

His notecards caught the attention of Charlotte Endorf, a Nebraska author who happened to be doing a presentation at the library. She asked if Nelson would illustrate her book, "Bless Your Hearts: The North Platte Canteen." About 20 of his illustrations were published in the book.

Nelson promotes entrepreneurship, speaking and presenting to kids at events such as Career Day at WNCC.

"I'll prepare a little presentation and just tell these kids how they can start a business, or get into the business that they want to be in," he said "Like, how to start out, how to get advice, how to promote your business."

An entrepreneur, an accomplished artist, a published illustrator and a recipient of multiple awards for various accomplishments – Nelson can claim all these, and more. But he wants kids to know that these opportunities are available to almost anyone.

"It's just to show that you can, through these programs, you can go pretty much anywhere that you want, or any career that you want," he said. "You're not just confined to a few careers or this region."

While Nelson isn't sure yet what he will end up doing in life, or exactly which career he will pursue, he does know that he wants to benefit others through it.

"I definitely want to be making a difference and helping people," he said.

Ethan Nelson Makes His Mark in the Art World

The following article appeared in the Star Herald on April 20, 2014. 
CONGRATULATIONS ETHAN!!!

September Meeting of the CCAG

The  2014-2015 CCAG year was kicked off with a carry in supper meeting enjoyed at the Sidney Legion Park shelter house.   First order of business included the election of officers. 

President:  Cindi Egging
Vice-President:  Ron Nordyke;
Secretary:  Judy McElroy
Treasurer:  Margie Surber. 

Following is a brief synopsis of the meeting as submitted by Judy McElroy, CCAG secretary

Cindi explained the mini-workshops before the meetings and the after-the-meeting programs for the year.  The CCAG will be making a scarecrow for the Oktoberfest Scarecrow Competition. 

Various art workshops were discussed:

• Nancy Dee's upcoming pastel workshop (Oct.3-5th) at the Eagle Canyon Hideaway at Lake McConaughy (for more info. go to www.eagle-canyon.com or call Patti Bohall at 970-630-3517as there may still be openings)
• Halsey Autumn Art Workshops (contact Tish for more info), 
• Possible watercolor/acrylic workshop by Patsy Smith, 
• Golden Acrylic & Watercolor workshop by Mary Morrison, 
• plein aire workshop by Ben Darling, and another possible workshop by an area artist 

Cindi discussed a possible art trip to MONA in Kearney and the Henri Museum in Cozad. 
The CCAG project for the year will be a Mystery Painting.  Contact Cindi at cindiegging@daltontel.net if you would be interested in painting one section of the mystery painting.  It will be due for the Spring Show in March 2015.  Those already signed up for this project include Judy, Tish, Chuck, Pat A., Tess, Patsy, Darcy, Jack, Dakota, Ron, Margie, Cindi, and Margaret.

NOTE:  Mary Morrison can teach the Golden Paints Workshop in Sidney on Wednesday, October 22 or Saturday, October 25th.  All Golden Paints and Mediums used and taught in the workshop will be provided free of charge.  At the workshop I attended in 2013 we were even given samples to take home.  I learned a lot and gained enthusiasm to do much more with my paintings!  They now have Golden Watercolor paints as well as new, slow-drying acrylic paints. The workshop would be from 10 AM to 3 PM (4 PM at the very latest) with a half an hour for lunch.  The cost of the one-day workshop is $1,000, so we will need 12 to 15 people taking this workshop to make it more affordable per person.  Ten people would be $100 per person, 11 people would be $90.91 each, 12 people would be $83.33 per person, 13 people would be $76.92 each, 14 people would be $71.43 each, and 15 people would be $66.67 per person.  Please contact me at jimcartist@yahoo.com or call ne (Judy) at 308-249-1488 if you would like to take this workshop and which day would work better for you.  Please let me know as soon as possible so we'll know whether or not to make a definite reservation to have this workshop.

One of the Advantages of Taking a Workshop...

Yes, this is a little delayed getting posted because…I attended a workshop in New Mexico August through September 1st.  Looking forward to that upcoming workshop is great, isn't it?  You have great hopes and anticipations based on all the information you've collected about the workshop.  That's where I was a couple of weeks ago. 

We packed up the fifth wheel and then it was off to the workshop with my traveling companions, my husband, and Molly--our black lab mix.  As we traveled to our destination near Ghost Ranch, the landscape views gradually sharpened my awareness.  The landscape dramatically changed and my interest and camera were on overload!  After a week of living in that landscape and viewing it from morning to sunset, I realize how refreshing and renewing an influence it had on my artistic-side.  These hills and rivers and sage and colors west of Abiquiu were spectacular and so inspiring.  I found myself reflecting on how fortunate it is to be able to travel just a few hours from home and be in such a different landscape in which to renew my inspiration as a painter?  Workshop or no workshop, that was wonderful! 

Now, saying that, plein air painting in a new location, as all new learning can be at times, was frustrating.  I came home with not as many “good paintings” as I thought I should!  (Plein air painting in Abiquiu is up for another whole writing segment…much later!  Ha!)

It was definitely obvious that we were in “O’Keeffe Country.”  Out the front door of the RV was the magnificent black mountain “Pedernal”…O’Keeffe’s favorite mountain and reportedly where her ashes were spread.  I’m not really a big O’Keeffe fan, but the choices she made in her life intrigue me.  She chose to paint where she lived and what she knew.  It wasn’t an easy life; she didn’t have all of the conveniences of those living in metro areas at that time.  She couldn’t get fresh food; by the time food was brought to her house at Ghost Ranch, it was already starting to spoil.  Eventually, she bought property in Abiquiu with water rights and grew her own gardens; all so she could paint her beloved “melting mountains” and her collections of bones found in the area.  To me this just reemphasized my fondness for where I live--the farming landscape, my connection as the fourth generation to those who have gone before and my love of the sky and light in NE Colorado.  I can really relate to the choices O’Keeffe made.

These choices I call…tradeoffs—you give up some things to gain others!  So just look where you live with fresh eyes…one day a clerk in Denver mistook where I was from thinking it was in the mountains and said “Oh that’s such a beautiful drive!”  I replied, I completely agree with you; but my guess is we are not talking about the same location!  You just have to look with “new eyes” to be able to see!

I hope this Fall you get a chance to get away to an different view in order to appreciate what you have right in front of you the rest of the year!

It’s all about “Brush Mileage”….Nancy

NEW VENUE FOR CCAG !!!

The Cheyenne County Art Guild will be meeting at the Shelter House in Sidney's Legion Park. 

Times: 

• Mini Workshops will start around 4:30
• Meetings will start at 7:00

Meeting Schedule:

• Sept. 8 – no workshop - covered dish dinner – “Make your mark” artist Cindi Egging 
• Oct. 13 – Judy McElroy – drawing workshop and program 
• Nov. 10 – Tish Treinen – watercolor workshop and program 
• Dec. 8 – Nancy Dee – pastel workshop and program 
• Jan. 12 – Cindi Egging – still life workshop and program 
• Feb. 9 – Janelle Wicht – abstract workshop and program 
• Mar. 9 – Chuck Borcher – oil workshop – and program 
• Apr. 13 – Margie Surber – flowers workshop and program 
• May. 11 – Luke Egging – graphic design workshop, silent auction