This week's featured artist is Jefferson City Art Club member Shane Slouha, who designs and makes jewelry.
Born and raised in rural Iowa, Slouha enlisted in the U.S. Army after graduating high school. He received a medical discharge in 1990 due to service connected injuries.
"I went on to become an ASE Certified Master Technician," he said. "In 2002, it was recommended by the Veterans Administration that I retire from working due to my physical injuries from active duty service."
Slouha and his family moved to Tucson, Arizona, in 2005 and his interest in rock collecting grew. His son would pick up a small pail of interesting stones each time his wife, Jennifer, went to the landscape company for river rocks.
"At that time, my wife had a LLC business for custom painted river rocks. I would spend hours with my son identifying the rocks that he picked up," Slouha said. "We would also spend several days each year at the annual Tucson Gem and Mineral Show, adding more specimens to our collections. It was at the gem and mineral shows that I learned about cutting cabochons and putting windows into rocks by some of the vendors. From that time on, I still can't look at a rock or mineral and not wonder what it looks like on the inside."
In 2013, Shane Slouha, Jennifer (of Jennifer Slouha Fine Arts LLC) and their son moved to Mid-Missouri and joined a local lapidary club. Slouha fine-tuned his skills at creating cabochons with the help of the lapidary club members, some of which were instructors at the William Holland School of lapidary arts.
"My next step was to make jewelry with the cabochons I was creating and the Central Missouri Rock and Lapidary Club gave me the help that I needed to make the jewelry," he said. "My hobby has taken me a long way as I currently make earrings, necklaces, bracelets and rings by setting the cabochons that I create in silver, sterling silver and copper. I market the jewelry that I make under the name SS Lapidary."
Slouha is currently a general member of Best of Missouri Hands and the Jefferson City Art Club. His jewelry has been accepted into many places for representation including the Columbia Art League in Columbia, Show Me Gold and Silver at Capital Mall in Jefferson City, the Art House Gallery in Fulton, The Lake Fine Art Academy & Galleria in Osage Beach and Capital Arts Gallery in Jefferson City. Jewelry is available for viewing on Facebook and Instagram at SS Lapidary, or his website at srockhound1.wixsite.com/sslapidary.
Jefferson City Art Club, Capital Arts and Mid-Missouri art news
The club meets every third Monday from September through May at 409 Ellis Blvd. in the community room. The next meeting is from 5:30-7:30 p.m. Dec. 17. Professional artist Ann DeRosier will give the presentation, "Fun with Clay."
The Art Bazaar, 1507 E. McCarty, will hold a Christmas Open House from 9 a.m.-4 p.m. Dec. 15, featuring prizes and holiday specials. For more information, call 573-634-4918.
The Santa's Art Workshops at The Village Arts Studio, Suites 40 and 60 at 1502 E. High St., always fill up fast, so make reservations now. In each three-hour workshop, children ages 6 and older can create three art gifts, perfect for the holidays. Each workshop costs $35 and the last two sessions are from 8:30-11:30 a.m. or 1-4 p.m. Dec. 15. For more information, call 573-230-1414.
Artist Dianna Fowler is the Jefferson City Art Club Featured Artists through Jan. 7. A collection of her work is available at www.jeffersoncityartclub-missouri.com. She works primarily in oil paint on canvas and paints landscapes, mountain scenes, country homesteads and many beautiful horses. She also has an exhibit of her work on display from 7:30 a.m.-5 p.m. Monday through Friday and 8 a.m.-noon Saturday through Jan. 7 at the Department of Motor Vehicles, 1617 Southridge Drive.
Capital Arts, 1203 Missouri Blvd., invites the community to the "Give The Gift of Art" exhibit, which is open through Dec. 30 and includes works of art perfect as affordable gifts this holiday season.
"The Portraits Exhibit" exhibit featuring people, pets and silhouettes is open from Jan. 4-Feb. 5. There will be a reception from the 1-4 p.m. Jan. 13. For more information, call 573-635-8355.
Have you been thinking about learning to paint? Gary Cadwallader has a YouTube video that coaches viewers through learning to paint with watercolor paints. This is just the beginning. After some time getting used to watercolor painting, the next step is learning to paint with acrylic paints. Acrylics are essentially watercolor paint, in that you will use water to mix them.
Larry Carver also has a video that coaches viewers through two of his most requested paintings: "Luna Landing" and "Tribute to Frazetta." You can find this video on the JCAC Facebook page.
The Fulton Art House is the artist hub for Fulton. Make plans to visit their online art village and see the assortment of art with contact information available for the artists. Stop by the Fulton Art House, 531 Court St. For more information, call 573-592-7733.
The Mid-Missouri Art Alliance of Ashland, operates a gallery at 115 E. Broadway. Check out all of the local artists in the Ashland area. Visit their website to find events and classes being offered. Call 573-657-0711 to find out more about this group and gallery.
Professional artist Jimmy Mustion does club promotions and publicity for Jefferson City Art Club and Capital Arts.