Visual Arts And Design

Le Mars Area Dialysis focus is on fundraising, renovation (10/01/08)
Le Mars Area Dialysis Services is stepping up its fundraising efforts. Currently the not-for-profit group has two main focuses -- one is to continue raising money, and the other is to plan renovation of its newly acquired building in downtown Le Mars...

Open house set for LCS additions, renovation (09/30/08)
An open house at the Le Mars Community Middle and High Schools will be held from 5:30 to 7 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 2. The open house provides the public an opportunity to tour the new middle school gymnasium, the three new technology enhanced classrooms at the high school, and the renovations that were completed in the high school following the move of the superintendent's office...

Pictorial history book of county in progress (09/29/08)
A pictorial history of Plymouth County may soon be a reality, thanks to the efforts of Seney area native Linda Zieman. Zieman made a commitment with Arcadia Publishing of Chicago earlier this year to put together a pictorial history of Plymouth County...

Iowa native earned students' trust teaching on reservation (09/25/08)
Maria Valen remembers her former Crow and Cheyenne students fondly, especially this week -- Native American Heritage Week. Valen, a new high school English teacher at Gehlen Catholic School, spent two years prior to coming to Le Mars educating American Indian students in Montana...

Le Mars Country Dancers encourage people to dance into lessons (09/08/08)
Steps, kicks, turns, counts, patterns -- ever wanted to learn country-style line or couples' dancing? If so, the Le Mars Country Dancers can help. Volunteers give beginner, intermediate and advanced dance lessons to singles and couples from 7-10 p.m. Wednesdays, September through May. They meet in the upper level dance hall at the Le Mars Eagles Club. All ages are welcome...

Actors wanted: Auditions for "The Turn of the Worm" coming soon (08/28/08)
Looking to make the stage in a live theater production? Come out and audition for the comedy "The Turn of the Worm," a production by the Le Mars Community Theatre with run dates at the end of October. Five actors, three men, two mature and one young, and three females, two mature and one young, are needed to help bring the characters to life...

Tipi Village brings history to life for music lovers (08/27/08)
Visitors can travel back in time to the 1800s through Tipi Village this week at the Old Time Country and Bluegrass Music Festival. Construction of Tipi Village started Tuesday in Pioneer Village at the Plymouth County Fairgrounds as village people began erecting canvas tents and tepees...

American Indian art exhibit travels to Plymouth County (08/20/08)
Artist Robert Morris captures the faces of American Indians from across the country, something he began 10 years ago. "I want to paint one Indian from every tribe," Morris said. "I travel all summer and paint all winter." An exhibit featuring 16 of Morris' chalk paintings from his collection "The First Americans" opens at 1 p.m. Wednesday and runs through Friday at the Plymouth County Historical Museum. The museum is open 1 p.m. to 5 p.m. or in the morning by appointment...

Theater fundraiser takes trip down musical memory lane (08/18/08)
"Hello Dolly," "If I Were a Rich Man," "Prepare Ye the Way." Those familiar tunes and others will be featured in the Le Mars Community Theatre's "Musical Memories" biennial fundraiser Friday and Saturday. "We went through all the musicals in the past and looked at the ones that had songs that would be fairly familiar to the audience," said Marlene Fitzpatrick, co-producer of the fundraiser. "We asked people who have been in musicals in previous years (to perform)."...

Japanese students learn Iowa life from local families (08/13/08)
Brian and Sarah Kehm have an extra sister in their house for a month. She's 16. She likes to shop. She likes pop music and video games. And she's a black belt in karate. Shoko Harashima, a Japanese teen, is living with the David and Janet Kehm family for most of August. She's part of a group of 26 Japanese students living with 4-H families in Iowa from July 24 to Aug. 21. Five of those 4-H families are in Plymouth County...

Le Mars Community welcomes new teachers (08/12/08)
Le Mars Community Schools will start the year with a few staff changes. A new elementary art teacher, assistant middle school principal and high school special education teacher are making preparations to begin the year at LCS. Kimberly Strohbeen Strohbeen will be bringing a splash of color to the LCS elementary as a part-time art teacher. ...

Life Skills quilt auction sets new record (07/30/08)
A new record, both number of quilts and dollars raised, was set at the 12th annual Life Skills Foundation Quilt Auction Saturday in Century Hall at the Plymouth County Fairgrounds. The 56 items on the auction block raised $11,805 for the Life Skills Foundation...

Help ahead for 102-year-old Akron opera house (07/29/08)
Akron's opera house has weathered many changes since it opened in 1906. Now another phase is planned for the building that towers over the town's main street. "My head spun for two weeks just thinking about this," Akron Community Theater President Doug Olson said Monday evening while discussing upcoming plans for the theater...

Life Skills auction has special quilts (07/24/08)
It may be warm outside, but thoughts will turn to quilts Saturday for the annual Life Skills Foundation Charity Quilt Auction at 2 p.m. in Century Hall on the Plymouth County Fairgrounds. Fifty-three quilts, including pieced, appliquéd, embroidered, frayed, hand-quilted, machine-quilted and tied, all of various sizes, as well as crocheted afghans will be on the auction block...

2008 fair truck recognizes Belgian owners and beef show (07/23/08)
The ninth annual edition of the Plymouth County Fair collectible truck recognizes the beef show, a longtime tradition, and Dr. John and Barbara Conley and their team of Belgian draft horses. The series of trucks is designed to recognize activities and scenes that make up the Plymouth County Fair...

Paint in their blood: Gray's show features artistic family ties (06/10/08)
Most people bring a casserole or a dessert to a family reunion. Harry Gray and his family bring pieces of art. At least that's the case with "Kindred Spirits," the gallery show debuting at Le Mars' Arts Center this week. It all stems back to a mid-1800s painter named Asher B. Durand...

School the latest hit in string of graffiti vandalism (06/05/08)
Spray paint on the new construction at the Le Mars Community Middle School and the football stadium may cost the school nearly a thousand dollars. Le Mars Police Officers arrived on the scene to find graffiti on some of the new cement sidewalk and new brick of the middle school addition plus on the concession stand, ticket booth and stop sign near Jim Lorenzen Field...

Le Mars United Way awards funding to area agencies (06/03/08)
A teen pregnancy prevention program, meat vouchers for families in need, a fine arts after-school program and addiction recovery services are among 14 projects receiving grant money from the Le Mars United Way this year. Fourteen local agencies will be receiving a total of $58,500 from the nonprofit organization to provide area families with basic needs and services...

Le Mars native captures musicians on canvas (04/25/08)
When Le Mars native Jonas Lynch delivered a giant portrait of hip-hop star Snoop Dogg to the musician himself, there was a message imbedded in the painting. Thousands of telephone numbers. Lynch, now living in Long Beach, Calif., plastered a canvas with the pages of a Long Beach phonebook, then painted a reverse image of Snoop Dogg's face in black paint. He left the highlights of the portrait unpainted, so the phonebook pages show through...