As you might have noticed, it’s a little chilly out! But despite the fact that our gallery is in a big old Civil War era building, we’re making sure it stays warm and toasty for you, as we make the final preparations for our first gallery show of 2010.

So now that the holidays are past and life is getting back to normal, I encourage you to stop into the G.A.R. Hall, step out of the cold and start the New Year off right with a visit to see our new exhibit.

Yankton Area Arts is pleased to announce this first exhibition entitled “Collaborationism,” featuring artist Cory Knedler of Vermillion. Cory is chair of the Department of Art, and an assistant professor at the University of South Dakota. The show features a collection of Cory’s personal work along with collaborative pieces he has been working on with other artists. On Saturday, Jan. 23, Yankton Area Arts will be hosting a reception and gallery talk beginning at 1 p.m. The event is open to the public and we invite everyone to take this opportunity to meet Cory and visit with him about his work.

Cory discovered printmaking in high school and went on to receive his degree from Fort Hays State University, Kansas, and his Master of Fine Arts degree from The University of South Dakota. Cory has found inspiration through many aspects of his personal life, including his children, students, travels and other artists. His work been exhibited in more than 100 shows throughout the United States and internationally.

In 2002, Cory took the chair position at USD and shifted his attention from his personal artwork to focus more on the department and community arts needs. In the years that followed, he began a pilot program for Art Education majors to work as substitute teachers in area elementary schools and helped revived the South Dakota College Art Association (SDCAA), which had been dormant for over two decades. Among other things, the SDCAA hosts an annual conference that highlights the achievements of the state’s university and college art programs, and serves as a platform for related discussions and lectures.

There’s something special I’d like to share with you this week. In preparing each new exhibit, we ask our featured artists to provide an Artist’s Statement, which provides our patrons with some background on the display. In Cory’s case, the statement did such a good job of this, I wanted to share it with you in its entirety:

“’Collaborationism’ describes cooperation with others. In this exhibition, the term references the cooperation between artists. In these shared ideas and works of art, the collaborateurs range from personal friends, historic works of art, and the visual world around us.

“In recent years, much has been said about artists copying, referencing, stealing, borrowing and sampling other artists’ works and ideas. All of us have an opinion and draw a line between what is and is not original in art. This show is less about defining the issue of stealing and more about consciously responding to influences. The world is full of visual experiences and these are reactions to what I have seen. In some cases, as in the collaborations with Shannon Sargent, the influence was a conceptualized agreement to work on the art at the same time, reacting directly to each other’s marks until we are in agreement the work is complete. In other cases, I start with a work of art I have talked from, learned from, liked or disliked, and explore the meaning I have gleaned from the work over the years and created visual reaction to that work.

“In the end, this show is simply an exploration of reaction to influences on my art and responses at this point and time.”

Yankton Area Arts is thrilled to feature an artist from one of our surrounding communities for our first show in 2010! I encourage you to brave the cold and come down to the G.A.R. Hall to view Cory’s work. We will have the gallery all warmed up and waiting for you!

YAA Calendar of Events:

• Jan. 9-Feb. 16 — “Collaborationism” featuring Cory Knedler at the G.A.R. Hall Art Gallery; open to the public.

• Jan. 23: Reception and Gallery talk featuring the works of Cory Knedler at the G.A.R. Hall Art Gallery from 1-3 p.m.; open to the public.

• Jan. 23: Lewis & Clark Theatre Company’s annual Theatrical Gala at Minerva’s, 7:30 p.m. Contact the Dakota Theatre for tickets.

The G.A.R. Hall Gallery and Yankton Area Arts office are located at 508 Douglas Avenue, Yankton. The gallery is open to the public free of charge from 1-5 p.m. weekdays and from 1-30 p.m. on Saturdays. For more information please contact Pam Meylor, Executive Director, via e-mail at Pam@YanktonAreaArts.org, visit our website at www.YanktonAreaArts.org or drop us a line at 665-9745.