Local Video
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| Looking back over a life of art |
By: DAVID HENKE, Staff Writer
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Posted: Tuesday, August 25, 2009 11:06 pm
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For more than three decades, Charles Halling’s name was synonymous with art in Northfield.
A commercially-successful potter who was awarded the Minnesota Craft Council’s 2005 Artist of Distinction Award, Halling was an ardent supporter of the Northfield Arts Guild until his death in 2006.
So it’s fitting, gallery coordinator Felicia Peters believes, that as a part of its 50th Anniversary celebration, the guild pay tribute to Charles — better known as Chuck — and his widow Nancy.
“The NAG’s longevity and the NAG’s strength is due in part to artists like Chuck and Nancy who moved here and decided to make Northfield their home,” Peters said. “It’s precisely because of people like them that we have the Northfield Arts Guild.”
In Charles’ honor, the guild and Nancy are collaborating to produce “Color, Brush and Form: The Fine Art of Function, A Charles Halling Retrospective.” The exhibit, which opens Wednesday, will track Charles’ development as a potter over nearly four decades of work — much of which was done in his former studio south of town.
Charles, who moved to Northfield in 1971, discovered pottery in 1967 after making a few basic pieces with excavated clay taken from a construction site near his home outside Kansas City, Mo. Eventually, he went back to school for pottery, taking classes during the day at the Kansas City Art Institute while working part time at night.
Charles died in 2006 after a long battle with cancer, but not before he produced more than 400 sets of dinnerware for customers, participated in dozens of NAG exhibits and art fairs and received numerous accolades locally and regionally for his work.
At the exhibition’s opening reception, the Northfield Arts Guild will auction off a casserole dish and a platter made by Charles and donated to the NAG by the Halling family. Proceeds from the auction will be used to fund youth scholarships for arts guild classes.
The exhibition, Nancy believes, will be a testament to Charles’ prolific work, his legacy as an artist in Northfield and his relationship to the NAG.
“It’s just nice that a town this size has this long-lasting art organization,” Nancy said. “It’s good for the artists and it’s good for the community.”
WHAT: A retrospective exhibit of work from local potter Charles Halling, who died in 2006.
WHEN: Wednesday, Aug. 26 through Saturday, Sept. 26. An opening reception will be held from 6 to 9 p.m. on Thursday, Aug. 27.
WHERE: Northfield Arts Guild Center for the Arts, 304 Division St. For more information, visit www.northfieldartsguild.org or call 645-8877.
— David Henke covers city, business and youth issues. He can be reached at dhenke@northfieldnews.com or 645-1100.
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