BAAC & Lyon College Art Students to Host Art Walk on Main Street
Art Walk on Main Street Friday, December 2 from 5:00 to 7:00 p.m.
Go downtown this winter to support our local artists and Lyon College students! The Batesville Area Arts Council in collaboration with Lyon College art students will be facilitating an Art Walk on Main Street, Friday, December 2, from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. The event is a self-guided viewing of artwork in Downtown Batesville, and is free and open to the public for all ages.
Lyon College students will host two exhibitions in the Main Street Batesville office. Professor Dustyn Bork’s Advanced Concepts class will exhibit upstairs and feature artwork by Nicholas McDonald, Aiden Bork, Tatum Florendo, Kim Ho, Juli Howard, Caroline McCreight, Aria Switzer, DeVante White, and Ashlyn Winter. Eliseo Casiano’s Painting class will exhibit downstairs with works by Amanda Shelley, Thomas Osborn, and Juli Howard.
The Batesville Area Arts Council’s Gallery on Main (226 E Main) will host a reception for the 7th Annual BAAC Member Exhibition. This exhibit features artwork from 16 local and regional artists, including Karen Barker, Dustyn Bork, Sabina Burnett, Eliseo Casiano, Carly Dahl, Sarah Harmon, Phyllis Haynes, Juli Howard, Aline McCracken, Nicholas McDonald, Merry McSpadden, Lynn Ponto-Peterson, Ruby Schaaf, Abigail Smithson, Barbara Smock, and Marcia Wallace. This exhibition is sponsored by First Community Bank.
Three locations on Main Street will be open for viewing artwork and artists will be present for questions: Main Street Batesville office (201 E Main), the BAAC Gallery on Main (226 E Main), and Gallery 246 (243 E Main).
Members Only Happy Hour: Friday, December 2
4 – 5 p.m.
Support the arts in our community by becoming a member of BAAC today! Your membership contribution is essential to helping us achieve our mission of enriching our community through the arts.
Cathy Drew is a lifelong resident of the region that she loves to promote. She was born in downtown Batesville in the late ’60s, located in one of the eight counties she now enjoys encouraging people to visit.
Drew became associated with the Ozark Gateway Region in 1990 while working at the ad agency (The Media Market Inc.). The agency handled marketing for the regional association, where she and her co-workers produced an annual tabloid publication. She began working as the Ozark Gateway Region director in June 2000.
After Drew became director, she took the region to the next level by helping the tourism organization create a new website and moved it from the old newspaper paper tabloid publication to a color magazine format. She helped open a visitor center for the Ozark Gateway, allowing visitors to pick up information from the entire state 24/7. Over the years, Drew has helped the organization meet new marketing goals, such as in- and out-of-state marketing, assuring that all 100,000 copies of their magazines are distributed each year.
In 2016, she assisted in creating the first Ozark Gateway Region Golf Classic. The tournament continues to grow each year, allowing the organization to expand its co-op program and helping each county have dedicated promotion. Drew stays busy at Ozark Gateway as the ad sales manager, magazine editor, day-to-day office operations, trade show representative, and magazine distribution representative, all while ensuring that the region is represented all over Arkansas and southern Missouri.
Drew was featured in several local and statewide publications over the years, as well as the 1997 cover of the Ozark Gateway Region tabloid, along with her then 4-year-old son, Jon. She has received several awards, such as the Batesville Rotarian of the Year in 2010 and a three-time Paul Harris Fellow.
She also has served as an Independence County election commissioner for several years. She now serves as their co-election coordinator, helping with behind-the-scenes management of voting equipment, day-to-day election deadlines, and poll worker training.
Drew is Batesville Rotary Club Past President, and is the Rotary Clubs’ current membership chair.
In March of 2018, Drew was honored with induction into the Arkansas Tourism Hall of Fame for her many years of dedicated service to the tourism industry.