The annual Ticket-to-Pick-It fundraiser matched 84 participants to their preferred paintings. At least one ticket holder couldn’t be more thrilled with her draw.
By Kara Dicker
It’s no surprise that Rhonda Shoemaker likes landscape painting. With a background in fine arts and a career in the garden design business, her admiration for nature’s beauty runs deep. “From abstraction to realism, I find continuous joy and inspiration in the representation of nature in art,” she said.
The 2024 Ticket-to-Pick-It fundraiser sold 84 tickets and offered an array of 120 artworks donated by Heartland Art Club members. Rhonda said she was “elated” to win Great River Road, by Morris Fletcher.
“The subject matter brings back many memories of fall drives and bike rides along it,” she said. The 18”x 24” oil on canvas depicts a portion of the National Scenic Byway, which runs along the Mississippi River on the Illinois side. “I’ve always enjoyed traveling on the Great River Road, and looking at the painting reminds me how special the road, the white cliffs, and the trees truly are.”
A St. Louis area native, Rhonda joined Heartland Art Club this past year to become more familiar with the work of regional artists. When she bought her first Ticket-to-Pick-It in December, she said she was surprised by the amount and variety of high-quality work. “It was fun but not easy trying to rank all the wonderful paintings,” she said.
Rhonda Shoemaker shows her winning Ticket-to-Pick-It painting, “Great River Road,” by Morris Fletcher. Rhonda joined Heartland this past year.
Regarding her winning draw, “I love how the artist represented the cliffs, how they peek in and out of the vegetation,” Rhonda said. “I love that the cliffs and road segment the sky and the river. His skinny, bright white line for the road conveys the tenuous feeling of being right at the edge of the river when you’re on the Great River Road. I love his brushstrokes, especially in the river, and how the reflection is so bold. “It just really spoke to me.”
Morris Fletcher, a St. Louis-based artist whose works depict many area landscapes and architectural landmarks, has painted the Great River Road several times, but always from the Illinois side. This work is different because it portrays the scene from the Missouri side of the river at Portage Des Sioux, in St. Charles County.
“I’m honored and thrilled that someone likes it,” Morris said of his artwork. Initially, he admitted that he was reticent about donating Great River Road out of fear no one would understand it. Morris considers his work at the abstract end of representational. Using his photography only for reference, Morris said he is drawn to the story of the scenes he paints and the feeling that story and history evoke. “It’s about the river, the bluffs, and transportation,” he said. “And then there’s the antiquity, the Native American history of how they once inhabited the area.”
An added surprise happened once Rhonda hung the painting inside her home. Stepping back, she was intrigued by how the artwork projected a different look. “Interestingly, more and more of the whiteness from the bluff’s stone comes into view, so you get a different impression depending on how close you are to the painting,” she said.
Discovering Heartland Art Club has helped bring Rhonda’s own work full circle. As owner and operator of a landscape and garden design company, she strives to create harmony for her clients through the aesthetics of nature. When she started her business 25 years ago, her degree in fine arts informed her initial designs. Now, she’s more focused on the subtleties of nuance. “Having an art gallery nearby where there is so much excellent landscape painting is a resource for inspiration,” she said. “I can look at a painting and recognize the impact of the most subtle hue and value. I love how art converges in so many aspects of life.”