Catapult to host visiting artist and craftsmen for First Friday

Catapult Creative House is starting the year in magnificent fashion. In conjunction with First Friday with the Arts in Cape Girardeau, Catapult will host an entirely new exhibit, featuring visiting artist, Megan Singleton.

The First Friday with the Arts was started in 2003 and falls on every month's first Friday, with the exception of January.

The event was started by downtown galleries in Cape Giradeau to help engage the public with the arts. Galleries downtown are typically open later, with hours from 5 to 9 p.m. and several other special activities to mark the day.

For Catapult's First Friday events, visiting artist Megan Singleton will open her exhibition, "To Rest Without Sinking," on Feb. 5.

"What she does is she takes invasive plant species and makes them into paper and paper sculptures," Leah Powers, operations manager for Catapult Creative House, said. "She was already here earlier this school year. She visited and worked with some faculty in the biology department to select invasive plant species from Cape. She has been working on making her paper and her sculptures so that she'll debut in our gallery."

In addition to her exhibition, Singleton will also host a two-day workshop from 10 a.m. to noon on Feb. 4. While the exhibition is free for everyone, the two-day workshop is only free for Southeast students, with a discount for university employees as well as Arts Council members.

The workshop is entitled "Plants, Place and Paper" and will be held at Catapult.

Additionally, Singleton will hold a lecture called "Paper, Place and Process: A Contemporary Approach to Historic Craft." The lecture will be from 6 to 7 p.m. on Feb. 4 at Catapult and is free to the public.

"She's going to talk a little bit about herself as an artist and she's going to talk about her take on paper making, and how paper making has changed throughout history," Powers said.

Southeast art students also will have their chance to showcase their finished work during First Friday. In the upstairs portion of the building, several students' work will be on display.

For those interested in the workshop or for more information, contact Powers through her office at (573) 290-5372 or by email at lepowers@semo.edu.

The Shoppe at Catapult also will host an event on the First Friday of February. One of their vendors, Ortmann Woodcrafting, will take over the shop with its entire stock of woodcrafts. Ortmann crafts custom wood products like pens, cutting boards and wine racks.

"A lot of their products are not only made by them in Missouri, but the trees are from here as well," Ashley Lokey, student store manager, said. "They really embody what I view for the store with 'made in Missouri.'"

Ortmann will be at Catapult during First Friday from 5 to 9 p.m. with a giveaway of one free engraved wooden pen during the visit.

"Every First Friday we're going to have another vendor come in," Lokey said. "We're going to essentially clear out the store, and they'll bring in their entire stock of items and we're going to make it all about them."

Vendors typically are chosen during the shop's "call for product" event, where Lokey finds vendors through various means and invites them to have a private showcase.

"A lot of vendors that we work with, myself or the students that I work with have handpicked the vendors that are here," Lokey said. "If we feel like it fits in the store, we will buy it from them."

If you're someone who makes something yourself and you feel the Shoppe at Catapult would be interested in your creations, contact Lokey at amlokey1s@semo.edu or by visiting the store directly.