Church planning special events for art walk

First United Methodist Church will be participating in the 1st Fridays Art Walk Friday evening.

Artwork on display will feature photography by Elaine La Van.

La Van received a bachelor of fine arts degree from Iowa State University in May. Her major was integrated studio arts, with a special emphasis in photography. In harmony with her photography, another element of her work consists of digital mixed media collages.

La Van?s major influences come from nature. Her artwork involves recreating the natural world in art to show others how she sees it. As a photographer and in composing collages, factors such as textures, shapes, symbolism, as well as the personal relationship between humans and a continual spiritual presence are the factors that inspire her work. The methods she uses range from traditional film photography to mixed media digital photography, and which method she chooses depends on what she is representing and how it will best be communicated.

Artwork by other members of the local congregation also will be on display, including Dan Buttery, Sandi Dimmitt, Michael Gookin, Phyllis Thompson, Laurie La Van, David Kraemer, Terri Drobny and Kathy Tollenaere.

Another feature of the evening will be vanilla, strawberry and chocolate homemade ice cream in the dining room, served by the United Methodist Women from 5-7 p.m.. Cookies and beverages also will be available for a freewill offering.

The church also will be collecting school supplies Friday evening. The donations will be given to Southern Iowa Economic Development Association for distribution to local students who need help with supplies.

The requested items are: wide-line spiral notebooks, single or multiple subject; wide-line loose leaf notebook paper; 1-inch, 3-ting binders; black, blue and red pens; glue sticks; bottles of glue; erasers, but not the pencil cap erasers; dry-erase markers; narrow-tip Sharpie markers; No. 2 pencils; red checking pencils; scissors, blunt end and pointed end; and boxes of tissues. Some items must be of a specific brand: Crayola crayons, packs of eight or 24; Prang or Crayola watercolor paints; Crayola washable markers, wide and narrow tip; and Crayola colored pencils.

Visitors can enter the church from either the south entrance facing Briggs Avenue or the east entrance. Visitors will be directed to view showings both on first floor and in the basement next to the dining room.