I approach painting as my time to create and connect with God.”

Mandy Madsen

For more information on the Hastings Arts Center and the exhibit featuring Mandy Madsen and Susan Solomon, visit https://www.hastingsartscenter.org/

The Hastings Arts Center opened a new showing in its gallery featuring the works of artists Mandy Madsen and Susan Solomon on Nov. 1. The showing will host a reception on Nov. 13 at the gallery and the exhibition will run until Dec. 31.
Madsen’s expressionistic skyscapes are inspired in no small part due to her faith.
“I approach painting as my time to create and connect with God,” said Madsen.
Solomon characterizes her paintings’ focus as “the search for a light in the dark,” using the vehicle of landscape. The artwork at the exhibition will be for sale by the artists.
The Hastings Arts Center hosts exhibitions regularly with a focus on local artists and 2D mediums like photography and paintings. In addition to the gallery, residents may be familiar with the Hastings Arts Center for the many music classes hosted there across more than a dozen teachers and instruments ranging from the piano to the harp. Concerts from bluegrass to brass bands to string duets occur regularly throughout the Arts Center’s calendar.
In April of next year, the Hastings Arts Center will celebrate its 10th year in business, providing lessons, gallery space, concert venues and event rental to the Hastings community. The business has sprawled since its inception.
“We are sort of running into the good problem of running out of space,” said Hastings Arts Center owner Sarah Lockwood.
Lockwood bought what was once Guardian Angels Catholic Church in April 2014. A longtime pianist and piano teacher, Lockwood was looking for a space to teach piano lessons outside of her own.
“I did not envision owning a church to do so,” said Lockwood.
Lockwood initially toured Guardian Angels Catholic Church in 2012 “on a whim,” she said, but didn’t sign a purchase agreement until 2013, and actually open the space a year later in 2014. “Everything just fell into our laps basically,” said Lockwood citing various community members’ support in opening the arts center.
At its inception, “we just had the school in mind,” said Lockwood. Although a previous tenant at the church had arranged for gallery space, it took time for Lockwood to begin hosting exhibitions and concerts: “We weren’t really thinking of doing any of that,” said Lockwood.
Ten years later and the school has grown into its no-longer-new home and is a cornerstone of the Hastings arts scene. To celebrate those years, Lockwood is already planning a 10-year anniversary celebration in April 2025.
For more information on the Hastings Arts Center and the exhibit featuring Mandy Madsen and Susan Solomon, visit https://www.hastingsartscenter.org/