Author: Tom Parker

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Central Sands Service Week

April 23rd thru the 26th is Central Sands Community High School’s 2nd annual service learning week! Students from Central Sands Community High School will be volunteering at The Amherst Opera House on Tuesday, April 23, 2024 starting at 9:00AM. Tasks will be moving furniture, removing trash, general cleaning, and window washing. Come and join us anytime throughout the day. Most activity will be from 9:00AM until 12Noon but we will be there all day. Come for an hour or all day. It is great to see area youth involved in service work and volunteering. Here is your chance to set an example.

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AOH Board Members Sought

The Amherst Opera House Co. Guild, Inc. is interested in increasing the number of volunteer Directors on our Board of Directors. If you are interested in volunteering please email us at info@amherstoperahouse.com . We hold Board Meetings quarterly. The next scheduled Board Meeting is on 2/8/24 at The Amherst Opera House starting at 6:30 PM. All are welcome to attend, especially those who may be interested in volunteering as a Director. Here is a little additional information:

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Board Meeting

The Amherst Opera House Co. Guild, Inc. will hold it’s Quarterly Board Meeting on Thursday, November 9th, 2023. All are welcome to attend and learn about the Amherst Opera House as well as share ideas. The meeting will start at 6:30PM. Topics will include progress reports on restoration projects underway and planned future projects, building usage ideas, and other pertinent business items.

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Busy – Busy – Busy

Ever since the Amherst Opera House Co. Inc. Board of Directors made the decision to allow area residents to use our building with no set rental fee our calendar has been quite full. The mission of the AOHCG is to provide a space for all to gather to enjoy many activities. Some examples have been private Birthday parties, weddings, church services, and community gatherings of various types. For the period of October through December we have 30+ events and gatherings. We are doing our best to accommodate all requests that we receive. Sometimes it feels like a plate spinner working hard to make sure a plate doesn’t fall. If you need a gathering space please get us the details of what you need as soon as you can. We will do our best to make our space available to you. Check out our calendar here: https://www.amherstoperahouse.com/events/list/

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Remembering Maggie

Maggie Stern was a special part of what makes Amherst unique. A group of friends will gather at the Amherst Opera House this Friday, September 22nd to remember. You are all invited. Here is our calendar event as well as a link to the facebook event:

We will be meeting to remember Maggie, share stories and beautiful memories. Bring your love and light💗 If anyone has any pictures they would like to add to a picture board or written stories (I will create a digital album later)please send them to me by Wednesday evening. If anyone would like to do sound, meditation or other healing, we would appreciate it. Please let me know. Refreshments provided. We will be zooming the celebration, and if you can’t come in person, you can use the link below. Otherwise, we will be meeting at the Amherst Opera House, this coming Friday, September 22 at 6:00 pm.
Zoom Link: https://us06web.zoom.us/j/85927232261…

facebook event link:  https://fb.me/e/3G9uwPTOV

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K8 Design & Photography

Another photographer who will be present at our Photography Show/Sale on Sep 9th during Celebrate Amherst. Katie Berdan Wolden is a graphic designer and photographer from Central Wisconsin. She has a passion for travel, nature, and baseball, and can usually be found hiking with a camera in tow. She loves photographing landscapes, animals, and birds, and has a selection of pieces from a variety of gorgeous locations around the state including canvas prints, acrylic blocks, photo prints, and notecards, in a variety of sizes from 30×20 to 8×10.

Social media:

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/k8designphotography

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/kberdan/

Website: k8designphotography.com

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Eric Nelson Tintypes and Wet Plate Collodion

Eric Nelson is one of the photographers who will be at the Amherst Opera House Photography Show/Sale on Saturday, September 9th during Celebrate Amherst. Eric creates unique inages using photographic processes dating to before the Civil War. Bring your family and have a truly unique portrait “struck” by Eric on the north lawn of the Amherst Opera House.

Eric Nelson

Eric Nelson’s interest in handmade historic photography began when he was a boy growing up in Fond du Lac, Wisconsin. Nelson remembers how he and his father, a high-school shop teacher, would prepare and ‘rock’ trays of chemistry in the school’s photo lab. Later, while attending UW-Madison, Nelson discovered resources on early photographic processes in the stacks of the technical library, which inspired him to begin experimenting on his own. This led to a life-long exploration of photographic processes including pin-hole photography, Ambrotypes, cyanotypes, Van-Dyke brown prints, and wet-plate collodion. Nelson collects antique cameras and lenses, and he has built a darkroom nearly everywhere he has lived.  When not using a “dark tent” on the road, he works at his home studio, in a forested area near Marshfield, Wisconsin.

Eric Nelson received his MFA from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, and he has shown his work locally and nationally. His photographs have been exhibited at Williamsburg Art and Historical Center, Brooklyn, NY; Charles Allis Art Museum, Milwaukee, WI; Mills Pond House Gallery,  St. James, NY; Gallery 101 University of Wisconsin-River Falls, River Falls, WI; The Alexander House, Wisconsin Rapids, WI; Joy Wai Gallery, New York, NY; and others.

Nelson has had solo exhibitions at New Visions Gallery, Marshfield, WI; Lucille Tack Center of the Arts, Spencer, WI; and Gallery 450, University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point at Marshfield, Marshfield, WI. He has worked as a lecturer at University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point at Marshfield, WI, and taught photography at every level from Kindergarten to College.

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Trey Foerster Fotos

Trey Foerster is one of the photographers who will be at the Amherst Opera House Photography Show/Sale on Saturday, September 9th during Celebrate Amherst. Plan to stop in to see and enjoy the images he creates.

A December setting sun illuminates the Trout Creek Road Schoolhouse in Portage County, Wisconsin. The heavy snowfalls still carried on tree linbs and braches offers a beautiful contrast to the red building. The red brick chimney is a wonderful touch on the schoolhouse.
This woodland White Oyster fungi is common in Wisconsin and grows on decaying trees. This particular cluster was found about five feet up a tree trunk in the Skunk-Foster State Natural Area in Scandinavia, Wisconsin. The light flowing from the top backlights the gills and creates contrast with the bark’s texture and dark color. Fungi (mushrooms) are one story of decay and the environmental balance at play in wodlands.
The Purple Coneflower is termed a “tall showy flower of the prairies” and is popular for herbal remedies. Butterflies and the Goldfinch are attracted to it. These specimens were blooming in late July at Jorgens Park Preserve’s prairie in Scandinavia, Wisconsin.
The colors of Bud Break in Spring are second to fall’s foliage change in Central Wisconsin. Add in some fog in the hills for a background and a red barn, then you’ve got an epic Wisconsin May photograph. The brick silo is an added spice that fits in with the cornfield stubble in the foreground. This is why people fall in love with the rural backroads of the state and the many gems in holds no matter the season.

After spending 50 years in print publishing and photojournalism, mostly newspapers, Trey Foerster has embarked on a journey to bring out the vibrancy of Wisconsin’s nature, the wonderment of woodlands and prairies through fine art photography and painted photography or “paintography”. He’s attempted to bring out the story of what he sees and has experienced while shooting it. He is a member of the Photographic Society of America, the Wisconsin Professional Photographers Association, and the Focal Point Camera Club. His work – mostly centering on Central Wisconsin – has won numerous art show ribbons and placed in the Top 3 places in camera club competitions. Environment conservation has been a concern of his and works for environmental conservation through Rotary, by co-chairing the Rotary Club of Waupaca’s Environment Committee and Rotary District 6220’s Environmental Sustainability Task Force. His prairie flower photography will be used on educational signage being designed for Jorgens Park Preserve in Scandinavia, Wisconsin.

I will be selling images of various sizes and finishes from cards to frame prints.