Yavapai Community College has announced the Verde Valley Young Artists Showcase that will be held on the Verde Campus at the Patty McMullen-Mikles Art Galley from January 19 to February 16. This will be a showcase of Verde Valley High School Students art work.The Yavapai Community College District Governing Board unanimously approved naming the art gallery on the Verde Valley Campus for Patty McMullen-Mikles at its February 2020 meeting. Mikles was a former Yavapai College art instructor who passed away from cancer in 2015. The honor recognized the ongoing financial contributions (at $40,000 in 2020) being made by her family in support of aspiring art students at the Verde Valley Campus, and celebrate and recognize her lifetime of teaching and giving to others.
Ms. Ruth Wicks spoke of Ms. Mikles’ work at the college during the Governing Board meeting. Bob Oliphant commended the president and faculty for its support of this honor. Mr. Paul Kirchgraber, then executive director of the Community College Foundation, presented the resolution to the Governing Board.
In a September 22, 2021 press release, the Community College announced a naming ceremony to be held on Thursday, September 30 at 5 p.m. at the gallery on the Verde Valley Campus in Clarkdale. The press release from the Community College follows below:
Yavapai Community College Press release: September 22, 2021 (Mr. JJ McCormick)
The woman universally described by her former students and colleagues as a fiercely dedicated champion of Yavapai College art programs is being honored posthumously with the renaming of the YC Verde Art Gallery in her honor.
The Patty McMullen-Mikles Gallery of Yavapai College naming ceremony, celebrating the life and legacy of the successful artist and beloved former YC art professor who died in 2015, is happening at the YC Verde Valley Campus art gallery at 5 p.m. Sept. 30.
The ceremony coincides with the opening reception for an exhibition titled “Don Reitz Follow Your Bliss.” The exhibition showcases the art and life of Reitz, a renowned ceramic artist and longtime Verde Valley resident who, before his death in 2014, gifted the college a mural that now decorates the east wall of the Southwest Wine Center.
McMullen-Mikles’ family, friends and former YC colleagues are cheering the fact that she is being memorialized with her name gracing the Verde campus gallery that she founded and directed early in her 20-year tenure with the YC Art Department.
“She is severely missed and well-deserving of this memorial renaming of the Verde campus art gallery,” said YC Professor Dr. Barb Waak. Although a talented artist whose paintings, drawings and fiber art pieces were represented by galleries throughout the Southwest, Waak said teaching was McMullen-Mikles’ “true gift. She could take students who were daunted at the prospect of putting pencil, charcoal, or brush to paper and coax the very best work out of them,” Waak said.
YC Professor Dr. Amy Stein said she is grateful the gallery renaming is happening after a concerted campaign by YC faculty members past and present. Stein called McMullen-Mikles a “generous teacher” who was passionate about art and education. “And her greatest gift to all of us the last year of her life was she taught us all how to leave this landscape with grace, beauty and dignity.”
McMullen-Mikles taught drawing, two-dimensional design, oil, acrylic and watercolor painting, among many other credit and community education classes for YC. She is credited with developing YC’s Associate degree program in fine arts and was a talented vocalist who did some touring in Europe, the United States and Canada early in her career.
The Patty McMullen-Mikles Gallery naming ceremony and the opening reception for the Don Reitz exhibition are free and all are welcome. Learn more about the combined events at yc.edu/artgallery.
Yavapai Community College has two art galleries: one is located in the Performing Arts Center on the Prescott Campus, the other is located in a small section of the Verde Campus. The data in the form of two graphs covering the last four years presented to the District Community College Governing Board at the March 9 suggests that there are few exhibits and few patrons annually visiting the gallery on the Verde Campus while the gallery on the Prescott Campus shows that over 7,000 patrons visited it in 2019.
From an outside perspective, the data for the Verde Campus suggests there needs to be a lot of work in terms of further developing that gallery, if that is possible. You may make your own judgment from viewing the College’s report via the two graphs below.
It is also possible that the graphs, for whatever reason, may not accurately portray the Verde Campus patron/exhibit data.
The annual spring faculty art exhibit is now on at the Yavapai College Verde Art Gallery, 601 Black Hills Dr., Bldg. F-105
Clarkdale, AZ 86324. It will run until March 3 and is free to the public.
Gallery hours are: Monday – Thursday 10:00 am – 3:00 pm. Closed: Friday, Saturday, Sunday.
Come and view the “amazing” art work created by Yavapai Community College faculty, which is produced on top of their demanding teaching schedules. Exhibiting art faculty this year include Laura Bloomenstein, Ben Norton, Richard Ozanne, Bennett Roti, and Thomas Schumacher.
The September and October special events schedule published by the College shows the huge difference in its view of where cultural events should be produced. According to the schedule it has posted, so far there are 20 cultural events scheduled for the West side of the County during September and October to be held in the 1105 student auditorium (redeveloped into a Community College dinner theatre). Only a single event is scheduled so far for the Verde Campus, which will be held in the large multi-use classroom in Building M (canned pop, possibly). In fact, a check today (9/24/2015) by the Blog of the Verde Campus web site shows no events as being scheduled so far.
The following is a chart of the announced programs for September and October, 2015.
There will be a holiday ceramics sale on the Verde campus on Thursday and Friday, December 4th and 5th. The sale will take place from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. each day in room 106. The Verde campus is located at 601 Black Hills Drive, Clarkdale.
