Holidaze Art Spree December 3 – 4 -5

Holidaze Art Spree December 3 – 4 -5

Deck the Halls!

by Susan Mendenhall

Deck the Halls wherever they may be. Lots of Dazzle, Sparkle, and Merriment on December 4-5 at the Mount Horeb Arts Association, Holidaze, happening in multiple locations. Fourteen artists and their work will be available to add joy to the holiday season. Purchase a piece of art for yourself or to brighten another’s holiday.

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Patty Klarer

Let’s meet our Holidaze Artists who will be located at the Old Schoolhouse on 2nd Street, Mount Horeb.As we enter, we are treated to the music of musician, Greg Standal, who specializes in funk, blues, R&B and soul. You might know him as a bassist and vocalist for Alpha Romeos and Mikes Mud Music. Whatever he plays will delight customers and add festivity at this location. Here we will find photographer and jeweler, Jessica Curning-Kuenzi. Jessica’s nature photography helps us see our local landscapes and what is in them. She mostly focuses her lens on Dane County. When not behind her camera she is creating chainmaille stainless steel jewelry, stainless steel rings woven together with additions of stones or crystals. 

Jewelers, Patty Klarer and Ivy Klarer’s, work with be available at the Old Schoolhouse. Their silver and gold custom designed jewelry includes semi and precious gemstones, opening our eyes to see the natural materials of our world as wearable art. Perhaps you have a special request to transform an old piece of jewelry, one of their specialties. Brenda Kraemer’s textiles are close to home. Wool from her barnyard friends is woven on an antique loom making one-of-a-kind scarves, rugs, wall hangings, and socks. Painter, Pamela Grabber’s, framed oil paintings, watercolors, Giclee reproductions and boxed notecards are ready to brighten a wall or delight a friend in the mail. Luci Shirek’s paintings in multiple mediums and notecards are inspired by the holiday and our winter wonderland.

Luci Shirek

One of the joys of buying art from an artist is to see the studio where the magic happens. Several Holidaze Artists can be found in the place where they create. Please note the map for these locations. Judy Robb’s paintings and 3D media works of art are inspired by nature, history, and mysticism. Photographer, Vicki France, treats us with views of the driftless region on the backroads of SW Wisconsin. The paintings of Peg Ginsberg invite us into the magical world of watercolors. Heidi Clayton’s pottery wheel spins out beautiful pieces where she adds attention to detail, form, and function. John Pahlas’ salvaged steel creations call an awareness to our partnership with the planet and ourselves as a human species. We will have the opportunity to purchase artwork from Christy Nesja’s hand type letterpress that creates beautiful linocut images full of color, each inspiring us to be kinder and joy-filled. Mikel Kelley’s use of clay is sculptural. Glass, metal, and wood are also incorporated in many of his mixed media pieces, often involving discarded construction materials.
Join us this holiday season where the magic of the artist’s eye and heart are found in the artwork of these fourteen gifted artists.

Home is Where the Art Is 10 October – 15 November 2021

Home is Where the Art Is 10 October – 15 November 2021

About the Artists

by Susan Mendenhall

Home is Where the ART Is, the theme of the upcoming exhibit of the Mount Horeb Area Arts Association and the Driftless Historium, October 8 – November 15. This exhibition invites both artists and patrons of the arts to cozy up with a piece of art that takes you to a warm, welcoming, inspiring place. Fifteen artists share a work that speaks to this theme in their specific medium of painting, photography, sculpture, mixed media, pottery, and jewelry.  Each artist’s passion and intention in creating art is both seen and heard.  What inspires them?  Where does their inspiration take them?

Let’s meet the artists, see their work, and hear how they speak of where a sense of home is found in their art.

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Pamela Ruschman, oil painter, claims “home has always been the driftless region for my artistic soul. After living and working in the Milwaukee area for more than 30 years, our family decided to leave the city lights and rediscover the solitude of country living. I’m so delighted to be close to my artistic muse of the livestock and landscape of this beautiful part of southwestern Wisconsin. It’s good to be back HOME.”

Richard Fayram’s watercolor is of a National Register Historical Site that has always been a family home in addition to other businesses that were present, including a hostelry and brewery. “As I completed the watercolor, I realized that it also had a powerful connection to our family. My great grandfather Considine (my grandmother’s family) was a riverboat captain on the Mississippi River of the same era. It was likely that he stopped here on his trips up and down the river as a part of each trip he made.” 

Mount Horeb Area Arts Association
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Julie Raasch, photographer and jeweler, is influenced by where she lives. “My restored prairie is where I walk, meditate, and make photos. It influences my creativity in many ways. Home is the heart of my creativity. It is where I live, become inspired, and create.”

Oil painter, Pamela Grabber, speaks to the “validity of our emotional connections with the places where we dwell. “Turn to the Sun” was painted from life in my home studio with sunflowers from our garden. As a gardener, I’m invested in my plants as I tend their needs and await the blooms and fruits Capturing the glory of these vibrant giant sunflowers in oil feels so rewarding – their beauty and my efforts to cultivate them lives on in paint long after the flowers wilt.”

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Judy Robb, oil painter, is ‘drawn to the mystique of nature and the curiosities of creatures and their surroundings which is their homeland. History and lore, fact and tradition inspire me and how I translate feelings and ideas in art.”

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Chuck Bauer’s oil paintings capture the essence of an emotion and location. “Home is a relative feeling, not only a place. For example, even a park shelter can feel like home, at least for awhile, especially if you’re caught in a thunderstorm as I was while painting one afternoon.”

Susan JAZZ Mendenhall’s watercolors frequently showcase houses. “From the lines of the rooftops to the foundational structure, the design of a house fascinates me. Creating a home is much like creating art. The process is intentional, personal, and forever evolving. Just as each house tells a story of the people who live there, the same is true of a piece of art – both revealing a bit of the artist’s soul.”

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Ceramic artist, Heidi Clayton feels called to create for the heart of the home, the kitchen. “When I think home, I think home cooked meals and breaking bread with those I love. I am honored to be included in these rituals through my work, in the hands of those who share important moments with their loved ones.”

John Pahlas who sculps in salvaged steel shares, “My home IS art. Without artistic expression I am literally, spiritually and figuratively homeless! My art has flourished here in the Mount Horeb area, and because this place has taken me in with such outstretched and loving arms, I can keep evolving as an artist, father, & concerned member of this growing community. I feel I’ve found my true self amid the prairies and Savannah’s of old oaks & I am beyond thrilled to see what the future holds here.”

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Vicki France uses her camera to capture photographs that remind her of home. “These are the roads that take me home, these are the hills and valleys I grew up with.”

Luci Shirek’s watercolors bring light and color to the paper.
“Home means a sense of peace, a sense of belonging, a place to feel warm and secure.”

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Katherine Ford’s watercolors are full of flowers. “Flowers are a gardeners reward for their persistence. It is the anticipation of their beauty that gets me up in the morning and going out to see the changes. Taking close up photographs of flowers allow me more time to interpret their beauty into watercolor paintings and admire the complexity of their design.”

Sue Schuetz, assemblage artist, selected a variety of objects to “represent how women were kept together and held down, often being denied the opportunity to work outside of the home. Their work was, for the most part, contained to home chores.”

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Karen Watson-Newlin, acrylic artist, finds “I am most at home with nature and being outdoors walking, hiking, and gardening. This painting is a different look at one area I find for inspiration.”

For photographer, Jessica Curning-Kuenzi, “When I look for a good photograph, I try to find a subject or scene that conveys the peace and serenity of the nature all around us. I capture a moment in time, in hopes that it will provide the future viewer a chance to see the same beauty and feel the same peace I felt while I was there making a photograph. When a piece of my art is in someone’s home, I hope that it can provide them with happiness every time they look at it.”

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Sue Schuetz returns for her 8th Spring Art Tour this June 4-6, 2021

Sue Schuetz returns for her 8th Spring Art Tour this June 4-6, 2021

Sue Schuetz returns for her 8th Spring Art Tour this June 4-6, 2021

Welcome back Sue Schuetz to her 8th Spring Art Tour!

Schuetz works in a variety of media: Assemblages, mobiles, jewelry, and watercolor. For the Tour, June 4-6, she will be constructing metal and bead jewelry, and she will be showing at Rimrock Farm Barn (3975 Moe Rd, Mount Horeb, WI 53572) with Jessica Curning-Kuenzi, Christine Echtner, Aileen Musa, and Karen Watson-Newlin. That’s right, ONE stop, FIVE artists!

Sue Schuetz, photo
Aileen Musa: hand-colored and painted photograph

See a preview of Sue Schuetz’s work,

get tour information and more at her Spring Art Tour Artist page!

Sue Schuetz, Assemblage, metal, mixed
Sue Schuetz, Assemblage, metal, mixed
Aileen Musa, Sunflower, handcolored photograph
Painter Rick Ross is back for 2021, his 3rd Spring Art Tour

Painter Rick Ross is back for 2021, his 3rd Spring Art Tour

Painter Rick Ross is back for 2021, his 3rd Spring Art Tour

Please welcome back Rick Ross to the Spring Art Tour for 2021!

Oil & Cold Wax master painter Rick Ross writes: Nature is my subject matter, whether literally interpreted through landscapes and still life or abstractly represented by the textures and depth of oil and cold wax medium. Like the evolution of my life experiences, I love to explore and imagine the journey of objects and am inspired by history, age, and patina.

Artist Rick Ross, at work
Rick Ross Cold Wax abstract landscape with hay bales

See Rick Ross’s work

during this year’s Spring Art Tour, June 4-6. HI work sells out fast, so this is a rare opportunity to see his new work in person! Meanwhile, see a preview, get tour information and more at his Spring Art Tour Artist page!

Oil and Cold Wax by Rick Ross
Rick Ross, Oil and Cold Wax 'Meandering in a Fog'
Rick Ross 'Shore' painting
Aileen Musa joins us for her first Spring Art Tour in 2021

Aileen Musa joins us for her first Spring Art Tour in 2021

Aileen Musa joins us for her first Spring Art Tour in 2021

Please welcome Aileen Musa to her first Spring Art Tour!

Musa writes on her site aileenmusaimages:
I was inspired to hand paint my photos by a hand painted black and white image of an English garden, by Wallace Nutting. It was a wedding gift to my grandparents in the early 1920’s. This image, my inspiration, now hangs in my home.

Photograph of Aileen Musa, artist
Aileen Musa: hand-colored and painted photograph

See Aileen Musa’s work

during this year’s Spring Art Tour, June 4-6. Meanwhile, see a preview, get tour information and more at her Spring Art Tour Artist page!

Scarves by Brenda Kraemer
Aileen Musa: hand-colored photograph, 'Reclaimed'
Aileen Musa, Sunflower, handcolored photograph
Welcome Christine Echtner to the 2021 Tour

Welcome Christine Echtner to the 2021 Tour

Welcome Christine Echtner to the 2021 Tour

Please welcome Christine Echtner to the Spring Art Tour!

We are very excited to have Echtner join the Tour this year. Her intricate, clever, often hilarious mixed media pieces are a joy to behold.

Recently, on social media she posted some new work; here,  James and Harmon Suit Up’ uses her custom mix of drawing, painting, and collage, utilizing acrylics and mixed media.

Christine Echtner, 'James And Harmon Suit Up', mixed
Christine Echtner 'Roderick Finishes His Reading' mixed media

And here is one of her recent “Smalls” titled ‘Roderick Finishes His Reading’

She writes: “My work is about storytelling. I use drawing, acrylic and mixed materials to develop my stories. I start out with a basic idea and, combining figures, line, texture, color and pattern, the story takes shape as I as I develop it on the canvas. With the title in place I encourage the viewer to participate, to expand on the idea and continue the story in a way that is meaningful to them.”

See Echtner’s fabulous visual stories in person

during this year’s Spring Art Tour, June 4-6. Meanwhile, see a preview, get tour information and more at her Spring Art Tour Artist page!

Christine Echtner's 'Breakfast at the Bowen Family Farm'
Christine Echtner's 'Norris Explores the Arts District'
Christine Echtner's 'Leaving the Inventory'